Most of this book is about general troubleshooting practice (keeping records, testing possibilities, and eliminating them one by one) and about procedures unique to fixing problems in NetWare. Clarke endorses specific products (for example, he cites AMP tools and connectors as the best he's worked with and the least likely to cause trouble), which is the kind of information new CNEs need.

The author attacks troubleshooting generally, describing NSEPro and other diagnostic tools, and then moves on to particular trouble spots. He devotes entire chapters, full of hints and procedures, to network interface cards, hard drives, client machines, and printers. He then takes a turn for the theoretical--also part of the CNE exam--to discuss network topologies and protocols in depth. An extremely handy appendix correlates exam topics to specific pages in the book. Quiz questions appear throughout the text, and a companion CD-ROM includes a database of I/O card properties and a test simulator.