Data Communications Books

The author explains vendor independent concepts of load balancers and discusses their (dis)advantages.

He is dividing them into four major applications:

* Server Load Balancing (63p)
* Global Server Load Balancing (19p)
* Firewall Load Balancing and (15p)
* Transparent cache Switching (8p)

additions:

* application examples (4p)
* future outlook (2p)

What makes the book so enjoyable to read is the authors love to the details. The story just flows very smooth.

Especially the thorough explanation, screenshots and technical details deserve the mark "distinction" (Very good). While I read the book it was like puzzle peaces suddenly falling all together to show me the bigger picture.

I did like the follow up of technical issues like session persistency (server affinity), URL switching, system design vs. functionality considerations and the limitations that come with the chosen solutions. The described issues are exactly those that system designers will face in real life and it doesnt stop there of course. The book is laying a good groundwork for development of advanced concepts.

The part of the book that I enjoyed most was the chapter about firewall solution concepts. As the author points out correctly the traffic flow in both directions must be managed. This is also why the setup from a redundant firewall to a load balanced redundant firewall must justify multiple complex issues.

In this case the author went through the analysis of the traffic flow, a stateful vs. stateless discussion, a layer2 vs. layer3 discussion, proxy firewalls, synchronized firewalls, multizone firewalls, VPN load balancing, active-active vs. active-standby discussion and the interaction between routers, load balancers and firewalls. While some topics could only be scratched on the surface the concepts and ideas behind it are explained very clear.

There is no doubt for me that a 2nd edition can easily just pickup where this edition left off. The author clearly shows that there are more scenarios to be discovered and discussed.

On the one side I would love to see a updated 2nd edition from the same author, on the other side I guess it's been hold back to keep the competitions products in a distance ;-)

Also the book was published 6+ years ago I felt that the concepts did not loose any of its value. Which leads me to the point that this must have been " THE Technical Book of the Year 2002"

This book still receives well deserved full marks.

Bravo !!

if you are new to load balancing, get this book. Clear concept explanation, with diagrams. Highly recommend.

With his background in server products and networking products, this author is uniquely qualified with the product experience to present these topics.

From the simple beginnings of DNS server load balancing Kopparapu explains the driving forces behind and solutions presented to load balancing. The majority of the book is an introduction to the concepts and solutions available for server load balancing suitable for everyone from business casual to advanced technical users.

In addition to detailed explanations, the author demonstrates load balancing techniques through a number of illustrations. The illustrations are detailed enough to explain the concepts, but occasionally lack enough practical detail to go out and bulid in a lab or on a network without further understanding.

In combination with a good manual from a load balancing product, any reader would have enough information to implement sophisticated load balancing configurations.

In addition to server load balancing, the text covers caching techniques available through the use of some layer 4-7 devices. Of all the topics this one is the least detailed in the text. The author understandably covers only that part of cache technology related to layer 4-7 devices. A great deal of the technology required to put together an entire cache system resides in other parts of the system outside of the scope of this book. The implications for the architecture of a network are far reaching and worthy of at one more dedicated book on the topic.

Finally, the author presents the topic of firewall load balancing. Like caching, this is a complex topic. A complete understanding of network security and firewalls would require at least a few other books.

For those that already understand caches or firewalls though, this book provides detailed information on how to scale those systems with layer 4-7 technology.

This is certainly the most comprehensive and easy to read text on the topic. Anyone who reads this will also look forward to future texts from the author on emergning challenges in layer 4-7 network security and streaming content and distribution.

Compared with Tony Bourke's book, this one depicts more on technical details such as how packets flow, how health check is done and etc.. On the other hand, Bourke's book mentions more about the basic concept and the introduction to current available products.

If you are interested in how load balancers are designed, this is the right book for you. However, if you are just shopping around and only want to know what load balancers are, get Brouke's one.

Btw, I was a bit disappointed at chapter 9. I expected to see more opinions on the future development of load balancers but it was not mentioned too much.

This book is a very well written and nicely organised introduction to server load balancing. The author describes the basics of load balancing, including NAT, session persistence, and network architectures. A discussion on application-layer parsing was quite good. There is also a chapter on global server load balancing (including incorporating load-balancing into the authoritative DNS server) which I found to be very detailed and interesting.

