Networks Books

I was a little disappointed in this book, I thought it was a list of things to do. It was more like vague suggestions with web sites to check out. Several of the web sites were no longer working. I didn't find a lot of new information that I have not already read about. This is more of a beginners guide for going green. I would have gotten a lot more out of it several years ago. So if you are just starting to find options for going green, this is a book for you.

Most people want to do whatever they can to make the world a better place and protect the Earth. For them, marching in demonstrations or engaging in direct action is not an option. What to do? In subjects ranging from Air to Water to Food to Global Warming, this book lists many web sites with more information to get the reader involved in protecting the environment.

Perhaps the reader just wants to find out what sort of recycling facilities are in their town. One of their first stops should be to www.earth911.org. To look for reusable or biodegradable diapers, visit www.organicbebe.com. The Wildlife Conservation Society (www.wcs.org) has a very distinguished record in conserving endangered species. For those who have compost heaps, Starbucks will give you their coffee grounds. Details are at www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost, or talk to your local manager.

A handy wallet card on produce and pesticides called "The Shopper's Guide to Pesticides" (bring it with you when shopping) is available from www.foodnews.org. A good site on global warming is www.climatestar.org. The Busy Person's Guide to Greener Living can be found at www.greenmatters.com. Do you have stuff you no longer need that someone else may want? Before that trip to the landfill, visit www.freecycle.org. Adopt a lobster (and help ensure a continued supply of lobsters) at www.lobsters.org, the Lobster Conservancy.

This is a wonderful book. It's small (it really can fit in your back pocket), it's well laid out, and the reader can pick their level of involvement. It is very highly recommended. Saving the environment does not get much easier than this.

Whether you are young or old, rich or poor, environmentally challenged or conscious, teacher or student, computer savvy or not - you will like this book. It provides real-life resources and contacts, anecdotal examples and insight on how YOU, the reader, can easily help sustain Mother Earth. Great for students of all ages!

As is the list of environmental problems so overwhelming and the scale so global, so is the feeling that one person can't make a difference. And, even in the trying, the choices are so many and the information so contradictory, that it's hard to know where to start. Here, at last, is the logical successor to "50 Simple Things...," better, more evolved, and yet easier. A wealth of choices that can be tailored to match what you feel you CAN do now, what you MIGHT feel you can do later, and what you SHOULD be telling your friends-- in short, a compendium of answers on a scale that any of us can comprehend.

This little book is simply amazing! It is a wealth of information,contacts and web sites regarding the environment and ways we can do our part to help. It is like the spark of desire, that hopefully, ignites the fire of action, encouraging us to seek out and "embrace a more environmentally friendly lifestyle". It is witty, informative and easy to navigate. A perfect gift and an exceptional manual for a meaningful life.

Just purchased a wheel and this book will help me with the how-to in using it.

This book provided wonderful inspiration for wheel thrown pieces. When you want to create but are at a loss for a goal, this book will release your creative talents.

I loved this book! Bill has a unique talent for sharing his knowledge so both the experienced potterr and the novice will learn. I highly reccomend it.

This is a great book to learn how to do pottery. Bill Van Gilder explains fully how to make the different pieces. The photography is great in helping to see how to do what Bill is explaining. The recipe for clear glaze is incorrect (the ingredients add up to 118%) There should not be dolomite in the recipe. Dolomite is for high fire glazes, not mid range. The recipe for red raspberry (beautiful color) should be 7% instead of 3.7 with a question mark. Poor editing of the recipes. Those are the two mistakes I've had to deal with so far.

I had seen one episode of Bill van Gilder's show on DIY Network and walked away with at least 3 great ideas for improving my skills with clay. I bought this book and brought it to my pottery class and several other students and the teacher all went out to get their own copy. The projects give very clear instructions and photos, telling you exactly how much clay to use. There are useful techniques to learn with every project. There are even glaze recipes for the glazes used in the examples in the book.

This is a book that everyone interested in wireless technologies must read. It clearly explains the major concepts, provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation together with useful practical advice. Even though I had been familiar with the concepts I enjoyed reading it and recommend it to anyone seriously interested in mobility.

