This books is awful. The SNMP tools provided on the CDROM do not load up properly. The source code does not address anything new or clever that you can't get from the MSDN. Save yourself the trouble of returning it (look elsewhere).

I bought this book because of the title and I like O'Reilly books - concise and to the point.

This book is well written, concise and to the point. Part I contains an easy to read intro to SNMP. Part II contains some good info on the NT SNMP services and writing extention agents.

HOWEVER, I was disappointed on the coverage on the management API. Why? Because this API is obsolete. WinSNMP is now the standard, is available now and will come with NT 5.0. Now I am not a great fan of the WinSNMP API (you can just tell it is from Microsoft - badly designed API and more complicated than it needs to be). Thank goodness there is SNMP++ from HP - an SNMP C++ class library which is available for free on multiple platforms including NT. SNMP++ on NT actually uses WinSNMP.

I'm glad I did the research on SNMP packages for NT. If I had followed this book blindly I would have ended up with a management application that may not run when NT 5.0 comes out.

This would be a great book if it was updated with the WinSNMP and/or SNMP++ API.

I was tasked with the job of developing an SNMP agent. I knew what the acronym stood for, and that was about it. The more I found out, the more I realized I had to do. I am still working on my agent development, but this book has gotten me well on my way. I have written an enterprise MIB, loaded it in the NT registry, and have a .dll which I modelled from this book... I still have a bit of work to do, but my MIB browser is recieving data that I programmed the windows NT SNMP service to send!! GREAT examples! the CD has been worth its weight in gold!

I am not sure who this book the 'committee' wrote this for, but I can think of no one. More like a hodge-podge collection of Internet clippings somewhat related to Java & Macs, interspersed with useless code. It is sad because the Mac market needs a Java book covering getting started and the many options and tools Apple has provided the Java student & developer.

I am sorry I wasted my money & was responsible for the deaths of the trees that made it!

This is probably the worst technical book that I have read. Its more a collection of papers than anything else, and much of the content is trivial. Beginning progrmmers would find nothing in here. Advanced programmers will probably find a few nuggets of information that are useful, but they are few and far between.

If you are looking for an excellent book on Java on the new Macintosh operating system OS X, this is one to get. The writing style is well done and the book, in terms of content, is well thought out. I am enjoying the authors coverage of pure Java vs Mac OS X specific issues in particular. Keep up the good job.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Nearly complete coverage of equipment needed for off-road driving. Techniques, and a list of suppliers. This book is far better than other newer titles available on the save subject. This book needs to be updated!

This is not a book for you if you are a Visual C++ developer, and looking for material which will help you do better event logging. The event logging API is same as in MSDN or VC help. Didn't give me anymore insight than the help files provided by VC.

This book is primarily a re-hash of the MSDN documentation on event logging as included in the platform SDK. It is useful in that it constitutes a printed version of that material, but it offers very little really new information. Some of the sidebars add interesting tidbits though. From a development perspective this book offers some valuable information and source code examples, however be warned - once you get to the deep end you are left to your own devices.
The book gives reasonably clear guidelines as to how to read event log records but very sketchy details on how to decode them. In short this book does **not** continue where the MSDN leaves off, which is a shame since the general style of the book is very accessible. The chapter on auditing and security could well have been omitted - it sits uneasily with the rest of the book's contents.
The source code CD that is included provides a number of trivial example programs and copies of commercial event log related programs that appear to all be available on the 'net, but the example programs are so trivial as to be useful only for cut and pasting of event log API calls.

I rate this book three stars because it is accessible and comprehensive. It does not merit a higher rating as it is not comprehensive enough for developers and does not appear to be sufficiently oriented towards the requirements of an administrator.

This book addresses the event logs that are created by Windows NT and Windows 2000. There are three types of event logs which can be. All are security-relevant and can provide testimony about improper system activity. The book provides good coverage of the subject.

Logs are stored in system areas of the hard disk such as \winnt\system32\config and have recognizable names such as SecEvent.evt. Unfortunately they are not easily observed with the event viewer provided with Windows NT or 2000. Third party software is helpful to make sense out of the event logs. In complex networks with many event logs to monitor it becomes essential. The CD-ROM provided with this book includes a great collection of event viewers.

For the reader that would like to hack some code together for event viewing the book provides Visual Basic and other language support for this purpose.

Despite the great support that this book gives for native event log examination it misses an important point by not providing the capability to look at event logs that are not live. This is a clear need for event reconstruction and forensic applications.

O'Reilly books have an animal theme. This one features a line drawing of a beaver on the cover. What an appropriate choice - beavers do logging too.

The author dredges-up every old, discredited shriek about guns. The author clearly believes that guns contain evil spirits that leap out, take possession of the owner, and turn him/her into a drooling mass murderer.

Save your money. Better: join the Science Fiction Book Club. At least there you can buy good fantasy.

The subject of firearms is a controversial one and articles arguing for and against all too often drown the reader in the authors' biases and emotions. To his credit, the author has tried to be impartial and objective (but not quite succeeding). There are a lot of facts and figures here but they are badly organized and the conclusions and arguments don't seem to take into account the increasing lawlessness of society today.

The hard facts are that criminals will always be able to get firearms, being already in contempt of law by their very profession. This and other important aspects of the equation such as education (we are far more likely to encounter a firearm in daily life than ever) are left out. A more balanced study and discussion would have made it a better book.

J. Murray includes a lot of data and anecdotes, but little references for his work. Good reading for "preaching to the choir", but lacks substance for any rational discussion. Also, the reading is very confusing and difficult to follow his points.