Data Communications Books

If you are a cisco security expert maybe this book will not have any new information for you, but since most of us are not, I would recommend it for anyone who is trying to protect a Cisco infrastructure. The author covers a lot of material, and as with any internet resources, some move and disappear but it still puts you on the right path to know what needs to be hardened. The language is not as smooth as it could be, but it certainly better than most and the subject matter can get pretty complicated at times so some tolerance is reasonable. Overall I would recommend it to someone wanting to know more about practical Cisco security.

I really nice first attempt at zeroing in on and attacking Cisco devices, something I do for a living. The book, however, is NOT really a "Hacking Exposed" line from the Scambray, Kurtz and McClure camps. It is funny how fast people will buy anything tagged with "Hacking Exposed." This book does deliver some VERY good hardening and attacking techniques and I would suggest it for anyone that is in the network security field, especially those that are directly involved with the routers/switches.

I think that it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to build a modern network that does include at least some Cisco equipment. Following the general set up rules in the various manuals produce a system architecture that is generally considered to be at least reasonably secure.

Basically this book may well change your mind on just how secure your Cisco system really is. As the major supplier of network equipment, Cisco is also the major target of the bad guys that are out there.

The information in this book is presented through the eyes of the penetrator. It discusses in a step-by-step way how to break into various Cisco devices on a network. By knowing how to break into the network, you can then go plug the holes in your system to keep other people from doing the same thing.

Much of the material here is available in bits and pieces around the web, in various postings, even in publication form. What this book does is bring all of the information together in one place. If you're already an expert on the subject, you might get a point or two here and there. If your just beginning to think about this kind of situation, here is a great way to get started.

I've always been a fan of Osborne's Hacking Exposed books (although subjects like "Computer Forensics" don't seem to fit the spirit of the series). I previously read Wi-Foo: The Secrets of Wireless Hacking by the same authors who wrote Hacking Exposed: Cisco Networks (HECN). Comparing the two books, I agree with previous reviewer Sean E. Connelly; I think HECN was rushed to market. The book needs better technical review, proofreading, and copyediting as well. Nevertheless, I still recommend reading HECN -- it's a unique book on a critical subject.

One of the more striking aspects of HECN is the amount of original research committed to the book. Sure, the authors document already known Cisco vulnerabilities. However, they also developed a suite of tools to implement attacks discussed in HECN. They demonstrate how to apply various tools and when those applications are realistic. HECN's authors discovered a variety of new exploits (documented at the book Web site) which they submitted to Cisco's PSIRT. I appreciated this degree of originality.

HECN is on the leading edge of attacks happening right now. While reading the book I assisted with an incident response involving a Cisco switch. It appeared that bot net command-and-control traffic was originating from a switch on a client network. Upon closer inspection, I could tell that unknown intruders were bouncing IRC traffic through the management interface of the switch, probably using a variant of the ciscoBNC tool introduced in Ch 10. HECN also describes the possibilities offered by Tcl scripting on Cisco routers, which I expect to see intruders abuse.

I had two sorts of problems with HECN. First, the text can be somewhat confusing to follow. In some parts this is caused by the authors' writing style. In others confusion is caused by the authors' unwillingness to fully describe sensitive exploitation techniques. For example, they mention ways to reverse engineer and/or patch IOS binary images, but they are deliberately vague. This helps the authors stay out of trouble with Cisco, but it leaves the reader frustrated. The second problem with HECN involves the tone of the book. In some places I was left wondering why the authors made certain comments. A good example of material that should simply be dropped is the final "case study" at the end of the book.

Some minor technical issues should be fixed in future editions. In addition to those outlined by previous reviewers, I would add the item on p 460 that says AH is IP proto 49; it should be 51. I also thought the Nmap scanning recommendations on p 136 were somewhat silly. It's best to stick with the simplest scan possible and avoid the poorly-named "stealth" options Nmap offers. Finally, some of the screen shots were too fuzzy. Images taken from Ethereal in Ch 4 are examples of this problem.

Overall, I would still buy HECN. Administrators and security professionals must recognize that Cisco equipment (along with infrastructure from other vendors) are actively targeted, exploited, and abused by intruders. HECN explains how this happens and what you can do to prevent, or at least detect, these compromises. It's like 1999 all over again -- get the Hacking Exposed title that will help you mitigate a new class of threats!

