Novell's CNE Study Guide for NetWare 5.1 (Novell Press)

Novell NetWare remains a big power in corporate networking, which is why it pays to have a Novell certification on your résumé when you go looking for work. Novell's CNE Study Guide for NetWare 5.1 helps you prepare for the whole battery of Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) and Certified NetWare Associate (CNA) exams, and--with the exception of a gap or two you will need to fill in with supplementary documentation or your own experience--earns its cover price. Author David Clarke does a great job of explaining the Novell way of networking: he's eminently patient and obviously subscribes to the philosophy that it's better to explain too much than to assume too much. As a result of his careful approach to his subject, Clarke succeeds both in bringing Novell newcomers up to speed and in connecting new NetWare features--like Novell Storage Services (NSS) and Novell Certificate Server--to old pros' bodies of existing knowledge.

Readers can't expect this book or its companion CD-ROM, taken alone, to prepare them for the CNE tests. The exams are designed to fail people who have only academic (as opposed to hands-on) experience with NetWare, after all. But these learning materials do about as well as can be expected in preparing their readers. Clear prose, combined with helpful conceptual drawings and relevant screen shots, complement sample test questions (both in print and on the CD-ROM). It's a good combination of tutorial, reference, and test-prep material. --David Wall

Topics covered: The subjects Novell has said must be understood by people who wish to pass its battery of Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) tests, including those for courses 565, 570, 575, and 580. Essentially, this means everything about NetWare 5.1, including its installation, Internet support, network services, and relevant troubleshooting strategies.