Glenn Fleishman | Adam Engst
1 Will suit almost everyone
This little book provides a lot of information. Basically, it provides a simple walk-through of installing and setting up a wireless network.
It starts by comparing old and new Airport base stations, Airport Extreme, Airport Express and non-Apple stations. It then goes on to guide you, step by step, through setting up a simple network, securing it and installing a shared printer.
The book progresses to more complex tasks such as connecting to your ISP by broadband or dial-up connection, configuring DHCP and Panther Internet sharing, printer sharing and how to map individual computers and ports onto private networks without causing disruption to your ISP's network.
It covers the use of base stations as repeaters and how to set up networks with wired backbones.
The book covers 99% of what users want. However, I can only give it four stars because I seem to be one of the other 1%. Airport can support a few other tricks, but you have to look elsewhere for them!
2 Install a Secure Wireless Network Quickly
Apple's AirPort has been out for about five years. During that time it has been improved and expanded as the technology improved and standards were developed. This new book is on using the AirPort to its maximum advantage.
Glenn Fleishman edits blog on Wi-Fi, is a writer for the Seattle Times, TidBITS and InfoWorld, Macworld and the New York Times. He knows whereof he speaks. He also has a quick and easy writing style that conveys quite a bit of information almost painlessly. He is particularly good at explaining what appear to be the small details, but which really effect how successful the installation will be.
I also liked his approach to securing the network. As time goes on, more and more people seem to get a kick out of hacking into networks, usually harmlessly, but not always. It's a lot easier to design in security from the beginning than it is to go back and try to implement it later.
3 Simple wireless security walkthrough
I've read a number of books on wireless security. None have made it as plain and simple as this one. Even though the title says AirPort the text covers any wireless router. The illustrations and screenshots are focused on the Mac AirPort and AirPort Express hardware, but the basics remain the same. A must buy for anyone looking for easy and practical walkthrough of basic wireless network security.