This book is all you need to know about the wireless Internet, covering everything from radio signaling to devices and applications.

Rhoton has a talent for explaining complex topics at about the right level - the discussion is easy to understand, but not too elementary. If you have something to do with wireless data, I recommend you read this book.

It covers almost all of the bases that I can think of and many that I never would. I love the applications that the author uses. After spending over [money] on other wireless books, I finally found the one that actually taught me something. What's great about this book (unlike the others) is that it doesn't assume you have any background. The explanations are extremely descriptive, so you know what's going on. I'm not a total tech person, so there were a couple of chapters I had to read a couple times just to make sure I got it, but overall, this has to be the best wireless book I've ever seen!

What I loved most:

1) It's written in English, not "geek".

2) It's practical.

3) You don't need a crane to pick it up. ;-)

The Wireless Internet Explained is well worth the money. Mr. Rhoton has made an invaluable contribution to the new economy with a very readable book that explains, in very plain English, all aspects of wireless technologies. The book flows smoothly enough for you to read it at the beach, but it contains so much critical information that you should bring it back to your office. The most compelling parts point out the differences between mobile applications and their traditional counterparts.

A good book, clearly written with a lot of useful figures.
Even if there is no issue treated in depth, the 250 pages cover almost every important technology in the wireless arena.
You can use it as a starting point to know about standards, acronyms and all the related wireless technologies.
At the end of each chapter, Bibliography and Related Web Sites are presented to allow you complement the issues explained in the chapter.
Chapter 6 is my favorite. It introduces, in a very organized way, the wireless security theme. The chapter is full of illustrative figures, and almost every relevant area is covered.
Additionally, there are several useful comparative charts, and various taxonomies are used to structure the book.
Finally, a special mention to the coverage of smartcards, a lot more comprehensive than the ones found in similar books.

hi my name is Trisha, im 16 and and im really excited for aaron because he is coming to lacrosse soon! and i cant wait to see him! he looks really cute in this calendar, so i think its 5 stars !!!

Aaron is so cute,and this calendar is so HOT!
AND ROCK!
aaron is awesome and the world best singer in the world and i really like this calendar,OH this is best calendar in the world....I really like it aaron is rock and oh its so HOT HOT HOT AND HOT..=)
i love aaron carter =)
This is REALLY GOOD!=D
lOVE.Aino-Maaria

HEY I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I RATED THIS ITEM 5 STARS BECAUSE IT ROXS AND STELLARBOY HERE LOOKS SO BUT SO HOT. BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT HAS THE GREATTEST PICS OF HIM, AND BECAUSE IF YOU ARE A TRUE AC FAN THEN YOU WOULDN'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD, NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT COSTS, LIKE ME, I WOULD STILL BUY IT IF IT WAS MORE THAN [price]BUCKS, SO IF YOU R A TRUE AC FAN THEN YOU WOULD GO AND BUY BECAUSE IT HAS GREAT PICS OF AARON, AND YOU WOULS ALSO GO AND BUY NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT COSTS!!!!
PEACE!!!! I LUV AC 4EVA!!!!
ACZ FAN ALWAYS

I LOVE AARON CARTER, HE IS SUTCH A CUITE!!
BUY THIS WALL CALENDER NOW!

All you Aaron Carter fans if you don't have this calendar then you better get it soon. It has tons of Aaron Carter pictures and keeps you on schedule at all times. If you like this 13 year old pop star hottie then this calendar is the perfect thing for you. Rebecca

I can't believe I've had this book all these years and I've only finally gotten around to writing a quick review of it NOW. Suffice to say, it's a stumper. It was ground-breaking when the original web comic came out almost a decade ago, and remains as fresh-creative-exciting and charming today as it did today.

I would love to see a VOLUME TWO! That seems unlikely, on paper, but you can always see the poor cousin online version. Not the same for bedside reading, tho.

Charly, kiddo, yr still batting 100 or 400 or whatever is a good number for American baseball players to bat. It's not like percentages, is it? 100 doesn't equal everything, does it? I never understood numbers. Heck, I'm a WORD man, not a numbers man.

dig it out, it's worth it,
=link

I read Charley Parker's "Dinosaur Cartoons" and wanted to see what else he did. This book is beautiful. And the website, zark.com is spectacular. A must-read and a must-see.

