The simple book is an attractive title for a book that deals with a somewhat inaccessible subject. The title seems a logical choice after Rose’s earlier The open book [1], on Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), but it perfectly fits the current work. This simple, unassuming book is written in a pleasant, casual style. It does seem that it was put together rather hastily, regrettably with some sloppy typography and an ad hoc structure.

The book gives the reader a good feeling for the basic problems and the terminology of network management. After an informal overview of the seven-layer OSI reference model and the OSI view of network management, it continues with a discussion of the main features of the Internet suite of protocols. The longest chapter (chapter 5) discusses the main features of the simple network management protocol (SNMP).

The text is richly spiced with amusing nontechnical anecdotes from an insider of the TCP/IP battles. It is a great quick introduction to management techniques for TCP/IP, and can safely be recommended as such. For a more thorough discussion of TCP/IP, however, Comer’s book is the preferred source [2].