Customer Reviews

Novell's CNA Study Guide for NetWare 5

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First, I passed the CNA5 test with a score of 100%. If it had not been of Clark's book, I would have missed a lot of content. This book is written with a friendly touch and doesn't make you feel like you are reading Novell's whitepapers. Still, all the exam theory and course objectives are covered, plus the author gives a little taste of what there is to learn before getting the CNE title. I am very pleased with this book (already ordered the CNE study guide) and I have already recommended it to colleagues who are interested in Novell certification. My certification path, for your interest, was installing Netware 5 at home (2 computers) and working around with it, reading this book, practicing on Exam Essentials tests and passing the test! Good going M.Clark!

You read about what other people said about Mr. Clarke's wordy style. But until you actually read this book, you won't believe how silly it could get - Repeat after me, I am a printer, I am a printer. So-and-so is your friend. So-and-so is a good thing. Vro-o-o-m! Now your NetWare 5 supercar has been supercharged. Ah, there is one more question (in emulation of Sherlock Holmes). And there are those thousands of "Cool" and "Very Cool." Plus, ACME is ACME, no matter how you say it stands for. I like EMA much better.

Elementary, my dear David, elementary. If we had time for The Advantures of Sherlock Holmes or Beavis and Butthead, most of us wouldn't be reading this book. I like humor in technical books, but definitely not something like this. In fact, I'm sorry to say, Mr. Clarke is just not humorous. Check out how many times he repeated, almost verbatim, the Tahiti gag for Z.E.N.works Remote Control. Clarke's book is so verbose and redundant that it could seriously stymie your learning process.

That said, I should give Mr. Clarke credit for providing us with the ONLY alternative to Novell's official courseware at a bargain price. I love my Novell IntranetWare 4.11 Admin textbook a lot - concise, no-nonsense - but it was part of a course priced at $1400+ after discount. Although I don't have the NetWare5 version, I can tell Mr. Clarke stayed very faithful to official materials.

Problem is, the technical essence that you need to learn got so terribly diluted in Mr. Clarke's prose that you feel lost and confused. I had to highlight tremendously so that I could locate the technical info without searching two hundred pages before I found it. In contrast, in some of the excellent MCSE study guides, such as those by Dennis Maione, the Microsoft stuff was explained, enriched, and enhanced by the author's add-on.

The CD-ROM is a good probe to check your comprehension of Mr. Clarke's interpretation of NetWare 5. However, it's so awkward to use. It doesn't tell you what the correct answers are so you have to find them by trial-and-error. Also, there are no explanations for the answers.

I would have given the book five stars if not for the lousy writing style.

- a CNA, MCSE

You might argue about David's writing style, but one thing about his books is not arguable: The level of technical accuracy. I prepared for my CNA exam using this book cross-referencing it with the official Novell NetWare 5 on-line documentation, and all I can say is that this book is 99.9% accurate. I also had a chance to peek in the official Novell "white book" (training manual) for Course 560 and if I have to choose between the two, I would always go for David's book. All in all, it is a bit wordy and a bit silly at times, but it will definitely prepare you for the exam. So grab this book and some good test engine (Self Test BigRed or CNEQuizzr) and you can't fail. I should know - I passed my exam on 10/08/99!

Replete with environmental references, the authors find themselves extremely witty and amusing (which I feel is untrue). Unfortunately the writing style detracts from the real purpose of the book, becoming a CNA. This ~1000 page book could easily be condensed into ~500 pages without omitting a single fact or picture. Statements like, "Think of NDS as a friendly cloud of joy overlooking your network! [pg96]" can be quaint when uncommon (which they're not), but add absolutely nothing to the content. Also, other "hip" statements like "Very cool", references to Woodstock, the meaning of ACME in general, "Nothing like cooperation", etc. simply get in the way of the message (you may think I'm nitpicking, but they're on EVERY page). Synopsis: Will this book help you become a CNA? Absolutely. Does the style detract from the book conveying it's own message? Absolutely. Buy it because it's a wonderful source of information and will help you become a CNA, but skip it as soon as something else equally factual comes along. Sheets: MCSE. MCP+I, Network+, A+, CNA-5. P.S. I feel that the more technically experienced/educated you are the more the style becomes overbearing to the point of frustration.