"Hacking Exposed: Cisco Networks" is not bad but then again not great. What caused it to only get 4 out 5 stars was that many of the tools and links no longer work and this review is being written in March 2006 for a book published in Jan 2006!

One example of many:
- page 521: Cisco's tcphijack
I would then have to Google to see if the tool was now elsewhere - sometimes successfully, sometimes - not.

Another example of bad tooling - page 519 - Arpworks. Yes it is still there but they fail to mention that it only works on Windows 95/98. I could go on and on.

The thing that really annoys me on this book is the binding. The softcover binding is made of some very cheap paper which curls up. For a $50 list-price book (I paid $50 for ordering it 1st and not waiting 2 months for the price to drop to $30), I would think that Osborne could have popped for an extra $1 on a good jacket quality - which would never happen with O'Reilly.

I did pick up a few tools I was not aware of, but was it worth $50?! Nope. Is it worth now $30? Questionable. If you live and breath Cisco security there won't be much new to learn here, but it does give you a reference to lend to others that keep asking you the same questions. :-)

Hank Nussbacher

I took Karanjit's class at Learning Tree and I have to say no one has been able to teach me subnetting like that before. His book is almost straight out of his class with much more detail. I would strongly suggest taking his class, but if you are unable, and are looking to get a solid understanding of TCP/IP, read this book. His credentials are impeccable, and his teaching style is, in my opinion, one of the best. I have taken some MCSE classes, and some other Internet classes, and have yet to learn as much from someone as I did from him.

I was looking for a book on TCP/IP and I ended up buying this one. I haven't regretted it! This must be the best book on TCP/IP I've ever read.

It covers the matters in depth and in great detail.
It explains what everything is and how it works.
It teaches you how to read a raw IP or TCP packet.

And it does all that using simple language that doesn't go over your head.

Furthermore, as opposed to other books covering the same topic, it doesn't assume you're using a Windows or Linux box. This was very important to me.

Though the language is easy to understand, it is not written for non-technical people.

I have just finished reading the book and found it sound and a good starting place for more advanced study.However it has faults that are quite annoying!

1.There are too many diagrams that are suppose to illustrate points that are perfectly clear in the text.

2.A LOT of misprints and typos.This actually helped me learn in a perverse way because I was forced to figure things out on my own.But it also had a cost in time.

3.No bibliography.

4.No glossary!

5.No answers to any of the exercises.This is quite helpful in self study.

Enough whining! Basically I liked the book.

I am responsible for a 50+ person intrusion detection mission, and I read this book in the spring of 1999. I bought this book for two reasons. First, I did not believe I was "ready" for Richard Stevens' "TCP/IP Illustrated" books. (That was probably not true.) Second, I was looking for a book with traces of network packets, linking an explanation to raw hex. After reading this book, Stevens' Volume 1, and Eric Hall's "Core Internet Protocols," I would not recommend Mr. Siyan's book, unless you plan to be an error detective. Like an earlier reviwer, I too spent a LOT of time discovering and correcting errors. While this did teach me some material in a "novel" way, I would not subject the introductory reader to such treatment. Now that Eric Hall's book has been published, readers can look for explanations and packet traces in a practically error-free book, rather than figuring it out themselves. (That removes reason 2 for buying the book.) Still, I do give "Inside TCP/IP" three stars for its good coverage of the protocol and useful diagrams. Buyer beware, however!

Do not buy this book if you are familiar with TCP/IP foundations or consider yourself any smart. It contains a lot of trivial diagrams and what can be explained in just a sentence often occupies a dozen pages. This makes the book very boring to read and impossible to use as a reference. It also does not cover anything except foundations, although the table of content looks very impressive.

This book is pretty much "THE" manual for anyone that has anything to do with Web development. I've been a professional developer since '96, and of all the technical manuals I have and regularly refer to, this it the one I use the most. Often, I'll be in the middle of coding and my mind blanks out. I grab the book, look in the index, and go right to the section I need. Usually, I'll find just what I needed and slap my forhead in a 'duh' moment, but Mastering HTML saved the day, and that's ok by me!