In most cases, a comic book is done on paper, then converted into a virtual comic book. In this case, a virtual comic goes onto paper! The book contains the entire Book One of Argon Zark, a humorous comic book for those who enjoy and understand humor about the internet and computers. The characters are lovable and the plot is one of the best I've yet to see in a series comic book! Great pictures and very enjoyable. A must read!

ARGON ZARK! is a really well done book. It was originally done to be an all digital on-line comic, but there were so many people saying that it deserves to be something that requires...

No electricity required! No waiting for the server to connect! No download time! No RAM requirements! No software conflicts!

...and something that...

Won't crash or freeze! Is Y2K compliant! Is lightweight, portable, bendable, tactile! Take it on the bus, train, or airship! Read it under the covers with a flashlight!

...so, that is what he did and it turned out great and to be a big success!

Take it from someone who has read it and tried to figure out how he did it so well, you MUST read it! You won't be dissapointed!

-Ovi Demetrian

Argon Zark, The Delux, Portable, Cordless Souvenir Dead-tree Edition (i.e. book) more than makes up for the lack of hyperlinks, JavaScript, and slow downloads with:

1.Instant Gratification (just turn the page and you're there, duh!);

2.a postscript showing how some of the art is assembled, and explaining some of the in-jokes to the non-web-savvy;

3.and the thing we've all been waiting for: RESOLUTION!. These are no baby 50kB jpegs like we've seen on the Web! For this book, Charley Parker has gone back to the original pre-anti-aliasing ultra-high-resolution artwork, re-rendering it in eyepopping detail. Almost all the frames from the web are here (some of the hidden frames that rely upon animation to make their point and aren't really part of the story got cut), but with more detail, more luscious backgrounds, and more in-jokes that you can see clearly. Those of us who remember squinting at the anti-aliased Page 1, for instance, to make out tidbits like "Pretzel Logic" and "Marx and Lennon" can now show it to our friends...and can even see what's on the milk carton behind them!

The book format also facilitates a more restful appreciation of the art as connoiseur's comics art... for instance, the way in which changing style of borders around frames may anticipate a page boundary (e.g. last frame of p.31), activating the reader's semiotic radar. Bottom line: This is artwork to be treasured.

Matthew H. Fields, D.M.A.

17 April 1998

For many years I am interested in a megachurch phenomenon and like to read different books on subject. This book is different. Drawn from a research and destroying the myths surrounding the megachurches, I found this volume worth all the money and highly informative and refreshing. A great study for all the pastors and leaders.

Even though I am not a pastor of megachurch myself (in my country there is no single church with over 500 people in attendance), I have learned a lot about the proccess and principles beyond the growth of the megachurches. I wish someone would do a similar study on world megachurches as well from different cultural tradition. That would be a great volume 2!

I think this piece adequately demonstrated that many of the popular negative impressions people hold of megachurches are false. I've believed that for a long time. Some of the books that came out in the late 90's suggesting that these churches are nothing but marketing and entertainment were clearly exaggerated. I wondered if the authors had actually visited and studied the churches they were slamming.

On the other hand, their claim that megachurches don't grow mainly by transfer from area evangelical churches doesn't square with our studies. So far, in studies of nearly 30 megachurches, we have found only two that had over 10% of their people stating that they met Christ in that church: Willow Creek at 23% and Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa at 60%. Our own church is also over 60%. All the others had less than 10% converts, and many had less than 5%.

Taking the word of pastors and staff on how many in the church are converts vs. transfers doesn't work. Only on the ground interviews of meaningful samples of attendees can be trusted.

Dennis McCallum, author Organic Disciplemaking: How to promote Christian leadership development through personal relationships, biblical discipleship, mentoring, and Christian community

As a missionary who works with many churches, I found Beyond Megachurch Myths to be very helpful in increasing my understanding of the church today. I would recommend it to anyone involved in ministry and/or Christian leadership. In addition to enhancing my understanding of the megachurch, I found many practical observations to strengthen my own ministry. I'm already looking forward to Dr. Thumma's next book!

