5 comments about Building a Monitoring Infrastructure with Nagios.

1. The author clearly likes the product on the products own merits. The books is not written by a hack who was filling a void. He writes clearly and methodically explaining in detail why, what, how and when of Nagios. The index is very good and has allowed me to effectively use it as a reference in learning Nagios. I like some humor in my technical books and David does not disappoint me when he explains how to "ssh into his power strip" to do a little environmental monitoring.
   
   Nagios - in my opinion - is a killer-app with such flexibility as to be the "ultimate" monitoring tool. Learning it is a wise investment of anyone's time, and Josephesen's book is invaluable to understanding and exploiting all of Nagios's features... and yes, I am over the age of 13.



2. I use Nagios heavily at my company and as a result, I've purchased all of the available texts on the subject. This one is simply the best work on Nagios available right now. It's clear and succinct where even the online docs from the Nagios project can be confusing. It covers things that the No Starch volume barely touches on (WMI Scripting and Nagios) and honestly, the diagrams and code samples are clear and useful in real-world application.
   
   Really, buy this one. If you need another one, I would be surprised.



3. This book takes the fairly complicated matter of configuring Nagios for monitoring your network infrastructure and makes it straight forward. Kudos and many things to Mr. Josephsen.



4. It's well written, but it didn't provide much more insights and coverage than reading the existing documentation you can download for free. There are also some glaring gaps in its coverage. There's nothing about passive checks! And I don't think it was written before v3.0 came out.
   
   If you like written docs for stuff you reference often, it will be worth the money. But don't go to it with any significant troubleshooting problem.



5. Main benefit of this book is that it will teach you many things in a short time. You might want to purchase it if you want a quick start on Nagios, and don't plan to use Nagios on larger systems. Also, although the author's (brief?) style has some benefits, it also has some drawbacks.
   
   Things like distributed monitoring, fail-over, passive checks,... are barely touched. If you are installing Nagios for the first time, you probably won't miss these subjects elaborated, because you will want to have it running soon as possible. However, I think the Apress book covers these advanced topics much better, and gives a more comprehensive overview of Nagios. The decision is up to you. I preferred the lengthier book with more things explained, although it was a bit harder to read.
   
   One more thing that I disliked was that for Passive checks author references Chapter 2. I couldn't find anything about passive checks there, so I checked the Index. No mention of them there either. I gave this book a relatively bad review due to this kind of unclear issues and for the lack of distributed monitoring and failover coverage, which I think is very important for a monitoring system in a serious installation.
   
   As said, some things are better in this book than in Apress one (like ie. Windows check explanation), but in general, Apress book left a better impression on me.

5 comments about Developer's Guide to the Windows SharePoint Services v3 Platform (Charles River Media Programming).

1. I have read more than half of the book and am very disappointed with the content. He spends far too much time explaining how things were done in SharePoint Services v2 and then how they are different in v3. I was hoping for more information about how to do things in SharePoint v3 but there is not enough meat to actually get in and do anything.



2. For WSS v3, the new version of SharePoint product, it's not easy to find a good book. Yes, you can download the SDK. But somehow it's not a good start point for beginners! This book was the first one did a good job on providing guidance for the beginners of WSS developers. Even over, it show us many different aspect of programming for WSS, such as Event Receiver, Custom Field Type, and Web Part.
   But this book contain many typos error! The publisher did introduced many error!? Very often, you must go to the CD to find the correct code or Fig.
   But I still recommend this book. Very valueable! True.



3. Todd Bleeker is enthusiastic about SharePoint, and it shows. This book is a great resource for people wanting to get up to speed with programming in SharePoint 2007. Todd gives a lot of examples and lots of background on the subject covered. I'm not a developer and I could understand the book and was able to follow along and even use some of the examples.
   
   If you want to get your feet wet with SharePoint programming, you can't go wrong with this book.



4. I would recommend "Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 " instead of this book. That book feels more upto date with the subject.



5. The author is to be commended for getting this published as quickly as he did. For a time (first half '07) this was the best, most in-depth coverage of deep development of SharePoint features with .NET. However, these topics receive more current and relevant treatement in "Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Pattison and Larson) and I would recommend that book instead. Hence the three star rating.

