Customer Reviews

Webmaster Administrator Certification Exam Guide (Certification Series)

***

In contrast to the previous glowing recommendation for this book, I cannot, in good faith, give my stamp of approval. In fact, if this is all you are expected to learn to become one of Net Guru's Certified Internet Webmaster Administrators, then the certificate is hardly worth the paper it is printed on.

Back to the book. This volume is rife with errors. Not surprisingly, it is also full of typos, including some instances where multiple sentences have been run together in a confusing mess. The book has a lot of thump factor (960 pages), but much of the content is a group of examples of how to set up a particular flavor of server.

The book is filled with page after page of files on UNIX based web servers. While this might seem like a nice addition, the fledgling webmaster would most likely find it maddening that he has to wade through page after page of printed files without a guide map. The files that are printed out help add to the thump factor. In all fairness, there are some parts of this tome that spell out the exact UNIX commands necessary to set up a server, but be prepared to spend a lot of time in a UNIX book to supplement this `quick setup' with real knowledge.

The biggest problem with this book, however, is the age of the material. Considering the number of typos, this was a rush job. Apparently there was not enough time to include newer information. Most of the HTTP content is based on version 1.0 and the Windows NT material is completely out of date.

If you are looking for a book to pass a test and get a certificate, this might suffice. If you are looking for useful information on how to become a knowledgeable webmaster, I would turn the other way. There are a few nice tools on the CD-ROM (SATAN, COPS, etc.), but you can find these tools free on the Internet.