One of the key problems when something goes wrong on a network is knowing where and how to start looking for the problem. This book is a good place to start. Apart from anything else it tells you which tools are useful for dealing with which sort of problems. Always a big help when you are dealing with something which is not part of your primary work.

One of the things I did like about the book was the way it didn't neglect the boring but important hardware level - including cabling problems, which in my experience are all too often overlooked. From there the book moves on through the different levels of the network including device driver problems, TCP and UP packets, software connectivity and application level programs.

The best way to read this book is to scan it through from cover to cover, so that you have an idea of where to look in it when something goes wrong. However, a good case can also be made for installing, and using, at least some of the measurement tools at an early stage. As the author correctly points out, unless you know how your network normally behaves, you aren't like to spot trouble early enough to nip it in the bud.

The only caveat I have is to warn readers that none of the tools are dealt with in depth, because that is not the purpose of the book. However, the tools are covered in sufficient depth to get you up and running with each tool.

Definitely a useful book.

(book supplied for review by ACCU)

Alan Lenton
5 November 2004

Network Troubleshooting Tools
by Joseph D Sloan
0-596-00186-X
O'Reilly 346pp US$39.95

Return to the reviews page

Back to the Phlogiston Blue top page

If you have any questions or comments about the articles on my web site, click here to send me email.