5 comments about Data Model Patterns: Conventions of Thought.

1. I can understand why this book has gotten some mixed reviews. The author addresses many common modeling problems. But readers looking for instant solutions to those problems will probably be disappointed. Those looking for oop patterns are reading the wrong book. And anyone looking for a beginner's introduction to data modeling will be completely lost. But if you've been feeling as if your database designs could be better, but you're not sure how, you need this book.
   
   Mr. Hay covers many real-world modeling problems. His discussions of these problems give incredible insight into the thought process of a professional data modeler. That is the true value of this book.
   
   I first read this book about three years ago and now I am totally embarrassed by every database I created before. I've re-read it many times since and my copy is beaten and dog-eared. Thankfully, it's a hardcover book.
   
   Make sure you read all the footnotes in the book. Some of them are hysterically funny.



2. I've done some data modeling, and much more process modeling, so I was familiar with Mr. Hay's objectives with respect to data and restricting the model to logical representations of data, whatever that may be.
   
   About six chapters into this book, I realize that while I could continue through to the end, I would likely find this more useful as a companion to a problem. I think the majority of non-academic readers, software practitioners if you will, will extract the necessary value from owning this book given a specific objective, i.e. I have to develop a work management model from scratch, and these are my (current) business rules.
   
   The book covers so many kinds of models that it's entirely possible a reader will have no practical frame of reference, such as the chapter on accounting. Modern accounting software is primarily off-the-shelf, so developing a data model for it isn't something very common today. However, the smart developer understands that living "in the spaces between" software is a very good line of business, so to that end knowing what an ideal data model might have is certainly valuable ammunition when weighing vendor claims and evaluating solutions.
   
   Because it lacks that sort of accessible readability, I am withholding a star. I'd have withheld a half-star if it were possible; I believe the book has great value to a developer or analyst.
   
   Fred



3. Very satisfying reading experience. Starting off rudimentary and keying into a maturity withing 5 chapters - hats off to David.
   
   I am looking forward to his new book on meta data.



4. If you have any interest in modelling domains, then you've probably already read, or are planning to read, Martin Fowler's Analysis Patterns. The models here share some overlap with that book, but this is a gentler introduction, so I would recommend this book for a beginner, before they read the Fowler book. A more experienced modeller should probably consider this as a catalogue of off-the-shelf models.
   
   This book covers modelling enterprises - e.g. businesses and government agencies, and the relationships between their employees, organisational structures and the products and services they provide.
   
   The fundamental models applicable to enterprises are covered here: the business itself, its employees and their positions; the products they produce and the equipment used to produce them; the activities carried out to produce the products; and the contracts between a buyer and seller that deliver the products and services. Later chapters cover some more specific examples, including accounting, laboratories, and manufacturing.
   
   It is true that the models aren't very detailed, but that's the point of the book - for pretty much any enterprise, these models can be used as starting points, while covering most of the relationships that are likely to be encountered. It's true that you won't get any advice on actually converting the models to a database or an object oriented design, but that's beyond the scope of the book.
   
   While an expert modeller won't find the in-depth treatment they might be looking for, I would definitely recommend this to a beginner. Unfortunately, there's no insight into the process of decomposing a domain, although the last chapter demonstrates wide applicability of the models by applying them to a theatre. What you do get are lots of simple examples of the finished output, which will provide inspiration, even if you have no particular interest in the enterprise domain itself.



5. In his own data modeling consulting, David Hay discovered that for all enterprises, there were common patterns of entities and relationships in various topical areas, whatever the organization. So he set about capturing those ideas in very high-level data models, and he put them together in a book.
   
   This book is quite an intellectual accomplishment, because he has boiled down many different areas into their essentials and has captured those essentials. If you face a data modelling problem, it's likely that one or more of his patterns will work for you and jump-start your efforts.
   
   These are high level models, and don't take you all the way to database design. You'll still have a lot of design decisions to make. But the framework given in these models will help you explore your own problem to discover if you've covered all the eventualities that Mr. Hay considered in his work.

5 comments about Lisp in Small Pieces.

1. This is an excellent book on Lisp implementation. You'll get a lot out of it, whether you are interested in writing compilers and interpreters (for Lisp or any language) or whether you just want to see how Lisp works. It is the modern day successor to Allen's "Anatomy of Lisp".