Much of the book is centered on how to load balance TCP (and to a lesser extent UDP), and the author uses HTTP and FTP as his primary driving examples. Throughout the book, the author provides some insight regarding what approaches real companies use (e.g. "this method is what Foundry and Cisco uses."), which I liked very much. Also, the illustrations were plentiful (although a bit primitive-looking).

There are only a few negatives about this book. The english writing is a bit stilted at times, and the chapters on firewalls and caches were basically rehashes of earlier chapters. Finally, I was hoping the author would have provided more detail on the load-distribution heuristics (which server to choose) with more metrics and actual real-world results.

I found the book to be extremely well organised. You will not get lost while reading this book, but you will need a university-level understanding of TCP/IP (and probably the link layer as well to get the NAT material) and networks in general to fully appreciate the matieral. Overall, a great book.

This book has saved me a lot of time that I would have otherwise spent combing through huge Exchage reference books. As an Exchange Administrator, I have already found this book to be an invaluable asset in my reference library. Answers to many common administrative questions and "How To's" are easily found in this handy little volume. You gotta love its size.

Out of all the Exchange 2000 Server books I purchased, this one is the only one I used regularly. I have since purchased Stanek's Exchange Server 2003 book and it is equally as good if not better. For admins, it provides the essential details with clear, precise steps for implementing common features. For devs, it provides the cut to the chase info you need to get in there and get out quickly. I would recommend this very highly.

I bought this book for our Exchange admin when we were moving to Exchange 2000 from 5.5. Two months later I was going to be the one implementing Exchange and this book came to the rescue in a big way. As a total Exchange newbie I learned everything I needed (and now know) about Exchange from this book. Sure there are bigger books but not better books. If you are a Exchange guru, this book will be a little on the basic side for you. However, if you are anything less than a guru or if you are a new I would highly recommend this book.

I had a need to quickly resolve a problem with Exchange 2000 Server, having never worked with it before. This book was an excellent resource for that purpose. Not because it gave me the exact answer I needed (which I doubt many books would do) but because it clearly and concisely explained what you can do with Exchange 2000 Server and how to do it. It showed how to do things properly and from that it was fairly easy to deduce what was wrong.

Because the book is well structured (no excess verbage, no "chattiness") it's easy to read, clear and to the point. It gets to the point and stays on target.

All in all an excellent reference you'll use over and over and, I think, an excellent place to start learning Exchange 2000 Server. I find that this book tells what Exchange 2000 Server can do and how to do it. With that knowledge I think you'll be better grounded if and when you go for more in depth understanding of architecture and the like. After this book, if you want more in depth information you can move on to other (bigger) books but I think you'll get the biggest bang for the buck from this one..

This is excellent when used for quick reference and only for the experienced and knowledgeable. This is inappropriate for beginners since Exchange is intertwined with Active Directory. Without knowing all the implications of performing the various tasks outlined in the book, it can be detrimental to a company.

excellent reference material has been invaluable to me in the last week and has steered me into making some difficult choices easily

This book, especially if used in conjunction with the author's web site (see ASIN B0000C7RBX), is one of the most valuable additions to the IT security profession that I've read. My reasons for making this bold statement include:

- The book provides a coherent and focused approach to developing and implementing a security plan. You can find numerous books on writing and implementing policies and procedures, or establishing a security posture, but this is the first book I've read that steps you through the process of conceiving, implementing and keeping alive a viable security plan.

- By separating the process into three distinct domains (referred to as 'stacks') you ensure that your plan encompasses and integrates the technology, process and business elements into a coherent strategy.

- Artifacts in the form of a complete set of worksheets provide a set of tools that give a framework and speed up the planning process.

The planning approach set forth in the book is straightforward and realistic - you're led through the preliminaries, which includes conceiving a plan that matches your needs, and selling the plan to sponsors (an often overlooked, but essential activity when fighting for budget). The next step is to perform an impact analysis, and this is where the book shines, because the author focuses on business issues instead of technology. This promotes awareness and goes a long way towards getting buy-in and funding, as well as laying a solid foundation for a long-term security plan. Next the author shows how to select the correct security model and avoid common pitfalls. These lead to building organizational consensus - buy-in from all stakeholders. The difference between this step and the preliminary step of selling to a sponsor and obtaining funding, which is vertical, you need to promote the plan horizontally as well. The final steps are to implement and continuously refine the plan.