I bought this book knowing very little about HTML and this was definitely the book for me. It was easy to follow and enjoyable to read - the examples really work and are useful in the "real world". I admire the quality of this book; I got the feeling that time was spent ensuring the accuracy of every detail printed. After reading this book and doing all the exercises I was able to work with my company's Intranet system and this book has been and still is a useful reference guide.

This book is everything it promises to be and more - I highly recommend it.

If you can't find what you are looking for or learn HTML from this book, then there is no hope. This is the most comprehensive HTML book I have ever seen! Well worth the money and time to read it! Covers everything from basic HTML to the most advanced of HTML. The CD included in a fantastic plus, easy to understand and great clear samples.

This is the most comprehensive HTML code book I've read. It not only does a bang-up job of HTML, but it provides references for CSS, Java, Javascript, and Netscape & Microsoft proprietary code as well!

I highly recommend this book to advanced HTML coders and Web Authors. It addresses many complex topics that will benefit the seasoned coders. I don't recommend it to first time HTML authors or WYSIWYG HTML writers.

I purchased this book knowing very little about HTML. While it is a handy desk reference, I found that the free HTML tutorials available online at WebMonkey and Webdeveloper actually explained how to develop tables and stylesheets much better then Mastering HTML 4.0 did.

As a previous review states, it touches on JavaScript, but The JavaScript Source is a free online resource that contains much more information then this book does.

In my opinion, there is no sense spending money on a book when all of the information is available for free on the Internet...learn from my mistake!

This is easily the best technical book I have ever read. Simply excellent. You will not regret buying nor reading this one!

If you are going to do anything w/ MSFT security in XP, 2000 or NT, you must use this book, there is a lot of helpful info in it.

I used the book as a reference for MCSE. But, now that I'm really going through and reading it more thoroughly I'm surprised that it was rated 5 stars at the time I bought and still is.

Although there is a lot of useful information in it one strike against it is that it's written in a manner that is not easy to read. I could include one of many example paragraphs that would just blur your eyes and make your head spin, even after reading it multiple times. But, I'm not going to take the time or space in this review.

Also there are too many instances in which the authors don't finish the point. For instance (just one of many examples) when they discuss configuring LM compatibility. They provide a nice list of possible settings, tell you that you set these in Group Policy and then don't finish by telling you where or how you make these settings in Group Policy. So you're left having to go to another source to finish the answer. Once you've done that a few times you quick reading this book and use the other source instead. I've trained on software myself for many years and I consider that laziness, on the authors part.

I won't deny that there's valuable information in the book. That's why I opted for 3 stars. But, there's also enough shortcomings that it's not a 4 and certainly not a 5 star book.

The Windows Security Resource Kit is a wonderful wealth of information on securing Windows networks and operating systems. It is useful for anyone above the beginner level. It concentrates on using features of primarily Windows 2000 and XP to maximize security for various levels of needs. It is not about building a bastion host or configuring firewalls.

It is not a "cookbook" like too many training manuals are these days and is not full of fluff - it covers a lot of territory in it's 680 pages and is not geared for technogeeks, but is clearly written and understandable to the average Joe and Jane [except page 349]. The first two chapters put you in the security "mindset" - Key Principles of Security [including the Ten Immutable Laws of Security] and Understanding Your Enemy. I think that is very important, because security needs to be approached from an attitude about what you are up against and how only one vulnerability can sink your boat.

The next twenty three chapters are logically divided into security topics that can later be accessed easily as needed for reference purposes. Each chapter ends with best pratices recap and references to other books or Knowledge Base articles.