2. An unexpectedly good book.

   If you're interested in implementation choices for Scheme and the Lisp family of languages, this is an amazing book. Its worth reading even if you never plan to implement a Lisp interpreter and just want to learn a bit of theory and history behind these languages.




3. I'm not a professional reviewer. But I program a lot, and for a living. After more than 15 years of experience in algorithm development and user interface design, to name some extremes, I get the feeling that "traditional" computer programming languages like C (C++, C#, Objective C) and Pascal (Modula, Oberon, ADA)
   and even oldtimers as Cobol and Fortran tend to develop, or rather mature, into languages getting closer and closer to Lisp, Algol, and their ultimate offspring, Scheme.
   This is not without reason.
   But although the many qualities of Lisp have long since been known in academia, they need time and, more important, good reference material, to find their way into the real world.
   Lisp programmers know the value of everything, but the cost of nothing, it is said. Christian Queinnec neatly fills the gap in our knowledge in a book that is a hard read because of the density of the content, but also a fun book because all the source is there (available through the Internet, of course) to experiment with.
   You will not only gain insight into the workings of your Lisp system. You will gain insight into the basic elements of computer programming languages and their reason for being, their implementation, and the benefits and costs they will bring you.
   All in all, one of the best books on Lisp I have ever almost, but not completely grokked.
   
   I sincerely believe that tomorrow's programming languages, whether they be called C** or Delphi 2010, will be closer to current Lisp than to current C or Pascal, and a way to efficiently implement these languages is available here and now.
   
   The book covers all standard material like direct interpretation, compilation towards a virtual machine using bytecodes, and compilation to C. New material is found in the chapter on macro's , a subject that has regained much interest of late. A broad variety of programming styles is used to illustrate all concepts.
   
   There is only one drawback to the book. It won't teach you Lisp, or Scheme. That is, unless you already know it.



4. This book is excellent. It is clear but not superficial at all.
   
   Queinnec explains from the basics of Lisp implementation (evaluation of S-expressions) to techniques for compiling into C. You will find very good advice on how to implement macros and continuations. If you want to implement Lisp, Scheme or any other language actually, buy this book!
   
   Also, there are exercises -- with answers! :-)



5. Nikoluas Wirth once said "language design is compiler design". This book is truly remarkable in providing a look behind the (LISP ) scenery. Everyone who write LISP progams should red it to get an understanding of the implementation and hence cost of the language features. Great reading!!!

No comments about Compilers: Principles, Techniques, & Tools with Gradiance (pkg) (2nd Edition).

2 comments about Google Guice: Agile Lightweight Dependency Injection Framework (Firstpress).

1. (DI) Dependancy Injection is critical to doing test driven development there are many DI frameworks but none are as simple to use, lightweight and as type safe as guice. The author does a very good job helping you get started using guice and even shows some advanced features of guice. If your into test driven development you owe it to yourself to check out how guice can make your life easier.



2. Google Guice is both the name of agile code, and an agile book. Just as agile development emphasizes light-weight processes and elevates YAGNI to a chant, Vanbrabant's style is quick, to the point, and covers all the important bits first and formost, only giving enough about non-essentials to alert you to them.
   
   Already in my Spring-dominated office I have had a manager and another developer, both conservative in their technologies, pick up the book, read it, and come back to me sold on trying out Guice in a project. Guice is that good; so is the book.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step--Version 2003 (Step By Step (Microsoft)).

1. I am a programming virgin and wanted to learn VISUAL BASIC.NET. I first purchased VB.NET programming for the absolute beginner and the SAMs Teach yourself VB.NET in 24h. These two books were good (SAMs Teach yourself VB.NET in 24h was better) but both emphasized typing in code rather than understanding the code. The explanations seemed lacking in comparison with the Microsoft VB.NET Step by Step book. The Step by Step book actually explained the code in better detail. I also found this book easy to follow and understand. This book was great.



2. As a casual programmer in VB I thought this book was good as a refresher for VB and a stepping stone into VB.Net. It is not a book for experienced VB programmers wanting to learn VB.Net. A lot of the examples are strictly VB while telling you some of the differences in VB.Net. Bottom line: If you are experienced in VB do not buy this book. If you are Mr. Joe Blow, "I program once in a while in VB, and need a refresher course, and I want to delve into VB.Net", by all means buy this book.



