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47 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 A great Cisco reference book!Jun 13, 2000
By Kevin Long
I passed the CCNA today, partially due to this book (although the test study guides were more useful for that purpose). I'm new to IT, coming from a completely unrelated field. This book isn't the best introduction to networking and Cisco I found (I'd recommend Myhre's CCNA Certification book for that), but I know this will be my most useful reference book as I begin my IT career. It's full of information and laid out in an accessible format. I was truly a beginner when I picked up this book, and when I finished it I had a good grasp of routers, switches, IOS, and the OSI model. I'm sure this is a great book to get if you're familiar with networking but new to Cisco. If you're really green (as I was) and in pursuit of your CCNA, you'd do well to try Myhre's book first.
33 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 Very elementary introduction to CiscoJun 05, 2001
By Dr. Lee D. Carlson
This book is an introduction to Cisco technology and Cisco's IOS operating system. It also instructs the reader on how to deal with Cisco routers, switches, hubs, and access servers. The first chapter starts with an overview of the Internet and how Cisco technology has positioned itself in the Internet explosion. The discussion is very general, and defines the terminology and basic network configurations currently of use in the Internet and networks in general. A listing of the SOHO, midrange, and backbone routers is given along with brief descriptions of each. Access switches and Catalyst switches are also discussed, and the authors are careful to distinguish between access switches and LAN switches. This is followed in Chapter 2 by a very elementary overview of networking and is written for the absolute beginner. The OSI reference model is discussed in detail, along with an overview of Ethernet, Token Ring, and ATM network technologies. WAN trunk technologies are also covered very quickly, with T1, T3, Frame Relay, and VPN discussed. The discussion of TCP/IP is fairly detailed and a should be very informative for those exposed to this protocol for the first time. The chapter ends with an overview of IP addressing, and again, at a very understandable level. Both of the first two chapters could be skipped by a reader with more preparation. My interest in this book was from a network modeling perspective, so I did not read Chapter 3 since I was not interested in Cisco certification. Chapter 4 gives a good overview of Cisco routers, and shows how to log on to Cisco routers directly. A quick discussion of router security is given in this chapter along with an overview of hardware. The later half of this chapter, and the next chapter on configuring routers, are written more for the network administrator, with a thorough treatment given. Chapter 6 covers switches and hubs, and the treatment is fairly general, with a detailed introduction to firewalls. How to configure firewalls to deal with intrusion and denial-of-service attacks is treated very well. Particularly helpful was the discussion of the Cisco PIX firewall and the Adaptive Security Algorithm. The chapter ends with a quick overview of VPNs. Chapter 7 begins the discussion on network design, and the authors do a good job of explaining how routing protocols succeed in delivering packets to the correct destination. Although non-mathematical, the discussion on insuring loop-free routing is a fairly good one, and introduces the reader to hold-downs, split horizons, and Poisson reverse.The discussion on routing protocol architectures is fairly helpful, for it discusses distance-vector routing and link-state routing. A fairly good overview of the Cisco routing protocols is given, wherein IGRP and EIGRP are discussed, along with OSPF and BGP. Performance issues with these routing protocols are not discussed however, unfortunately. The next chapter on network management is very helpful for those who need to understand how networks are monitored for performance. The SMNP protocol is discussed along with how MIBS collect, poll, and aggregate network information. A detailed diagram of the Cisco private MIB hierarchy is given, showing how it is broken into four subgroups. In addition, the authors show how SNMP commands can be used to set thresholds for a particular SMNP variable. The use of traps to report alarms is discussed nicely also. The authors then move on to a discussion of RMON probes in switched networks. They explain effectively why the incorporation of the RMON probe directly into the switch's hardware can insure visibility across switched networks. The chapter ends with a detailed discussion of Ciscoworks2000, CWSI, and NetSys Baseliner. The later is a modeling tool used for baselining by the use of RMON probes and IOS device accounting. Chapter 10 is a detailed discussion of how Cisco implements security into their devices. The authors outline access list and firewall security strategies, along with the AAA security framework. The two security protocols in AAA, TACACS and RADIUS, are treated in great detail.Unfortunately, the security protocol Kerberos is only given scant discussion, even though IOS includes Kerberos commands in its AAA framework.The CiscoSecure ACS package is also discussed thoroughly. The chapter ends with a short overview of dynamic access lists. The next chapter covers how to design networks using Cisco hardware.The three-layer hierarchical design model and the consequent deployment of hierarchical topologies is discussed as a superior design strategy over flat network topologies. The authors give a good discussion on the access, distribution, and core layers. Design methodologies, such as redundancy,load balancing, topology meshing, and backdoor and chain configurations are discussed in detail. There is also a short discussion on QoS. The chapter ends with an overview of logical network design, including IP addressing strategies, and DNS. The last chapter of the book considers network troubleshooting, with the discussion geared toward the actual steps taken to pinpoint network problems, such as host IP configuration and connectivity problems. A detailed treatment of the most common Ethernet statistics is given and a good discussion of troubleshooting WAN links. The book serves well as an elementary introduction to networking via Cisco hardware products and should server well those who are approaching this subject for the first time. As someone interested in network modeling,I found the book helpful mostly in the discussions on network management and network security. The book will pave the way for more advanced reading on the subject.