I thought the "meat" of the book was thorough, interesting, and accurate. Finally I have one place to go for an explaination of what ALL the user rights, security options, and services are. There is an excellent chapter on securing tcp/ip with specific recommendations on registry modifications to defend against a denial of service attack and even a .vbs script on the cdrom to implement them all. An equally excellent chapter on auditing including comprehensive tables explaining Event Ids and Event ID 681 failure codes. I finally know what the difference is between auditing account log on and log on events. Chapter 10 goes into great detail about ALL of the various settings in the Web Content Zones for Internet Explorer and how to configure them for your needs. Cookie/Privacy settings are also explained in detail. Chapter 7 includes specific recommendations on ntfs security settings for every folder in a new installation and a security template to implement them. I was impressed with Chapter 21 in that it shows you how to secure an IIS 5.0 server without having to be an IIS expert. Chapters 22 and 23 nicely explain patch management, Windows Update, using Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer tool, and using SUS for patch management on a large scale basis. The chapter on remote access and vpn explains the differences in pptp and l2tp and when to use each. Other chapters cover securing Terminal Services, authentication - various settings for Lan Manager authentication level, managing security templates/Security Configuration and Analysis tool, wireless networking/WEP, EFS [ten pages of crucial info], ipsec, Certificate Services, Group Policy, Active Directory [I now know how to use dsacls to reset object permissions to default], securing laptops [very informative], permissions, account/password policies, and managing users. Chapter 24 covers using security assessment tools including how to port scan and a extensive chart of common Windows ports and what applications use them.

Part VI of the book breaks away from Windows specific configurations and is called Planning and Performing Security Assessments and Incident Responses. It discusses vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and security audits. This part is also extremely informative to those of us who are not trained in what to do after an incident - what to do when an intrusion is detected, who to inform , and most importantly how to preserve data in the event of criminal prosecution or to reconstruct the attack. The last chapter goes into privacy issues that one needs to know as how far can one go in gathering information from a legal standpoint.

Windows Security Resource kit is a very valuable resource in my opinion to anyone interested in securing a Windows computer or network. The writing style is very understandable and you do not have to read the whole book for it to make sense if only certain topics are of interest. It does not however go into too much detail on importance of virus/trojan protection or perimiter/firewall security but there are whole other books written on those topics. The included cdrom has many tools from the Resource Kit and the book itself. I also highly recommend it to anyone studying for their MCSE and consider it a "must have" for anyone planning to take any of the MCSE security exams or pursue the MCSE Security certification. Kudos to Microsoft Press for this one.

I've read nearly a dozen security related books now, including a lot from the Hacking Exposed team. This doesn't compare. There's no flare, there's no personality, it's a reference text.

It reads like a text book, infact, 90% of what's in it is probably in the standard MS texts, manuals and online. So while it's great they've brought all this info together in one place, they might have been better to wrap explination around references, rather than repeating information verbose.

There are lots of gems hidden away, like a detailed description of how kerberos and the token issueing processes work. But sometimes it really falls short, like when listing security related event IDs, it only lists the "more common" ones and there's no reference to locate the rest.

I read this cover to cover, which I think was a mistake, it's probably better as a reference, where if you've got a task to perform, you skim the relevant sections.

Your milage may vary.

I found this book somewhat useful as a study guide. It also gave me a sense for the layout of the exam and the general nature of the test questions. However, despite what some of the reviews say, many of the questions I encountered on the actual test were SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult/complex than the most difficult/complex questions in this book. This was especially true of the "proposed solution meets required/optional results" type of question. Another concern I had was the quality of some answers. I found several explanations in the first half of the book which were wrong. The answer given was correct (i.e. A, B, C, etc), but the explanation was completely "off the wall." For the purpose of review, I found the questions and answers in Exam Cram to be much better.

Big deal ! What else you can expect from Microsoft. Don't waste your money on any book of Readiness Review. THESE BOOKS DO NOT HELP TO PREPARE AT ALL !! Questions are not good so the explanations. You can always find dozens of much better tests online. Some subjects not covered at all. Remember ! They would be much nasty quez on a real exams. The only reason I purchased also this book was low price but it wasn't worst a dime. Very disappointed about ...

Many examples of test questions for the exam. The exam was tricky and I feel that this book used in combination with Transcenders could really give you a good idea when you are ready to schedule the actual exam.

Although this is filled with questions, other guides discussing the actual overview of Domains in an enterprise is highly recommended.

Make sure you are confident with this one before you schedule your test!

The questions in this book are quite similar to the real exam. It can help me a lot. I would appreciate the questions of case study. These questions can help me have a clear mind on the exam, even on the concepts relating to NT server. Anyway, if you want to pass the exam, you would consider to buy this book.

Just as the title says, "MCSE Readiness Review", this book delivers what it offers: An excellent test readiness and review assessment.

