BKETHPKT.RVW 940506 CBM Books 101 Witmer Road PO Box 446 Horsham, PA 19044 215-957-4265 215-957-4287 Fax: 215-957-1050 76702.1565@compuserve.com books@propress.com "Ethernet Pocket Guide", Spinney, 1994, 1-878956-43-4, U$15 As the subtitle says, this is "A practical guide to designing, installing and troubleshooting ethernet networks." The book (at 60 pages, plus glossary and index, almost a booklet) is quite practical, although some decisions regarding what to include and what to leave out are a bit odd. Chapter 1 is an introduction to Ethernet, and the standards around it. The description covers the various aspects of Ethernet operation and definition. The picture painted of "Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection" (CSMA/CD) will be clear to any intelligent reader. On the other hand, the detail given of the ISO OSI model is difficult to understand, since it is never referred to again. An addition to this edition is a very clear and detailed overview of the framing of Ethernet packets. Chapter 2, dealing with cabling media, is the beginning of the heart of the book. Cabling is really the strong point of this work. Chapter 3 (Hardware) provides useful background information in terms of the various other parts to the net. Another improvement to this edition, however, is the inclusion of a number of new diagrams which add greatly to the ease of understanding these topics. Chapter four, on Design, gives good basic rules of thumb for doing your own design, but you will still need some technical smarts to actually come up with a design, let alone generate several and assess the best. Chapter 5, Installation, again deals primarily with cabling and cable runs. Chapter 6, Maintenance, while giving brief nods to management aspects, is again primarily concerned with finding breaks in the cable. Given that the book deals exclusively and particularly with Ethernet, the cabling emphasis is understandable. However, even within this limited scope there could be some improvement. Although the 2.5 meter markings on "thick coax" are mentioned often, there is no explanation of "half-wave lengths", the reason for them. Table 2-2 offers, as an advantage of glass fiber-optic cable, that it yields "extended length". This is, in fact, the opposite of the reality: coax runs can be longer overall since the "index of refraction" of coax is less than that of fiber-optic cable. However, with the proviso that this work is not "gospel", the book would provide handy background information for those who don't have the time for a full study of the field. For the novice who must face putting a network together for the first time it may provide a false sense of security, although it definitely *will* provide some helpful advice. It may be best for the IS manager who needs to know just enough to keep network contractors honest. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993, 1994 BKETHPKT.RVW 940506 ============== Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | "I finally realized why Windows is truly Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca | multitasking. I find myself keeping some Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca | secondary task (like ... mail) handy so I User p1@CyberStore.ca | can make good use of the time I spend Security Canada V7K 2G6 | waiting for Windows." -Steve Edelson