Inside RRAS: Remote Access Solutions for Windows NT [Paperback]

David Iseminger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471251593 | ISBN-13: 978-0471251590 | Publication Date: April 20, 1998 | Edition: 1

Are all serial solutions created equal?

How do remote access components interoperate with Windows NT, and where are the performance hot spots?

What do I need to know about Frame Relay, ATM, X.25 and T1s/T3s?

Inside RRAS: Remote Access Solutions for Windows NT answers these questions and others facing integrators and IT professionals. Although Windows NT's RRAS can make remote access deployments like modem banks and WAN connectivity easier to assemble and manage, figuring out how remote access technologies and hardware components work together can be a challenge. Now it doesn't have to be. Learn crucial tips, hard-won deployment techniques, and hardware selection savvy from someone who not only worked in Microsoft's Windows NT Performance Group as owner of RAS Performance, but has been an integrator and deployed remote access solutions in small businesses and enterprise environments alike. Inside RRAS gives you what you need to:
* Right-size remote access equipment for 2 to 2,000 ports
* Exploit RRAS functionality and put the latest enterprise/ISP features to work
* Master PPTP and use it to lower your remote access costs
* Cut troubleshooting time in half by learning your way around modems and the telecommunications network.
* Learn how WAN technologies operate, and decide which one is best for you

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Formerly called Remote Access Service (RAS), Windows NT's Routing and Remote Access Service gives NT the capability to connect with remote computers, typically via a modem. Inside RRAS explains how to connect NT machines to other computers by means other than a hardwired local area network (LAN) interface. Since RRAS ranks among NT's more confusing user-level features, Iseminger does the wired world a service by explaining what's going on.

Before getting into the details of how RRAS works, the author explores networking concepts with great clarity. As is common for all books on networking, this one presents the tired conceptual diagram of the open systems interconnection (OSI) reference model, showing the seven theoretical layers of network communication, ranging from physical to application. However, Iseminger provides so much intelligent commentary on the model--which is his typical style--that this book outshines others by orders of magnitude. If you've seen the OSI model elsewhere and didn't really understand it, this version of it will advance your knowledge fantastically.

Inside RRAS goes on to explain how particular parts of a network operate and interrelate. From there, it's on to telecommunications, particularly Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs), modems (present and future), and wide area network (WAN) hardware--all explained accurately and, believe it or not, entertainingly. You have to cruise through half the book before you get to any Windows NT particulars, but that's a complement, because by then you're clear on what's really happening.

Iseminger explains how to install RRAS, detailing the pitfalls of configuration and optimization. He pays particular attention to large RRAS installations, dealing with the particular problems of systems with as many as 5,000 or more modems. A handful of case studies explains how particular organizations met RRAS challenges. But that's not all--a chapter gets into virtual private networks (VPNs) with Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol, the Microsoft specification formerly known as Steelhead. --David Wall

From the Publisher

Remote Access Service (RAS) has long been identified as one of the trickiest parts of Windows NT. Its successor for NT 5.0, RRAS, is both more powerful and more complex than RAS. Considering that RRAS is what ties NT to the Internet, the importance of mastering it is hard to overstate. This book is less a tutorial than a collection of proven techniques and little-known details about the NT remote system. Case studies reveal why some deployments work better than others and enable readers to learn by example. Hardware, software, and networking aspects of RRAS are all explored in depth from the perspective of fine tuning an organization's communication capabilities.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471251593
• ISBN-13: 978-0471251590
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,237,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars General Introduction - Not Focussed on Topic, February 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside RRAS: Remote Access Solutions for Windows NT (Paperback)

Maybe it's just me, but when I purchase a book entitled Inside RRAS, I expect it to cover RRAS thoroughly and in depth. However, this book does not really touch on RRAS until approximately halfway through. If you are a relative newbie to remote access issues and need to know, for example, what a modem is, then buy this book. If you know anything at all about remote access, and you're looking for some in-depth information on RRAS, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. There is nothing whatsoever that is in-depth about this book. It is an introduction, and an unfocussed one at that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tutorial on remote communications and RRAS, December 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside RRAS: Remote Access Solutions for Windows NT (Paperback)

Author gives one of the best remote communications/WAN technology summaries of any book I've read. Easy read. Coverage on all topics was well done and the book was everything it was promoted by the author to be. Author had a good writing style with lots of personality. Good screen capture shots and directions.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No in-depth information about RRAS, March 31, 1999

By 

Huseyin Gokmen Gok (SAMMAMISH, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inside RRAS: Remote Access Solutions for Windows NT (Paperback)

If you are just getting started to learn about RAS and RRAS, this book is for you; however if you need in-depth information about remote access services forget about this book! This book can serve as an introduction for beginners, not more.