The questions are tough and plenty and the explanations are clear and concise, straight to the point. You will find a wealth of scenario and exhibit-type of questions, bringing the real test feeling to the review.

I didn't find any surprise question on my real test. This book covered all the bases.

Complement this book with a study guide or cram book (I used Sybex's Study Guide ISBN 0782122213 and Exam Notes ISBN 0782122922) and you will pass this test without difficulty.

Yes, this book is for the beginners or intermediates at best. But that is enough, since if I am going to write code for a product, no book is good enough, that is why we have standards.

I have never gone through a book so fast ever (8 hours for the stuff that I needed to know), well this is an interesting topic and also the book is quite easy to understand also, so that helped.

I never understood the OSI reference model so well including the famous book from William Stallings on datacomm, the author's description on the OSI reference model is right on and very practical. Read multiple books on datacom and no one explains what is proxy and gratuitous ARP like Solomon.

Mobile IP in itself is not a very deep subject and that is why the author develops it slowly and ends it with security and applications. Towards the end, the book does get a little advanced with the applications that mobile IP supports.

I do get a feeling that the author is more or less dumping his knowledge that he has acquired from chairing the mobile IP development comittee.

This is what the author is attempting to do:
1. Prepares the reader for mobile IP with OSI layers.
2. Why Mobile IP: with good justifications.
3. How Mobile IP: again with good explainations.
4. security
5. applications

Very satisfied.

Yes, this book is for the beginners or intermediates at best. But that is enough, since if I am going to write code for a product, no book is good enough, that is why we have standards.

I have never gone through a book so fast ever (8 hours for the stuff that I needed to know), well this is an interesting topic and also the book is quite easy to understand also, so that helped.

I never understood the OSI reference model so well including the famous book from William Stallings on datacomm, the author's description on the OSI reference model is right on and very practical. Read multiple books on datacom and no one explains what is proxy and gratuitous ARP like Solomon.

Mobile IP in itself is not a very deep subject and that is why the author develops it slowly and ends it with security and applications. Towards the end, the book does get a little advanced with the applications that mobile IP supports.

I do get a feeling that the author is more or less dumping his knowledge that he has acquired from chairing the mobile IP development comittee.

This is what the author is attempting to do:
1. Prepares the reader for mobile IP with OSI layers.
2. Why Mobile IP: with good justifications.
3. How Mobile IP: again with good explainations.
4. security
5. applications

Very satisfied.

Yes, this book is for the beginners or intermediates at best. But that is enough, since if I am going to write code for a product, no book is good enough, that is why we have standards.

I have never gone through a book so fast ever (8 hours for the stuff that I needed to know), well this is an interesting topic and also the book is quite easy to understand also, so that helped.

I never understood the OSI reference model so well including the famous book from William Stallings on datacomm, the author's description on the OSI reference model is right on and very practical. Read multiple books on datacom and no one explains what is proxy and gratuitous ARP like Solomon.

Mobile IP in itself is not a very deep subject and that is why the author develops it slowly and ends it with security and applications. Towards the end, the book does get a little advanced with the applications that mobile IP supports.

I do get a feeling that the author is more or less dumping his knowledge that he has acquired from chairing the mobile IP development comittee.

This is what the author is attempting to do:
1. Prepares the reader for mobile IP with OSI layers.
2. Why Mobile IP: with good justifications.
3. How Mobile IP: again with good explainations.
4. security
5. applications

Very satisfied. Why dont authors like him write more books that people can understand and may be we have a choice of not having to read the stallings books all the time on every topic.

Great book. Beautifully written, clearly explained, and well organized. I even liked the figures which had a uniform pleasant look unlike a lot of the Internet and computer related books. I have bought and thrown away many books written about the Internet protocols so this book was a breath of fresh air. Instead of cutting and pasting bunch of stuff available in various places, this author actually really presented the subject in a cohesive manner. You can tell he knows his stuff and he took the time to present it.

This book is not only a great way to learn about mobile IP but to learn about security, IP in general, etc. If you already know a little about those topics, this book will be easy to read and it will even give you new insights in those areas. If you never knew what a MAC or link address was or how TCP/IP worked this book might be a miss for you.