Rev. Jack Landis

There are a lot of opinions about megachurches, but this is the first complete assessment of the megachurch phenomenon. It draws together extensive information and other available research to correct assumptions. It also includes practical questions and considerations for all pastors and church leaders. As a broad overview, it doesn't get better than this.

This book goes well with several others. I suggest Seeker Churches: Promoting Traditional Religion in a Nontraditional Way by Kimon Sargean, A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church as well as Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity, and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church by Gerardo Marti, The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in the Twenty-first Century by Stephen Ellingson, When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America by Jeanne Kilde, and Donald Miller's Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium.

This book is long on analysis and full of helpful lessons that any church can apply regardless of size. You could spend several months and thousands of dollars visiting the fastest growing churches in America and trying to gather what they've learned OR you can spend a few bucks and get it all in this book. Reading this book will challenge your assumptions and leave you inspired about the tremendous potential of the local church, including yours.

Most of us only dream of attending a church where all people worship as one. Mark has not only written a great book (both theologically sound and highly instuctive on how to make it happen), but he is living it out as a Pastor in a part of the country where churches are still highly segregated. My wife and I attend the same multi-ethnic church... we love it! And if we ever had to move, we would be very intentional about joining another church "for all people" so that we can worship as one.

This is a must read for every Pastor or Teacher/Professor! Unity in the Church must be a top priority! This is a great foundation for us to start to change the perception of a Church still segregated. Let's role up are sleeves as Pastors and Teachers/Professors and get dirty cleaning up our reputation.

How encouraging and it exciting it is to read this great book! The Church has been blinded to the great tragedy of it's own racial divisiveness for so long. This book brings a strong Biblical case for the idea that "normal" congregations should be multi-ethnic or multi-cultural instead of the current norms of our mono-ethnic congregations that we have so passively accepted. This book makes me hopeful and encouraged and I hope pastors everywhere will get a chance to read and embrace it's message.

Building A Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church is informative and inspirational. The quality of research reflects the diligence of a prepared theologian. At the same time, Pastor DeYmaz's heart-felt testimonial segments are a source of inspiration to any and everyone who needs that "extra boost" to pursue authentic purpose. This book is written with a "profound simplicity" that appeals to both the avid and not-so-avid reader. Moreover, Pastor DeYmaz is to be commended for addressing an important yet complex topic with boldness. I recommend this book for senior pastors, staff pastors, support staff and anyone else who wants to more fully understand the Biblically-supported appeal to multi-cultural ministry.

-C. Guy Robinson, M.Div.

Being in leadership at a multi-ethnic church I have read most of the books that are considered landmarks in terms of coming to grips with the `race' issue in the local church. Mark DeYmaz's book is unique in terms of what it offers.

It is unique because it does not focus on issues of racial reconciliation. It does not focus on issues of cultural anthropology and sociology. This book starts with theology and finishes with practice.

Many of us have started multi-ethnic churches because it was the `right thing to do' - and it is the right thing to do. Many of us have started multi-ethnic churches out of a sense of calling or leading from God. What Mark has done is show that this sense of calling corresponds to a mandate from God that is thoroughly biblical. It is the heartbeat of God.

Mark does not ignore issues of power or the very real stench of systemic racism within the church. He challenges these issues head on. It is neither the untested musings of a seminary theologian nor the pragmatic response of a frustrated practitioner. This is a book written from the perspective of deep theological insights and strong exegesis backed by years of practical involvement in multi-ethnic ministry. This book is theology in practice.

As such there are stories and examples that inspire any in multi-ethnic ministry and resonate for others involved in similar ministries. This book is not a how-to book although there are basic principles and guidelines in the second section of the book. These simply reflect the difficult path that you walk down when you are involved in multi-ethnic church.

This book rightly challenges all of us who are involved in the local church. In a world where segregation does not happen at school, at sport, in marriage, in almost every sphere of society, why does it still happen at church? How disconcerting it must be for a teenager who comes to faith and has known diversity in every aspect of their life only to find a segregated church.

Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church is compulsory reading for our leadership team. Every church leader should read this book regardless of the diversity or homogeneity of their church. Then after reading this book they should answer this question from the book?