Of course, the overview above only describes the approach contained within the book. There is much more to commend it, such as clear writing, superb page design that portrays information in graphs, illustrations and tables, and the details the author provides. There is not a single statement or recommendation that is unsupported, and the material is both sensible and accurate.

In Mission-Critical Security Planner, Greenberg lays out all the security elements that should concern you and what questions you should ask about them. With this book, half the battle is won because you at least know how to do the planning. You still have to do the planning, but with the worksheets and tips provided in the book, that will be much easier than it used to be.

I read the book twice: once to get an idea of what all the worksheets were about and once to really read them with all the technical and practical details provided by Greenberg.

Greenberg identifies 28 security elements, including 15 fundamental elements, (six of which are core elements), and 13 wrap-up elements. Core elements include things like authorization and access control, authentication, encryption, integrity, nonrepudiation, and privacy. Those may seem obvious, but Greenberg has a lot of useful things to say about them that others haven't said.

Perhaps the most valuable part of the book is all the other elements, which we tend to forget, including addressing and routing (with tips on how to get those right from a security point of view), configuration management, directory services, time services, staff management, legal issues, and so on.

I'd be interested to see some projects get implemented with Greenberg's methods. I think it should work quite well, although due to entropy, laziness, over-worked engineers, and other such factors, I would guess that some of the numerous worksheets will fall by the wayside. But I think Greenberg would be OK with that as long as most of the worksheets are maintained and the company adopts security as a way of thinking.

In summary, this book is definitely worth reading, probably numerous times!

The truth is, hackers and other attackers won't take no for an answer, and while there is absolutely no way to stop attackers from trying; there are ways to stop them in their tracks.

With that, Mission-Critical Security Planner is a surprisingly good book, aimed at someone looking to start developing their information security infrastructure. Rather than having to reinvent the wheel, the book provides planners with the framework and tools they need to create their information security infrastructure.

One good feature of the book it is large collection of templates and worksheets on various security elements. .../

The book is not overly technical and is quite good for those who need to get their security group up and running in a short timeframe.

For those that are serious about security, they will find that Mission-Critical Security Planner is like a cookbook. They can use it to prepare their security as needed.

Overall, Mission-Critical Security Planner is a very readable and useful book. Those who have an imperative to get their security groups up and running will find huge value in the book immediately.

It is very rarely, that you'd see a good high-level security book nowadays. There are lots of great "worm-eye view" books with nice detailed descriptions of attacks, defenses, secure configuration options, tools and tricks. However, many of the high-level books resolve to quoting some outdated CSI/FBI survey, blabbering about security policy and giving out piles of outworldly advice on how to "mitigate risks".

This visionary book proves the opposite: you can have a high-level security book, which is not just practical, but actionable. "Mission Critical Security Planner" delivers a portion of the security process, packed into one toolkit. Make no mistake - this book is about planning how to do security, not how to tweak your scanner or configure a firewall. However, planning is indeed a critical (and, as the author points out, often missing) piece of security conundrum, and the book delivers on that.

An awesome component of the book is a large collection of templates and worksheets on "selling" security measures, planning the implementations, organizing security team, dealing with various business people and many other occasions. The book has the printed versions while its companion website criticalsecurity.com has the download.

The main part of the book is organized around "security fundamentals", large domains of security (such as authentication, encryption, integrity, privacy, etc), which are used to structure the security planning process, described by the author. For each of the fundamentals, the content is organized in sections: summary, security stack (covering various aspects from physical to application level), life-cycle management (from technology selection to response), business (on dealing with various categories of business people, such as suppliers and customers) and selling security (to execs, managers and staff). All of the above contain various templates.

Among the more fun parts, the section on negotiating with hackers is just exclusive and of the never-seen-before kind. Section in hacker profiling is also of interest, since it seems to originate from author's experiences (and not in just reading about it on the news). The book also demystifies such elusive notions as "impact analysis", "security ROI". PKI also has a prominent role in the book. While PKI (as it is defined today) might or might not fly, the book gives a great example of large-scale production implementation, running for many years. Another great feature of the book is author's "future 10 attacks list" with his predictions on threat landscape.

