# I think I lost money



## Deleted member 66267 (Feb 15, 2021)

I bought a book about networking and just received it. It's a general purpose book, it taught about TCP/IP and other stuffs in an easy enough way to understand for amateur people like me. It's not for someone wanted to go professional. I saw various CCNA books but I just don't like them so I choose this one.

I think if it's about network it's must be Linux. It turned out to be wrong. The book used Windows Server 2003 as the teaching environment! And it's no refund. I think I lost money now.

Will I setup a Windows Server 2003 VM to practice with this book? Absolutely no!

BTW, I saw the commands to have tools with the same name on FreeBSD machine, e.g: nslookup, route,...

I heard people said the Windows network stack is derived from FreeBSD. Could I use my FreeBSD machine to practice the examples on the book?

I don't want to waste money. The book is not cheap at all.


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## richardtoohey2 (Feb 15, 2021)

Networking concepts are similar across operating systems, but any of the GUI stuff will be Windows focussed.

The CLI tools might be similar enough for you to get the key ideas etc. but the Windows CLI tools can be quite limited compared to other operating systems.

But the milk is split so maybe try and sell it (the book not the milk!) to get some of your money back.


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## PMc (Feb 15, 2021)

failure said:


> BTW, I saw the commands to have tools with the same name on FreeBSD machine, e.g: nslookup, route,...
> 
> I heard people said the Windows network stack is derived from FreeBSD.


It certainly is. All current networking is shoplifted from Berkeley. So, if you have a Berkeley machine (Free- Open- Net- whateverBSD or maybe even MacOS), you don't need a book, because you have the original. Just get some cards, cables, vnet-jails etc. and start to try it out.


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## Snurg (Feb 15, 2021)

It's always a good idea to go to a physical bookstore, where you have actual opportunity to check a books' insides.

But honestly, Windows 2003 Server in 2021? That's kind of retro.


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## Jose (Feb 15, 2021)

I think the first few chapters of Stevens are exactly what you're looking for. Here's an excerpt from that page


> The machines used, as well as the versions of their variants of Unix, have all been updated, and the examples have been updated to reflect how these machines behave.  In many cases, examples were updated because OS vendors fixed bugs or added features, but as one might expect, we've discovered the occasional new bug here and there. The machines used for testing the examples in this book were:
> 
> Apple Power PC running MacOS/X 10.2.6
> HP PA-RISC running HP-UX 11i
> ...


Yeah, it's expensive, but it's worth the money.


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## tingo (Feb 15, 2021)

OP: How would you minimize your money loss? By trying to learn as much as possible from the book you bought or course.


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## a6h (Feb 15, 2021)

There're many threads in this Forums, on the topic of "recommended book about networking".
Most cited: Stevens and/or Tanenbaum. Did you (re)search through Forums before purchasing?


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## Deleted member 30996 (Feb 17, 2021)

I bought this in '99. It says Microsoft Networking but covers Establishing Dedicated Servers Linux (And other UNIX OSes). If there is something TCP/IP related it doesn't cover I don't know what it is. Comes with a real CD-ROM.









						Special Edition Using Ser.: Using TCP/IP by John Ray (1999, CD-ROM / Trade Paperback, Special) for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Special Edition Using Ser.: Using TCP/IP by John Ray (1999, CD-ROM / Trade Paperback, Special) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				




$9.99 US plus $5.37 shipping. 30 day returns.


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## Deleted member 66267 (Feb 17, 2021)

vigole said:


> There're many threads in this Forums, on the topic of "recommended book about networking".
> Most cited: Stevens and/or Tanenbaum. Did you (re)search through Forums before purchasing?


Unfortunately, no. And the book I bought is in my native language, not English.


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## fryshke (Feb 19, 2021)

Snurg said:


> It's always a good idea to go to a physical bookstore, where you have actual opportunity to check a books' insides.
> 
> But honestly, Windows 2003 Server in 2021? That's kind of retro.


Uh, most online book sellers have like first 20 pages accessible. First pages include table of contents.


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## ct85711 (Feb 19, 2021)

There is more value in the book than you may be taking into account.  Networking fundamentals haven't changed much over the years.  Sure, new wifi standards are coming out at a fast rate, same wtih higher speed ethernet/fiber; but how they work in general haven't changed all that much.  For example, ipv4 is still in use all over the world, and what you learn about ipv4 is easily expanded onto ipv6.  Beyond that, the OSI model hasn't changed any and is still used quite often.  Setting up a server still does relatively the same steps regardless of the version of Windows Server.   As setting up a DNS or DHCP server still has the same basic steps.  It is the same, when setting up AD on Windows Server.  Sure, newer version of windows may have additional prompts/options, but the base stuff hasn't changed much.


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## Deleted member 66267 (Feb 20, 2021)

fryshke said:


> Uh, most online book sellers have like first 20 pages accessible. First pages include table of contents.


No. Depending on the specific vendor. Some allow me to have a quick look. Some just don't.
Most books in my country have table of contents at the end of them, to be fair.
English books or books translated from English usually have table of contents at the beginning of them, though.


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## recluce (Feb 24, 2021)

Snurg said:


> It's always a good idea to go to a physical bookstore, where you have actual opportunity to check a books' insides.
> 
> But honestly, Windows 2003 Server in 2021? That's kind of retro.


Retro? I currently work for a large government-related corporation where Windows Server 2008 is still somewhat of a standard and 2003 is not uncommon in production... yes, yes, I know.


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## a6h (Feb 24, 2021)

Snurg said:


> But honestly, Windows 2003 Server in 2021? That's kind of retro.


OT on "_retro_": I don't bring up Cobol, but they're Institutions around the world, (still) are using Turbo Pascal 7.0 and/or Delphi enabled programs.


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