If the kingdom of heaven is not segregated, why on earth is MY Church? (adapted from page 4 of the book I have changed THE to MY).

It seems that everybody likes this book so I won't waste your time writing another long review.
This book is by far the best Cisco book I've read, and I've read a few. It's full of detail and a very very good starting point for QOS.

The team of Cavanaugh & Odom have hit a homerun here. This book has everything; Sex, Politics, Intrigue, Suspense, Greed, Betrayal and Redemption. Well, okay, it has none of that. But, it does have everything that the Experienced Networker could want to know about Quality of Service, and it's role and implementation within today's rapidly converging internetnetworks. The authors have proven to be knowledgeable, insightful and easy to understand. And, while this book may seem "overly long" to many, it strives to give fairly complete coverage of this important matter regarding today's internetworking environment. This is a very important point when your seeking to spend some "quality time" with a Cisco certification exam (not mention some quality cash on an exam).

Cavanaugh & Odom have moved beyond the normal course of just re-editing Cisco TAC web content for bound, portable consumption that is the hallmark of many of Cisco Press' previous publications. While the layout will be familiar to previous C.P. readers, the actual format and content presentation is fresh. Each chapter's order and flow strongly adheres to the tried and true, but Illustrations, Diagrams, Scenarios and Examples are not just simply reprinted fare from Cisco's website. Each chapter's content is easily on par with all other Authors/Publishers that are typically quoted as being "easier to digest and understand". Even the book's index is surprisingly extensive and comprehensive, and misses very few important items. When the working examples actually are repackaged from Cisco's web content, the explanations and follow-throughs are incisive and accurate. Knowledge and understanding can be gained from every page without overkill or excessive repetition.

Any exam candidate seeking an in-depth review and preparation for the Cisco QOS or DQOS exams will find this book a treasure trove chocked full of the expected scenerios, examples and practice questions. All networking professionals should strongly consider stocking this in their personal reference collection for handy lookups to otherwise difficult QOS problems. However, I caution one, if you're seeking a quick and simple introduction to QOS, or looking to "break into" or "get their foot in the door" of internetworking, you should go elsewhere. This is definitely not the kiddy end of the pool. But then again, it certainly won't require the deep sea background of a CCIE either. This manual may start with the foundations of QOS but it very quickly ramps up to a professional-level internetworking reference. This is a book that goes beyond the classroom and heads straight for the real world.

As my industry and workplace move further towards voice and data "Convergence", this book has quickly become my working cookbook for smoothing out tough QOS implementation questions. And, It shall remain an important part of my desktop reference library for a long time to come.

I recently read the book titled "Cisco DQOS Exam Certification Guide" by Wendell Odom, ISBN: 1587200589.
This book takes the user through the topic of Deploying Quality of Service in Cisco networks to a new level of knowledge. QoS has become one of the hottest if not the hottest topic in enterprise and medium size business networks. The ability to control traffic based on its priority and the ability to prioritize the traffic based on any number of criteria has become a required skill in today's marketplace. To Quote from Cisco's Web Site "Quality of Service (QoS) is an essential element to building a flexible, accessible, and efficient network. Its role in multiple technologies underlines the need for most networking professionals to master the features that implement QoS" The advent of Cisco's AVVID network and the proliferation of IP telephone services and applications along with the advancement in Video Conferencing and Group Collaboration software have created an unprecedented need for Quality of Service implementation. This book is filled with examples and thorough explanations of many complicated and essential configurations. The authors display a thorough knowledge of this sometimes difficult and always challenging subject. There are numerous charts and graphs to help aid in understanding the concepts presented. This book takes the reader step by step through configuration of all of the commonly use techniques and gives the user a good understanding of not only how to enter the commands but also what the commands do and how they interact. The topics covered in this book will give a CCIE R/S candidate essentially all of the skills needed for the QoS portions of the CCIE Practical Exam. The book covers all of the currently available traffic prioritization and queuing methods in a high degree of detail. It is, I think, geared towards an audience of knowledgeable professionals who already have some knowledge in the area of QoS. The book provides a reader with the tools necessary to implement virtually any needed QoS features in his/her own network. I would rate it as a MUST HAVE reference for anyone who might be required to implement QoS in a Cisco environment. This is a winner for Cisco Press. It proves once again the commitment to excellence of Cisco Press and delivers a book that is very useful to anyone involved in the implementation of the topic it covers. The authors have taken a difficult subject and broken it down into manageable chunks. At the end of the day the user will have a good understanding of the broad topic of QoS and have the tools necessary to implement it in a Cisco environment.

