Network+ Study Guide (1st Edition)

Here's the book you need to prepare yourself fully for Network+, the networking certification from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). Written by experienced networking professionals, this study guide provides comprehensive coverage of each Network+ exam objective, together with practical exercises and reference information. The CD contains Network+ test-preparation software and information resources.

The Network+ Study Guide explains all you need to know about computer networking to pass CompTIA's Network+ exam. The book covers the fundamentals of local area networks (LANs), the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) network model, and network operating systems (including NetWare, Windows NT, and to a lesser degree Unix variants). Readers will find considerable coverage of the TCP/IP protocol suite, including some of the utility programs used to configure it locally and remotely. There's also a lot of "softer" material about the duties of a network administrator, good troubleshooting practices, and the issues involved in network security. Organized to match CompTIA's stated objectives for the Network+ exam, this guide will prepare you for that test as well as Microsoft's Networking Essentials exam (70-058).

The presentation style is dense with prose, and tables are inserted where there are options or variations to memorize. More and larger conceptual diagrams would make this book better, since networking concepts are sometimes hard to grasp. There are quite a few stepped procedures though--most of them geared toward networked Windows machines. Each chapter concludes with a selection of multiple-choice review questions, the answers to which appear--without discussion, unfortunately--in an appendix. Additional questions appear in a drill program on the companion CD-ROM. --David Wall