This massive book is intended as a study guide for computer professionals seeking certification as a Microsoft Certified Product Specialist (MCPS) or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). The Microsoft certification programs are designed to assess the technological proficiency of the computer professional.
The book provides two separate study guides for the reader. These study guides support two of the electives for the Microsoft certification programs. The electives are TCP/IP and Systems Management Server (SMS).
The TCP/IP guide covers the material required to pass the Internetworking Microsoft TCP/IP on Windows NT 3.5 Exam. This exam is one of the electives for the MCPS and MCSE certification programs. The TCP/IP study guide covers the information that a computer professional needs to understand in order to successfully pass the exam. Some of the topics covered in the study guide are the installation and configuration of Microsoft TCP/IP on the server and client stations, IP addressing together with its associated classes and subnets, use of DHCP, (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), routing and address resolution and troubleshooting.
The second study guide covers the SMS, testing the reader's ability to implement, manage and troubleshoot the Systems Management Server. The guide covers such topics as planning, installation and configuration, job creation, shared network applications and remote control utilities to remotely manage SMS clients.
Each chapter includes review questions to help out the reader understand better the topics discussed. The frequent notes, tips and warnings complement these. A complementary CD-ROM provides additional knowledge with a test engine loaded with hundreds of questions to help familiarise and prepare the reader for the actual TCP/IP and SMS exams.
Overall, the book is very informative, but the TCP/IP guide is restricted to the Microsoft implementation of the TCP/IP protocol stack. In fact the author stresses this point in the introduction. For those who wish to obtain Microsoft certification in Microsoft TCP/IP and SMS, this book is of benefit, even though it is not that cheap. But I would suggest following a training course too. Personally I believe that the book on its own will not guarantee that the reader will pass the exam. An instructor is always of additional help.