38 of 41 found the following review helpful:
A "Must Have" book for both the beginner and professional.Jan 21, 2000
By Thomas Ostrowski
"theostrowskis"
For the beginner this book fills in all the holes left out by the many different study guides and training materials available for the CCNA exam. Terms and definitions are very abundant and are located right along side of the terminology being discussed. Tom Shaughnessy assumes that the reader knows nothing about Cisco products and takes you from A - Z on routers, switches, hubs, and much more. After reading this book the study book I used was more of a review guide. Also a great book for review of networking essentials. For the professional this is a great book to have in your reference library. This book is not a study guide. It contains no practice exams, questions or exercises. When it's time to get back to the basics, this is the book to have!
19 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Easy reading for a technical subjectMar 18, 2000
By jay
This book is incredible. It explains everything you need to learn as a beginner in the internetworking arena. I used Lammle's CCNA book (very good) and the Cisco CCNA Training kit, along with other material to learn Cisco and Internetworking for the CCNA Test. I could have save a lot of money if I had adquired this one first. My favorite is this book, and along with any free cramsession study guide from the net & the Sybex e-trainer simulator, Routersim, or a router, should be more than enough to pass the CCNA and get you started in the internetworking arena.
18 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 Wait for 3rd edition; 2nd ed's errors outweigh strengthsDec 01, 2001
By Richard Bejtlich
"TaoSecurity"
I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I am not a Cisco guru but I am fairly well versed in LAN technologies and protocols. I read "Cisco: A Beginner's Guide, 2nd Edition" (CABG:2E) to learn about the products and services offered by the world's networking leader. I hoped to recommend CABG:2E to my junior network security analysts. Unfortunately, the book's error count makes it too confusing for networking novices. Those who are experienced enough to recognize the book's problems probably don't need to read it.
Reading a technical book is an issue of trust. I can tolerate a few errors. Several errors make me uneasy. Multiple errors make me question the entire work; the authors have lost my trust. I didn't lose complete faith in CABG:2E, but I was uneasy. For example, p. 74 says TCP sequence numbers count packets; they actually count bytes of data. On p. 75, the authors imply that SYN and FIN are the only TCP "code bits," omitting URG, PSH, RST, and ACK. On p. 71, SMTP is listed as a UDP protocol while SNMP is associated with TCP; they should be swapped. P. 75 oddly states "the TCP connection process is often referred to as the 'three-way handshake' because the second step involves sending the receiving station two TCP segments at once." How about SYN - SYN/ACK - ACK as three packets, hence a three-way handshake? The authors have a lot of trouble understanding denial of service attacks as well. On p. 280 they equate DoS to sending "infinite emails" (?) and on p. 289 they invent the term "FINflood" to explain why Cisco CBAC tracks TCP finwait-time. (No such "FINflood" attack exists.) P. 553 mentions "FINwait" as another (nonexistent) DoS method. Finally, I'll pin one early error on an editor or spell checker; p. 38's mention of "du jour" standards should say "de jure." I wouldn't be so concerned with these errors in a book for advanced users, since I imagine experienced readers would notice and discount them. I can't expect "beginners" (the target audience) to recognize these mistakes.
Overlooking the book's problems, CABG:2E includes a lot of very useful information. I enjoyed learning about EtherChannel, VLANs, H.323, SIP, SANs, and RMON. NAT, NAPT/PAT, routing protocols, QoS, and designing networks are all well covered. The authors consistently define new terms as soon as they appear, and the definitions are uniformly clear. The network blueprints in the book's center are enlightening, and the many excellent diagrams, figures, and tables greatly add to the reader's learning experience.
Despite this book's drawbacks, I'm keeping it on my recommended reading list. When I find a book that offers a better introduction to Cisco, I'll remove CABG:2E. If you choose to read the book, and you're a beginner, be sure to ask a guru if you feel you've found a mistake. Otherwise, wait to read a corrected third edition. (Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publisher.)
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