CiscoPress's "Cisco DQOS Exam Certification Guide" by Odom is a best-of-class book. The book is not for the meek - weighing in at over 850 pages, the book is a sizable investment of time and energy to properly appreciate. While the book was mainly written to be utilized for a few QoS exams, I'd expect to see this book on the bookshelf of many CCIEs or CCIE wannabes (including myself).

The beauty of this book is that it covers QoS in a depth that is not equaled elsewhere. For example, the book's first chapter, simply an overview of QoS, is almost 80 pages (some overview)! The first chapter succinctly describes the differences and nuances of the enemies of QoS - delay, jitter, bandwidth and packet loss. The second and third chapters do a great justice at trying to explain the dizzying array of tools available to adjust QoS - the different classes of tools and the differences between classification and marking. And so forth..., each chapter does a great job at explaining the mysteries of QoS.

Of course, with any book of such complexity, typos must be expected. Two typos that I noticed are:
-on page 333, I believe the correct Bc should be 93.75ms.
-on page 456, FRED can match on layer 4, not layer 3 protocols

If I had a `Top 10' for books that I feel would be necessary for the CCIE, I would place this book on the list. I have not been able to find the same explanations for QoS on Cisco's website or in other networking books.

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

Let me just start off by saying that I wish I had Wendell Odom's Cisco DQoS Exam Certification Guide a few months ago when I was studying for this exam. I had looked at a number of other Cisco Press and non-Cisco Press books and could not find one that adequately covered the topics in the exam. This one covers all of them and more.

The book starts off by listing all the exam topics that will be covered in both DQoS 9E0-601 and QOS 642-641 exams and then explains how to interpret those often nebulous expectations. Do not get me wrong. It does not give you a blow by blow of what is on the exam but rather informs you of how test makers come up with course objectives and a method to use in studying. I found this very helpful. In fact, I wish someone had taught me that as a freshman in college.

If you are familiar with Cisco Press Exam Certification Guides you will not be disappointed in the familiar format. Each chapter starts with an overview and "Do I Know This Already?" quiz. I always find these helpful in determining my level of knowledge on a particular subject and those areas I need to study.

It then proceeds to the meat of each chapter. They are filled with many useful diagrams and tables that do a wonderful job complimenting and expanding Odom's covering of each chapter. There are plenty of switch and router configurations that also provide help in giving real life examples of how QoS is implemented.

Each chapter then wraps up with an excellent Foundation Summary and Q&A section. Answers to the questions are found in an appendix in the back of the book.

In general I found all of the topics covered as well, if not better, than the DQoS class I took to study and pass the test. In particular I found the first two chapters great in providing a great overview of QoS, its architectures and tools. I have used Odom's example of bank teller lines, with a number of customers, to provide a way of explaining the difficult topic of QoS and it quickly resonates with them.

I also found the last two chapters on QoS Design and LAN QoS very useful. The LAN QoS chapter provides information on the 3550s and latest Modules/Supervisor Engine cards for the Catalyst 6500 and 4500/4000. I have already used this information as a resource on a project. The design chapter has also been useful in helping me "flesh out" customer's goals and providing design recommendations based upon those goals.

In conclusion, I always feel that for a study guide to truly be useful, it must have some use after the exam. Wendell Odom's Cisco DQoS Exam Certification Guide certainly does that well. It will not only be sufficient in providing you the information that you need to study for and pass the test, but it will certainly be useful as a quick reference guide on many of the topics covered. I plan on having it with me from the project planning stages to the optimizing and troubleshooting stages (although if your good and follow his teachings on the former you probably will not have much of the latter). Thanks Wendell for another well written and useful book.

