Customer Reviews

CNE for NetWare 6 Study Guide

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As with every other IT professional I know, I have difficulty finding the time to read every technical book that I would like, and have a fast growing backlog of material to read. Because of this, I expect the material I read to be succinct and on topic. I had a need to obtain my CNE credential due to its relevance to my present job assignment, and since this is Novell's official study guide, I opted to use this book for study... Needless to say, I was disappointed.

While providing bare minimal coverage of each certification objective, I found that the book could probably be reduced by 1/2 and be just as effective. Scattered throughout the book are brainteasers that have absolutely no relevance to the study material. Additionally there is a long dissertation on the author's fictitious organization ACME and its business practices that I doubt anyone who has purchased this book has even thought of reading. Finally each chapter has lead-in and summary paragraphs with commentary that made me feel embarrassed for the author.

Please Mr. Clarke, leave the commentary, brainteasers and other non-essentials out of your study guides. I appreciate you trying to make these topics interesting, but I feel there are better ways.

Novell continues to update and expand its network management software, and this book reflects the latest 2004-5 version, Netware 6. It is aimed primarily at those sysadmins who, for professional reasons, need to obtain a Novell certification. This being Version 6, you can see in the bulk of the book that Novell has built out a tremendous amount of material.

Clarke divides the book into several parts. The first describes an installation and maintenance of Version 6, assuming that you have no earlier versions installed. Another part of his book covers what he terms more advanced management issues. One of these being the migration from Versions 4 or 5. A practical consideration in the marketplace. So the exam requires this knowledge.

But perhaps the most interesting and difficult section is that on eDirectory design and implementation. It talks about the layout of an entire network, and how to distribute resources in it, in a robust fashion. As well as guarding against attacks. You may find this section to have far more subjective issues than the earlier sections. Yet, arguably, this is where you can develop the most expert knowledge and increase your value.