Overall, the book seems indispensable to those responsible for securing networks. Security managers and CSOs will likely gain maximum benefits from using it (due to the book targeting), but other security professionals will benefit as well. Notice, that the benefits can be derived from "using" it as opposed to just "reading" it, although even the latter will prove highly enlightening. The "selling security" templates alone are likely worth their weigh in gold. The book is well-written and, while not possessing the lively style of some recent security books, will beat some of them hands down in real-world applicability. After all, even if you very well know that IDS is valuable, who will help you to "sell" it to the CIO? This book just might!

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Senior Security Analyst with a major information security company. His areas of infosec expertise include intrusion detection, UNIX security, forensics, honeypots, etc. In his spare time, he maintains his security portal info-secure.org

This book is by far more than just a comprehensive collection of facts and figures. The author, having a no fear approach to technology, never looses sight of the business aspects. His understanding of mobility manifests itself not only in the awareness of tools, but rather in his holistic approach to make mobile technology work for you and your enterprise without having to reengineer your business processes.
Hence, anyone who feels the urge to implement mobile solutions in their business should first consult this book... or just spend a few thousand on consultancy. Your choice.

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your workforce, this is a must read book. The concepts are clearly laid out and it is written in an easy to understand language, explaining all the mobility buzzwords in laymans terms.

After reading this book I feel confident about talking to the vendors and consultants with all the latest solutions. A worthwhile investment for any manager with responsibility for field based sales people or service engineers.

Though the author uses mobilizing an enterprise in his title, he really means applying wireless technology to an already mobile enterprise. Many of the issues presented applies to standardizing mobile accessibility across the enterprise. The book starts off with an excellent analogy for untested technology - Magic, unknown, uncertain, untested, and unproven. This leverages his book for a thematic value throughout to make for an interesting development of current day technology.

To be fair, I did not read the entire book, only sections that I found interesting. However, the portions I did read, chpts 1-4, 10-12 were fascinating and on target in many respects.

The author lays out the framework for an elegant model categorizing technology providers and the corporate structure. As corporations begin aligning themselves into the categories mentioned, I was wondering where hybrid companies that have created versatile new concepts, especially outside of the US, would fit in his model.

Companies such as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) that aren't quite NOs, but have some of the skills and capabilities of WAGs or SIs since their main competency is in enabling the mobilization and reselling it and just renting space from NOs would fit.

Chapter 11 was extremely informative, but I am still perplexed by "wireless technology skills" and the author's definition of this, specifically in his SWOT analyses. Saying that an enterprise application vendor doesn't have these skills is unclear, especially as many of these enterprise app vendors are WAG vendors or Platform vendors. Companies such as Oracle or IBM are perfect examples where they do not suffer the same weaknesses. Does this present a major competitive advantage in the market?

A second point with respect to this very notion is that, in general, "wireless technology skills" can be easily emulated, learned, and implemented as many small companies are crowding the space and popping up regularly. This suggests that the real commoditization will be in the value of wireless technology skills rather than other segments rather than network operations (although there is always the possibility of both being commoditized)

The author suggests that there may be a convergence of enterprise app vendors and WAG vendors, the former gobbling up the latter. I think this is already in progress and will no doubt become a reality unless the smaller WAG vendors either become enterprise app vendors or can find specific niches where enterprise app vendors are unwilling to enter.

The book as a whole provided a business perspective to what seems to be a technical issue. It was clear in many respects, and filled with useful information to better understand what it means to manage a mobile system. Although there was some bias in selecting companies for case discussion, these are considered the norm in any competitive industry. The terse, crispness of the book with a solid, social element provides for good reading and highly informative review of the wireless industry today and tommorrow.

Pat Brans has done a masterful job of taking a complex subject such as mobility and wireless and boiling it down to its most important components. Besides his ability to explain wireless technology in simplistic terms, Brans delivers a compelling guide for business executives grappling with difficult decisions regarding why/when/how should I deploy mobility and what can our company expect to gain from a revenue generation/cost savings/customer satisfaction perpspective? Finally, the best part of this book is the abundant use of practical, real-world examples (such as the business process diagrams in Chapter 10 involving pharmaceutical sales reps) to help the reader clearly understand the benefits of mobility and wireless technology as applied to a business challenge.

Mr. Brans does a superb job of presenting much of what is going on in the wireless world today.

To be fair, I did not read the entire book, only sections that I found interesting. However, the portions I did read, chpts 1-4, 10-12 were fascinating and on target in many respects.

