High-Performance Networking Unleashed

Rating:
Summary: A wide-ranging but slightly schizophrenic approach
Review: I bought this book as a unix fan wanting a broad technical overview of modern networking, and to some degree got what I expected. The book covers just about everything from 10base-2 to ATM but never actually goes into sufficient detail to provide anything but the broadest of detail - not enough if you're looking to set up a new network (look at Spurgeon's "Practical Networking with Ethernet" instead). Some of the technical details are a little, umm, "shakey" too. As the book is composed by many authors, each bringing their own prejudices, its opinion on issues such as unix veer wildly from total dismissal to full-on smooching, which is rather tiresome. All in all, a decent introduction, but nothing more, despite the book's manic proportions. Too many writers spoil the text.

Rating:
Summary: A solid reference guide for the beginning LAN Admin
Review: This book is a decent starting point to networking. It not only introduces the reader to the different theoretical, logical, and physical aspects of networks, but also gives practical advice and solid guidelines for choosing appropriate network options. As often happens with many technical manuscripts, the book sometimes wanders without a logical flow. In essence, it makes a much better reference manual than a tutorial. The examples given are also trite--leaving the reader with little enhanced understanding at times of some of the various topics covered.