Learning to troubleshoot, whether it's hardware or software or router for that matter, requires and understanding of the way troubleshooting works. Cormac Long put together and excellent reference manual to make sure you have the ability to make router work with little help.

In the first three chapters you get material on testing and diagnostics and the tools you'll need. Chapters 4 & 5 take on topics like serial communications, X.25 and frame relay. Finally in chapters 7 & 8 comes the routing protocols like RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF and BGP. There is also trouble-shooting help for other operating systems like Novell, AppleTalk, and IBM and switched Ethernet. Long includes review questions, hands-on exercises as well as diagrams, figures, tables and screen shots.

Overall a very complete reference manual to have with you.

I do not get much infomation from the author's 12 years internetworking experience. It is just like a debug commands DIRTIONARY. When in troubleshooting not just do debug commands, an engineer should also pay attendation in the global view of the problem. That's need some experience but seldom in the book.

I passed the CCIE lab 2 months ago. I fortunately bought this book in April and it was my number one reference by far! Packed with complex configurations and troubleshooting scenarios. All are explained in a detailed step by step manner. It covers everything EIGRP,OSPF,BGP,DLSW,IPX,Apple the works. I feel the need to express my gratitude to the author especially when I saw a review that is completely at odds with the other glowing reviews. I notice this reviewer (unlike the other ones) gives no information as to why they formed this opinion... Interesting... Anyway, my advice is simple- don't ignore a book that could help change your career, like it did mine.

Not much I can add to the already glowing reviews of this book, but I'll try. I used this along with several other books in prepping for the CIT exam, but this is the one I'm already rereading after successfully passing the exam.

Plenty of real-world information is packed into this highly-readable book. This one might not have the hype other Cisco books do, but it should. Just enough screen readout to illustrate what's going on. Great review questions.

I really cannot recommend this book highly enough. I started using it late into my CIT prep and found myself wishing I had gotten it earlier. Do yourself a favor and pick up this excellent work. I look forward to the author's next book!

I found this book the best for indepth detail into troubleshooting a variety of issues. Goes further than any of the other troubleshooting books( Syngress and even Cisco's CIT book) and actually the best Cisco book that I have read. It covers troubleshooting BGP and DLSW, unlike any of the other books and has been extremely useful for the job and for studying for the CIT exam.

A very good reference guide for any new/existing cme/cue deployment. Specifically the sample config guides were very useful. Overall this book is well written.

Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express (ISBN 1-58705-180-X) is an all-in-one resource for configuring, managing, and troubleshooting the Cisco CallManager Express (CME) solution. It is almost 900 pages and is well organized into five parts: overview, feature operation and applications, administration and management, maintenance and troubleshooting, and appendices. If you are involved in configuring or maintaining the Cisco CallManger Express, this book will provide you with all the information you need to get your work done.

Cisco CME is an integrated solution offered by Cisco for meeting the IP telephony needs of small businesses or branch offices. The CME solution, which consists of the call processing feature and the voice mail feature, runs on the Cisco routers ranging from the 1700 series to the 3700 series and beyond. Whereas the CallManager suite offers centralized approach to building out an enterprise wide VoIP network, the CME is meant to serve the needs of smaller businesses or to integrate seamlessly into the larger, enterprise solution.

The book is well written and starts out with a high level architecture of the deployment scenarios for CME. The second part gets into the features and applications side of the solution. This part is where the crux of the book lies. It presents a detailed coverage of the commands used to configure the CallManager solution under various scenarios such as implementing different call features, integrating VoIP with PSTN, and deploying CME as part of a larger CallManager solution. This part presents a thorough coverage of Unity Express (UE), the voicemail module of the CME. The third part relates to the management of CME. Particularly useful in this part is a real-life configuration example as it illustrates and brings together a lot of the material covered in the earlier part of the book. Part four gets into the essential topic of troubleshooting the CME solution. It provides useful tips and solutions for common problems found in deploying the call processing and voice mail aspects of CME. This is definitely a very useful section of the book. The last part, the appendices, has reference materials and scripts used in the book to make daily tasks easier etc.