As corporations begin aligning themselves into the categories mentioned, I was wondering where hybrid companies that have created versatile new concepts, especially outside of the US, would fit in the model. Where would companies such as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) that aren't quite NOs but have some of the capabilities of (Wireless Application Gateway providers) WAGs or (System Integrators) SIs in enabling mobilization and reselling it -just renting space from NOs- fit in the author's model? There seemed to be a few missing gaps, but covered the US market fairly thoroughly.

Chapter 11 was extremely informative, but I am still perplexed by "wireless technology skills" and the author's definition of this, specifically in his SWOT analyses. Saying that an enterprise application vendor doesn't have wireless skills is unclear, especially as many of these enterprise app vendors are also WAG vendors or Platform vendors. Companies such as Oracle or IBM are perfect examples where they do not suffer the same weaknesses. Does this present a major competitive advantage in the market?

A second point with respect to this very notion is that, in general, "wireless technology skills" can be easily emulated, learned, and implemented as many small companies are crowding the space and popping up regularly. This suggests that the real commoditization will be in the value of wireless technology skills rather than other segments as the author suggests.

The book was exceptional in most other respects, containing detailed facts on the wireless markets, their evolution, and even an excellent resource base to acquire further knowledge. Even with the biased focus on a few select companies, the book covers the market's underlying agenda.

The author presented information with a terse crispness but added a social element in terms of context and example to make it readable. A great primer if you are an executive, a CIO, or someone making a decision to commit resources in mobile technology. Comparable to Wireless Crash Course by Bedell in quality, with more of a business perspective.

Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook
"Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook" is a great building block to Ray's previous book, "Communications Systems and Networks". I have been in the Telecom industry for over 30 years and have used "Communications Systems and Networks" since it was published in 1997. I had also provided each management employee that has been in my organization with a copy of "Communications Systems and Networks" and am in the process of providing "Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook" to each employee. The book has been a valuable resource to me in every aspect of the various positions I have held and it will benefit any Telecom professional.

The "Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook" by Ray Horak provides a detailed tour of electronic and optical communications technology, from basic principles to the latest telephone, cellular, internet, and satellite-based standards. Rather than just explaining how these technologies function (which Horak does well with his characteristically engaging prose), this Handbook also illuminates the historical contexts of new standards and technologies, exploring economic pressures, social drives, and political considerations influencing their development. This volume is a must-have for both the student and working professional. An excellent companion reference for this book is Horak's "Webster's New World Telecom Dictionary".

Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook contains fifteen chapters and covers a wide variety of topics. The book can be recommended for different audiences, starting from students, which decided to become Electrical Engineers, as well as for engineers and managers, and technicians who need always to have a reliable source of information. It is a timely encyclopedic work and will remain so for many years! It also is a perfect companion to Horak's other excellent work, Webster's New World Telecom Dictionary, also published by Wiley in 2007.

Horak is an independent telecom consultant. He is active in litigation support as a consulting expert and testifying expert, often in cases involving intellectual property such as patent, copyright, and trademark and service infringement. He has authored five telecom books and written of hundreds of technical articles, white papers, case studies, and solution briefs.

Vladimir Kaminsky, PhD is a President of Practel, Inc, a consulting company that is specializing in advanced communications technologies and network design.

Ray Horak's "Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook" is a definitive reference manual for all types of computer, telecom and data communications networks, devices and models. What impresses most is the fact that this book takes the most important elements and concepts from both telecom and datacom and squeezes them into one reference. I have dozens of books in my telecommunications library and I'd happily trade in most of them for this single reference. The second thing that impresses is the no-nonsense style in which it is written. I expected no less from Ray, whom I have worked with over the years on numerous educational projects including face-to-face workshops, and conference tutorials for over a decade. His straightforward and easy-to-understand approach is powerful and effective both in person and in print. If you had but one book to buy on networking and communications, this would be it.

Most network managers are strong in either voice or data, but may not have as much experience in the other discipline. To further complicate this challenge, expertise is required in a number of specific areas, including LANs and WANs, legacy and emerging technologies, and new applications. If you have any of these educational gaps (and most of us do) pick up a copy of this book. Ray Horak provides the most comprehensive review of communication technologies that I have seen, and you will do yourself a favor to have this text in your personal library.

