I've bought almost a dozen books about Windows NT and TCP/IP for my job and to prepare for the MCSE TCP exam. This book is by far the best of them for overall coverage of TCP/IP in the NT environment. It's not sold as an exam prep book but I found it much more useful for exam prep than the several books I bought that supposedly were for that. Buy this one first. You probably won't need any others.

I've been a UNIX admin for about ten years. Hunt's crab book has pretty much lived on my desk since it came out. I've got NT boxes sneaking in the back door now and needed to learn the NT TCP environment fast. This book gave me what I needed. It's going to end up living on my desk too.

If I could buy only five books to help me run my network, Windows Nt Tcp/Ip Network Administration would be near the top of that list. (Another would be Minasi's Mastering NT Server 4.) The advice is detailed and practical, the writing is down-to-earth, and it's obvious that the authors are deeply familiar with the protocols and applications they are writing about. I start with this book first when I have a TCP-IP question--even before TechNet, because Hunt and Thompson give you the real skinny, not the "company" answer. Also--and this is rare for technical titles--this book is carefully-edited and a pleasure to read.