Network Monitoring and Analysis: A Protocol Approach to Troubleshooting [Paperback]

Ed Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0130264954 | ISBN-13: 978-0130264954

Ever wonder what in the world is happening "under the hood" of your network? Why things suddenly slow down, print jobs fail? Network monitoring is the least understood aspect of network administration -- and one of the most important. In this book, a leading networking expert shows you exactly how to monitor and analyze your Windows-based network -- and how to use the information to maximize performance, reduce congestion, plan for growth -- even identify intrusions! Start by reviewing the TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, Ethernet, and Samba protocol basics you need in order to monitor and analyze networks effectively. Inspect network traffic from four different perspectives: client traffic, server traffic, application traffic, and service traffic. Next, learn how to use each version of Microsoft's Network Monitor (Netmon) -- and compare commercial network monitoring tools, discovering when to use each. Finally, review four of the most important networking troubleshooting scenarios, in-depth: connectivity problems, faulty applications, hardware problems, and compromised security -- walking through the process of identifying, analyzing, and solving the problem, step-by-step.For all network and Windows system administrators seeking to improve the performance of their networks.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

TCODE = 2649E-2

• Windows NT® network troubleshooting, from the ground up!
• Real-world scenarios, easy examples, and plenty of illustrations
• Proactive solutions for improving performance and supporting new applications
• CD-ROM: Sample network traces, custom filters, batch files, and other great tools

Make your Windows-based networks faster, smarter, and more reliable - step by step!

Ever wonder what's actually happening inside your network? Why multi-tier applications suddenly slow down, print jobs fail, network elements suddenly disappear? The truth is in there-if you have the network monitoring and protocol analysis skills you need to unearth it! That's where Ed Wilson's Network Monitoring and Analysis comes in. It's your complete, hands-on guide to monitoring and analyzing Windows NT-based networks-and using the information to maximize performance, plan for growth-even identify intruders! Coverage includes all this and more:

• TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, Ethernet, and Samba: protocol basics for effective monitoring and analysis
• Understanding network traffic from every perspective: client, server, application, and service
• DHCP, Internet email, and Microsoft® Exchange: unique characteristics and issues
• Using Microsoft's Network Monitor (Netmon)
• In-depth, step-by-step troubleshooting: connectivity problems, faulty applications, defective hardware, and compromised security

There's nothing mysterious about network monitoring and analysis-and for Windows network and system administrators, there's no skill more valuable! If you want maximum performance and maximum reliability, Network Monitoring and Analysis shows you how to get it-step by step, start to finish!

About the Author

ED WILSON (MCSE, MCT, Master ASE, CCNA) is a Senior Networking Specialist with Full Service Networking, a Microsoft Solution Provider Partner in Cincinnati, OH. He is the co-author of several networking books.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (January 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130264954
• ISBN-13: 978-0130264954
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 7.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,489,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ed Wilson, MCSE, MSCBA, MCT is the Microsoft Scripting Guy. As such, he writes the popular Hey Scripting Guy blog for Microsoft, speaks at conferences such as TechEd and TechReady. He is very active in the community and has spoken to numerous user groups around the world via Live Meeting and in person. Ed has written numerous books about VBScript, WMI, and Windows PowerShell scripting and his latest release is Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices. In addition he wrote all the scripts for the Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 Resource kits. Ed lives in York, South Carolina and Ed has been with Microsoft since 2001. Prior to becoming the writer of the Hey Scripting Guy blog Ed taught scripting workshops worldwide to Microsoft Premier customers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, April 22, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Network Monitoring and Analysis: A Protocol Approach to Troubleshooting (Paperback)

I bought this book to learn about Windows NT troubleshooting, but now I'm not sure I can trust anything it says about that area, since it has so many mistakes in the area that I do know, TCP/IP. Errors abound when discussing the IP header. The Type of Service discussion doesn't distinguish between the TOS field and the TOS bits, whose meaning are obsolete anyway. It doesn't discuss Precedence, which really is used, for exampe, VoIP uses precedence 5. IP source routing, which nobody uses anyway, is explained in a completely muddled way and the example shows someone setting that option when pinging from 10.0.0.60 to 10.0.0.10, which would be a really silly use of the option. The book also has lots of typos and badly-written sentences. Where was the editor? You would think Prentice Hall could hire editors. The SPX chapter starts with this, "The SPX/IPX protocol is a still a common occurrence on many corporate networks." The only mention of AppleTalk is in the list of Application-layer protocols where it has two entries that say this: AppleTalk and Appleshare apples networking protocol suite AFP apples protocol for remote file access AppleTalk shoudn't be in the list and couldn't they have used an editor who knew what Apple means in the computer industry?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have, awesome book!, September 29, 2000

By 

dick (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Network Monitoring and Analysis: A Protocol Approach to Troubleshooting (Paperback)

This book is filled with practicle examples of troubleshooting. It begins with the osi model, but not in a dry accademic way - it actually tells you how the things work, and why. The book then moves to a discussion of protocols, tcp, ip, ipx, spx, udp, and stuff like that. Then it goes into looking at traffic on the network. Frist from the client side, then to the server side of things. After all that, it talks about using Microsoft's Network Monitor product - tells all the ins, and the outs of the product. Finally, it concludes with tons of troubleshooting scenarios. The book is informative, and actually fun to read.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent For All Network Professionals, May 19, 2000

By 

Linda K. Arszman (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Network Monitoring and Analysis: A Protocol Approach to Troubleshooting (Paperback)

Very clean and straight forward, provides a very indepth description of TCP/IP, IPX/SPX protocol's, ant the best decription of the OSI Model I have every seen! I have learned more about network traffic in this book then I even knew existed. I am very excited about using network monitor to trouble shoot real world problems, I Highly recommend this to any and all system admins, and consultants, and anyone else that is interested in the Cool util!