I am not an expert developer but I have a fair amount of experience building financial applications in Java and C++. I spent quite some time looking for a book that would get me started with Web technologies. It is not easy. Yes, there are many books that describe one or another technology but I wanted to find one that puts these technologies in prospective. I was very pleased when I found this book. I can always dig deeper in one direction when I need to but this book helps me to understand how to get started and where to concentrate my efforts. I like it, I think it is very useful.

I have to disagree with the reviewer who disparaged this book's emphasis on history. The background on TCP/IP protocols explained how HTTP came to be and why servers and browsers work the way they do. Discussion of how web development platforms evolved provided insight into the problems newer approaches tried to solve and the problems some of them created. The authors may have gone overboard spouting the merits of "separating content from presentation" and touting the praises of MVC approaches, but their point is a valid one you can really relate to if you've worked with page-centric platforms like ASP and JSP. The historical review of different approaches explained the authors' reasons for ultimately choosing an MVC approach with Struts and JSTL, and offered insights into how development platforms may evolve in the future. This is a book that starts with basics and builds on them, covering protocols, markup languages, and development platforms. The history helps drive the points home. Personally, I learned a lot from this book. I agree that they could have provided a CD-ROM, but it turns out their website (webappbuilders.com) is pretty good and has other good info aside from the app's source code, including some articles from the authors.

This book is an ideal text for providing intermediate-level web developers with a solid grounding in architectural principles and more advanced techniques. Before going into why I like this book I do want to offer one caveat - the authors' approach is towards the Model-View-Controller paradigm, and is based on Java Standard Tag Library, Jarkata struts and Apache. These are solid elements, but if you are working in a different environment you will not appreciate this book as much.

The historical material in this book is not fluff if you approach it with the intent to gain a fuller understanding of the major components of the Internet and web. This material is rich with details about why the core web technologies developed and evolved, including design choices the pioneers made in the face of constraints. In a subtle way this part of the book is a primer on design and architecture.

What makes this book so valuable is the non-trivial application that brings this book alive. This is a refreshing change from other books that use thinly contrived snippets of code or trivial applications. The code for this application can be downloaded from the book's supporting web site, which also contains errata (thus far there are only two entries), and articles that are valuable resources with or without this book.

Overall this is one of the better books on web application design and development, and one that dives into code and technical details.

I've been writing Windows-based mutlimedia applications since Windows 95 was released. I've been looking for a good book to help the crossover to web application development, and I found that this was just the ticket. Explanations were solid and presented in a way that made experimentation easy (both from the browser and server side). Quite simply, this book served as a great jumping off point for deeper exploration into session management, security, web services (both SOAP and Rest), etc. Definitely a great introduction for folks with a software engineering background.

I always thought Amazon search is good but I stumbled upon this book at a store. It's a useful summary, but not a reference. I particularly like the examples and the way they build up from trivial to complex. The level of detail is right. Altogether, very refreshing.

Tom is a great author of technical books. This book - like all the other CWNP official study guides was superb. It has a very clean look to it, plenty of screenshots & diagrams, and a nice flow for reading (as far as technical books go anyway).

Note: This book is geared towards a entry level technical certification, but could serve as a good read for anyone wanting a decent idea on how Wi-Fi, infrared, bluetooth and other wireless technologies work.

This book is an excellent starting point for those new to the wireless community, as well as those technology managers who include wireless products or services in their portfolio.

The book is written in clear, easy to understand language and has no shortage of real-world examples designed to convey critical concepts. The tips given in the book, which focus on specific exam material, are plentiful yet not overwhelming.

My only recommendations for improvement include improvements to diagrams and charts, and more exam practice questions - maybe on a CD or something?

I highly recommend this product, as it's an excellent resource given the price point.

I am currently still reading this book, and I am planning on getting my certification. The book is written in a very concise, clear and easy to understand manner. Everything is explained with clear examples: every concept explained is easily grasped, and the details fall nicely into place. This is by far the best written manual/study guide I have seen on the subject.

This is a good book. The book provides an excellent overview of all of the technologies on the Wireless# exam it also serves as an excellent reference guide. I passed the Wireless# exam using this book and I have frequently returned to this text follow reference material during the course of my work.

This is a well written book, it held my interest though the whole book I never had to force myself to read like some tech books. It not only helped me pass my wireless# exam but I believe that it helped me pass my Network+ exam also.

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.

Be sure and buy the digital version, so you can be stuck reading it with Adobe's sad excuse of an ebook reader.

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 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