The focus of this interesting book is on infrastructure analysis and design. The intended audience is anyone who is involved in a Windows NT–based project. The book contains 17 chapters (divided into two parts) and four appendices.

Chapter 1 is an introduction. The author assumes the reader knows something about networks and PC technology and has access to Windows NT technical documentation. He describes a methodology he developed and incorporated into a project model. This model consists of four phases: design preparation; design; implementation preparation; and implementation. The book concentrates on the first three phases. Collins introduces a realistic case study, a multinational bank that wants to create a new global application. The rest of the book addresses the technical infrastructure needed to support this new application.

Part 1 covers the design preparation phase in seven chapters. Chapter 2 discusses elements of a technical infrastructure and includes a definition of what a technical infrastructure is. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on project management and project planning. Chapter 5 discusses business principles that guide the design and implementation of the project. Chapter 6 considers design principles. Chapter 7 looks at how to develop business and design principles. The last chapter of Part 1 discusses the difficult issues of requirements gathering.

Part 2, on the design and implementation preparation phases, contains nine chapters. Chapter 9 discusses network services. Chapter 10 talks about naming services. Chapter 11 considers Windows NT domain design, and chapter 12 looks at Windows NT groups. Chapter 13 discusses file and print services. Chapter 14 discusses the user environment. Chapter 15 addresses time services. Chapter 16 discusses naming services in more detail. Finally, chapter 17 looks at preparing for the actual implementation.

Appendix A contains sample business principles developed by the author for the case study. Appendix B contains case study design principles. Appendix C has three user logon scripts, written in Kixtart, for defining the user environment. Appendix D has a project Gantt chart for the case study.

The author has done a good job of organizing this book. Each chapter begins with a table describing the contents of the chapter and, if appropriate, how the chapter fits into the author’s project model. Each chapter ends with a summary.

I particularly liked the emphasis on developing both business and design principles to guide the project. The author correctly asserts that developing a good set of business principles is a must for any technical project to succeed. He returns to these principles again and again and introduces new ones as he develops the case study. To illustrate, the first business principle states that it must be possible to run the new application from any office in the world. For each principle, there are justification, implication, and issues sections. Design principles have a similar organization. One such design principle is “All file services will be provided by Windows NT servers.”

The book, of course, is oriented toward Windows NT, but does not ignore the Unix and Novell environments that are used by the case study firm. An excellent discussion of Windows Internet Naming Services and the Unix-based Domain Naming System (DNS) is found in chapter 10.

This book has enough information to enable readers to carry out a Windows NT–based infrastructure project, from the initial stages of requirements gathering and design to the early phases of implementation. The author has experience with this kind of project, and he summarizes his knowledge nicely.