One of the strong points of the book is a multitude of sample configurations. The authors provide sample configurations throughout the book to help illustrate the concepts being presented. This sample configuration goes a long way if the reader has the task of actually configuring CME. The other strong point of the book is the depth of coverage given to each topic that is discussed. With the exception of a handful of topics (one in particular which I'll mention), the book never glosses over any topic; rather it covers it in detail, ensuring that most aspects of the topic are addressed. The exception to this was the coverage of the D/A module(s) used for attaching analog devices to CME, such as a fax machine. Given that analog fax machines still constitute a critical part of any business, I would expect this topic to be covered in detail. However, I found that no configuration examples were provided on how to configure this in the CME suite.

In summary, this book is a great all-in-one reference for configuring and managing CME. I would highly recommend it to any professional tasked with working on Cisco's CallManager Express.

overall this book is very good. I like the examples it presents to make thing clear, and also the broadness of topics it covers.
Since Cisco IP Telephony evolves so quickly, I wish Cisco will release newer editions with updated technologies. in particular I was hoping this book should contribute some to SIP and its deployment in UCME environment.

I've used this book as a main reference for my first complete implementation of CCME and CUE. I said "main" reference instead of "only" reference, because there are few small gaps to be filled by Cisco on-line documentation, but the deficiencies are too small to justify anything less than 5 stars. Additionally, there is a lot of general (IP and traditional) telephony information so even a relative beginner, after reading this book, will be able to intelligently interview future users (Chapter 5 is simply brilliant!), design quite complex system with many fancy call features, and even create scripts for quite sophisticated Auto-Attendant options. Certain concepts are not explained in complete detail (for example dial peers or voice ports), but deeply enough for the needs of CCME.

A must have book


This book is a great tool for full and complete understanding of Cisco's IP Communication Express. The structure is geared to first provide a foundation with an overview, then moves into design and implementation the book is organized into different parts that provide great coverage of all aspects.

Part I starts with introducing IP Communication. The coverage begins by taking you on a journey into what Cisco IPC is, the benefits of IPC, and the architecture of IPC networks. The one thing you notice is that the authors took great care in organizing the chapters. Each chapter is well written and easy to follow along. This makes the book a great choice as either a first learning book or as a refresher book for experienced professionals looking to augment their knowledge. One of the first chapters shows you the features and functions of the various gateways, WAN interfaces and IP phones available for use in an IPC network. This allows you to pick the best equipment for your particular solution. I believe this is great because it allows you learn some features of the product in order to decide if you would like to research it further; this helps streamline the process of design and political issues. Another section of the Part 1 goes over the architecture of IPC. You will learn the ins and outs of what happens at a low level. You will learn a-lot of core information; get an introduction to equipment and technologies that can be utilized.


Part II of this book is where the fun begins. Chapter 4 goes over the IP phones in more detail. You are taught about features and how to configure the individual phones. The chapter is short and to the point. Chapter 5 is an incredible book where the engineers' ears will perk up. Call Manager Call processing features are presented in this chapter. The topics here include hunt groups, call parking, shared lines, intercom, paging and much more. I really like the configurations and examples in this book. With this chapter you will be able to quickly implement the CM features.
The next chapter deals with Connectivity to the PSTN. The focuses in this chapter are signaling and how to handle the inputted digits. One of the only faults I think with this book is that chapters 5 and 6 should be swapped.

Part III and IV cover Administration, Management, Maintenance and Troubleshooting
Now is really where the techies cheer up. Here is all the goodies on how to setup CME, UE, and what to do if problems arise. The gold mine is located in these 2 parts.
These chapters provide the reader with detail and examples to help reinforce all that is being explained.

I don't want to spoil this book or be long winded so I will say the remaining pages of this book are well worth the read. It covers everything you need in order to obtain a solid understanding of Cisco's IPC. There is no area that isn't covered with attention to detail. The authors provide quality information that is very useful in all areas of understanding and implementation of Cisco IP Express. The reader will come away with exceptional and relevant knowledge to do anything needed with IPC. I got this book to help augment my 4+ years with Cisco Voice products, I feel that it did help cement my knowledge and also taught me quite a few new things.


Brion S. Washington