3. How many times do you have to read that, in order to create a menu item you have to
   Press down the arrow key
   ......
   and then
   Press down the arrow key
   ....
   and then
   Press down the arrow key
   
   ??!! the author can fill pages and pages with this kind of "step by step" instruction. It's not a matter of being new or not to VB .NET, it's a matter of expecting the author to assume that the reader has some common sense. Avoid this book!



4. This book is great to get your feet wet in VB.NET because it has great tutorials on how to do the basic things in VB. The teaching style is pretty good keeping a good pace through-out the book and almost every single explanation is very well written. Also, all code examples worked for me.
   The problem that I have with this book is that it fails to introduce the reader to the big picture. This book will show you how to do all this handy-dandy stuff and after reading it, you will easily be able to build your own applications but you wont have a true understanding of VB.NET. You won't have a clue how all of it works together wich will put a demper in your coding abilities. I would only recomend this book if you buy it along with another book such as; [...]



5. I have used several books to learn Visual Basic and have used it in writing programs. This book was a real treat. It filled in many gaps that were left by other books and even by college course work. The book is very clear and easy to use. The author goes step-by-step, teaching concepts and working through examples. There are sample programs included on CD or to download to make the process hands-on and understandable. I highly recommend it.

2 comments about Pro Netbeans IDE 6 Rich Client Platform Edition (Expert's Voice in Java).

1. I've bought this book hoping that it'll help me use the "platform", i.e. a set of reusable components that Netbeans itself is built with, to write my own app.
   
   Instead the book is basically a shrunk paper based version of the Netbean's own help.
   
   Absolutely worthless. Definitely returning it.



2. Eagerly anticpated book that was utterly disappointing. I had decided to make Net Beans my IDE of choice, but because of the lack of good documentation (including this book) I am going back to [...]

3 comments about S is for Sunshine: A Florida Alphabet.

1. S is for Sunshine is not an ordinary alphabet book. It's a unique alphabet book of the Sunshine State...Florida. What makes it unique are not the beautiful, pastel-colored illustrations by Michael Glenn Monroe, but the combination of narrative and expository passages for each letter of the alphabet. The simple, rhyming lines depict a particular characteristic of Florida, for example, A is for alligator. Along the sides of the page is a well-written descriptive passage explaining about the alligator and its habitat. The rhymes and illustrations are especially appealing to the younger child, however, the accompanying passages provide a rich history and facts about Florida for the intermediate reader. What a wonderful book for children!



2. This is my new favorite alphabet book to read to my 3 year old daughter. We both love looking at all of the pictures of the places we have been to and the items and animals as the relate to the state of Florida. Each page features a letter, a rhyme even small children can follow, and a beautiful picture. There are also sidebars where more in depth information on the pictures is provided for more advanced readers. Our favorites are N for Nasa, S for St Augustine, and of course W for Walt Disney World. I foud the sidebar information okay in content. The letter U is for underwater Aquarium and I thought that maybe some info on the state aquarium in Tampa would have been nice if it was provided but it was not. On the other hand the page for the letter Z for Zebra Longwing butterfly mentioned Butterfly World an attraction that is located just down the street from us. I think the book would have benefited from some more in depth informnation on places you could specifically visit. That said I think the author did an amazing job of matching letters with Florida concepts. X is always a tricky one. I would recommend this book to any child who wants to learn more about the state of Florida and especially to children learning the alphabet who live in Florida. This book is a wonderful way to learn about our state.



3. I bought this for my grandchildren, and really enjoyed reading it myself. Each page is in two parts -- the inside 2/3 of each page has words unique to Florida with beautiful illustrations for each letter of the alphabet, written in larger print and in language children can understand. The outside 1/3 of each page has smaller print and goes into detail about the words and pictures, expanding knowledge for curious children and adults. I highly recommend this book!