While all books have problems, this book is no different, but it does cover all the material needed for the exam. The exercises are great hands on and the puzzles break the monotony of long study hours. This is the only book I used and I got all the questions right on my exam, I didn't use the CD but I did use one practice exam.

Simply the worst exam preparation book I've ever come across. What little useful info Mr. Clark presents could be condensed into 1/10 as many pages. This is a huge, irritating tome which will leave you wondering how Novell corporation could give their blessing to such a waste of paper. How many of your precious innocent trees were sacrificed for this monstrosity Mr. Clark? Seriously, don't waste your money, more importantly your time, on this book. Humour can indeed aid the learning process but there is such a thing as brevity (besides, none of Clark's drivel is at all funny or clever). This is one of those cases where less is more. Save yourself the shame you will inevitably feel after buying this book and realizing you've been had. How many budding Novell professionals have been stymied by this giant slap-in-the-face book? Seriously folks, it is your duty to our IT profession not to support such garbage.

You don't need to indulge in this kind of self-flaggelation to get your CNA. Do what I did, get a good concise reference book and purchase the Big Red Self Test, and take it over and over again until you've got it all down. You'll learn what you need to know in a fraction of the time it would take to actually read all of Clark's giant farse of a book (which, by the way, wouldn't adequately prepare you for actual exam by a long shot).

I'm at pg 500 out of 700 of this book. I have stuck with it, altho it is a waste of my time and money. I truly feel dumber for reading this book. I would just be mad tho, since I did pay for it.

I'm an MCSE, & I can say the Microsoft books may be dead boring, but at least they aren't filled with idiotic blabbering, "Very cool." etc. If you have read this book, you will understand. It actually has helped me learn the material, but it could have been cut down to 250-300 pages easily.

Once again, I can not believe this is the official Novell book.

I found this book to be good, but David Clarke tends to add fanciful fluff in an attempt to make the topic matter interesting. The book covers all the necessary info, lays it out pretty much as you will see on the exam, however, the author presents the material like a text book, not an exam cram book. In this way, you can potentially learn the material better and later use the book as a reference. Unfortunately this makes for a thick book that may take you longer to plow through. I can honestly say this book helped me pass my CNA exam the first time out. Oh course, it helped that I have 10+ years experience in NetWare and networking. The important point here is the book will cover everything, but you will need experience. Do the labs, puzzles, and sanple exam!

When I bought this book about 3 months ago, I was a complete NetWare 5 neophyte. I finished the book in about a month and bumped up to the CNA NetWare 5 level. However, actually getting through this book was harder than becoming competent in Novell software. Mr. Clarke has established himself as both an experienced technician and the world's most demented computer nerd to me-his idea that a simple NOS can save the world is an insult to every sane person over 3 years old in the world. If you read this book, prepare to hear the phrases "Sta-Puff man" "Big-Friendly Clound" "V-rooom!" and "Charging your supercar" ten million times per chapter. The worst part would undoubtedly have to be the fact that Mr.Clarke reserved well over 300 pages altogether babbling about a fanatical company ("ACME")which consists of people that have died hundreds of years ago with the sole purpose of saving humans from extinction by a race of aliens ("Alpha Centurarians) who love the Earth and are frustrated by the amount of corruption on Earth due to human error. Sounds ridiculous? It is. Then why did I rate this book at three stars? Despite Mr. Clarke's poor attempt at entertainment,he does cover a large amount of information in less than 1,000 pages (only about 700 omitting the appendices). Coverage of NDS, NDPS, the file system, connectivity, and security is very thorough. And you will actually find yourself laughing from time to time (not from the ACME babble, but from the fact that a grown man could actually put his name on something as disturbing as this.) So, if you have a big sense of humor like me and can make it though partially entertaining stories of stories of little fairy people and futuristic highways when you would rather be learning NW5 features then you should consider buying this book (the CD is useless).However, for the strict computer conservatives, Sybex is your best bet. And as for you, Mr. Clarke, my advice is to invest in a either becoming a stand up comedian or losing the supernerd fourth grade philosophies-and stay away from technical books until then.

I hesitated buying this book because of all the reviews saying there was to much fluff to this book. I was impressed with the book. It is a little overboard but the basics are covered well and it is a very good instructional book for someone new to Novell. I read this and the Clark notes book, and set up a server at home, and passed the test the first try. Butch Kiles MCSE MCP+I MCP/Win98 CNA