5 comments about Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

1. I find that the book doesn't agree with the title. It was good for some basic how-to Exchange things, but what I really wanted, was some in-depth instruction on getting the EAS up and running. What I got was VERY VERY basic, and if you run into any problems, you're SOL. It doesn't say anything about working EAS through a firewall, and it kind of blows past it saying that the guy likes using IMAP better. Well I'm sorry, but if I'm supposed to be "mastering" Exchange Server 2003 then I certainly need a bit more than the most rudamentary thing on such a new implement to Ex'03 as EAS.



2. First I support a web site with additions and corrections to the book. There's lots of information there, based mostly on comments and questions from readers. You can find the site at http://bgerber.com/Ex2003AddCorrect.htm. Page past the hot news section for a numbered list of very specific questions followed by answers.

   The comments that have been expressed about my book "Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003" are interesting. They seem to come from two basic types of readers: those that have a hands-on job to do and those focusing on the Exchange Server certification process.

   The book is for those who have a hands-on job to do -- install and run Exchange Server. Comments I receive from readers with that task, especially those starting anew with Exchange Server are almost always complementary. They also ask questions to which I usually respond quickly.

   Hands-on people looking for a more advanced book on Exchange Server 2003, should read Jim McBee's "Exchange Server 2003 24seven," also from Sybex. I was privileged to work with Jim on this edition of his book and am listed as a contributing author on the cover.

   People who are collecting facts for certification tests should turn to the many books on Exchange certification. There isn't time or space in a book the size of mine to deal with every detail of the Exchange system. For example, contrary to a comment by an earlier Amazon reviewer, you can actually upgrade an Exchange 5.5 system to Exchange 2000 or 2003, operate it successfully and ultimately remove 5.5 components without knowing that SRS, the Site Replication Service, participates in Exchange 5.5-Exchange 2000 or 2003 data replication. Certification is valuable, but it can't replace hands-on experience when it comes time to do a real job.

   I have successfully planned, installed and supported Exchange systems for a number of medium and large user-base clients for 10 years. I also do Exchange Server security breach forensics. As one with a set of hands-on jobs to do, I have written a book for that sort of person.




3. Maybe the content of this book is ok, but the writer has constant urge to put useless text lines and useless personal opinions between the technical explenations. This shouldn't be a story book ...

   Things get worse when on page 142 he still needs to explain the difference between FAT and NTFS.

   quote: "Setup displays a little gauge showing formatting progress. Formatting takes quite a
   bit of time."

   in this case, burning a book is ok ;)




4. I would hardly consider this book "Mastering Exchange" but the author does take the time to step you through all the property pages and settings so you at least get a basic idea of what it all means. You will have a solid basic understanding when you are done but you certainly won't be a master by any stretch of the imagination. I found several errors throughout the book specifically related to Windows and networking. The author should stick to Exchange because when the topic shifts to something else, I had my doubts about what I was reading. For instance, I believe the author stated that in an NT 4.0 Domain, if a PDC goes down, the other DC's elect a new one. WHAT!!!! Maybe a browser, but not a PDC. Its been a while since I read the book but I am pretty sure I read that in a side bar. As I said, overall, not bad if you what a basic intro to Exchange 2003. The title should be changed to Exchange 2003 basics.



5. This book has generally good easily digestible explanations for Exchange 2003. I really appreciate the informal down-to-Earth style and discussion of a lot of pieces. I was especially happy to see some good coverage of LDAP, IMAP, and POP configuration, which is seldom adequately covered in other Exchange books.
   
   Despite the excellent overview in many areas, I wish the book was more practical in real world situations. It is great to know about key technologies, which makes the book a worthy of perusal, but still we need to implement and deploy this stuff, which unfortunately involves bizarre tweaks and configurations combined with third party tools and maybe even scripting. I just don't get this practical real-world oriented sense from this book.
   
   One area that irked me quite a bit was coverage of security. There is some coverage of securing open insecure technologies like POP and IMAP, but only on the client. In the security chapter, there's a few paragraphs stating that security is a client issue and should not be covered in the scope of the book. I think it is important both to setup the security on the client and the server, so that the clients can use it, and so that potential hackers don't get passwords for domain accounts. The author does attempt to give a short blurb on how to setup SSL, but I found that the instructions did not work. I was probably missing some other pieces, Certificate Authority?
   
   In conclusion, overall decent coverage of Exchange 2003 with good explanations, but one needs more material, perhaps other books in order to put all the pieces together and get the job done.