This book joins the list of great books like Stevens' "TCP/IP Illustrated" or Seifert's "The Switch Book."

I found this book useful as my introduction to IP network communications (network layer). My background is not in networks but I was able to pick up this book and learn about; Routers, IP addresses and their assignments, Tunneling, Encapsulation, TCP/IP, Security issues, and Mobile IP to the extent that I understand the steps involved when a Mobile IP node moves from one link to another.

I have read many technical books/papers and most most of them clutter and disjoint ideas. Not this book. This book is methodical, orderly, clear and written in plain English. I think you will like it.

As an additional bonus, the book spends some time (10 pages) with an overview of TCP and explains why TCP works better over land lines than wireless media. There is a discussion of the problems processing real-time data over IP and proposes solutions.

I am an average reader and it took me approximately 30 hours to read the 300 pages over a period of five weeks. The book leaves out detail but references the IETF papers for the interested reader. The book had NO word "misspells" nor sentence "misspeaks". (I always notice those things.) There are great diagram sketches for example discussions.

The author was the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) co-chair of the Mobile IP working group and led the group to a deployable solution. The book explains that because he was involved since 1994 he understands the trade-offs and issues.

I am about half way through this book, and it is really easy to read and learn the material you need to pass the exam.

I have gone to school for the last two and a half years. This book covers information in such a clear way that I have learned more from it than from the textbooks I have read and the IT classes I have taken.

Recently passed the Net+ exam and using this book alone , i ll have to say this is the one!

I'm a mid-40s, blue-collar type undergoing career change. I'm taking computer classes to prepare for A+, Network+, Server+, and Security+ certification testings. The writing was intended for those with a bachelor degree level of education/comprehension. I have ISBN 0782144314 by Mark Minasi, and his writing is easy to follow (and humorous to break monotony of study/memorize/regurgitate). Others in my Network class who are struggling agree with me that the writing format is for IT intermediate level (or above) students. I ordered ISBN 061921743X by Tamara Dean. Her approach/presentation is easy to follow along. I've shown the book to my instructor and he has agreed to go with this text next semester.

While I agree with the previous reviewer that said there is more information than is needed to pass the exam, I don't see that as a bad thing. The author's stated intention, which he points out serveral times throughout the book, is to help the reader become a proficient network technician, not just pass the exam with the bare minimum understanding of the topics. That is why I gave this book a 5 star review. In addition to that, the writing style is clear and to the point. The explanations are very easy to understand, especially the chapter on IP subnetting. I used to bang my head against the wall trying to figure out the complexities of subnetting, but, in a few short pages in this book, Shimonski has cleared up all of my frustrations with this particular subject. I also very much liked the chapter on wireless technologies and the security issuses surrounding wireless access, after reading it, I had the confidence I needed to set up a secure wireless network, with a firewall, for my home based PC repair business.

I plan on taking my Network+ Cert exam by the end of December, which will give me enough time to re-read this excellent book again from cover to cover. That coupled with my previous A+ certification, should allow me to pass my exam with flying colors.

Thank you to Robert Shimonski for writing this excellent certification guide.

I really liked this book. It is well organized and easy to use. There isn't a lot of hype about SPAM, just the essentials and exactly what you can do about it! If you have to deal with EMAIL get this book.

This is an excellent reference book for system administrators. I was able to set up a mailing list using the cook book instructions in a matter of minutes. I was also able to install my initial SPAM filtering using the instructions in the procmail chapter and had it up and running with little effor. Geoff is to be commended for writing a book the makes these things simple to do!!!

This book is easy to understand by the new listserver admin. It provides information sources throughout that are very useful. I am not familiar with the unix type platforms, and yet this book helped me wade through the plethora of pitfalls and find the answers. A real headache saver

Here is a book worthy of the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." In this case, you may judge this book to address the general topic of email spam, processing and filtering. Not so. This books focuses on the unix tools, sendmail and procmail. If you are looking for a book to guide you through the process of installing and configuring sendmail and procmail, this may be the book you're looking for. I couldn't tell you because I quit reading at that point. But, if you are looking for a general source on email spam and techniques for reducing or eliminating it, look elsewhere. A better title for this book would have been, "Sendmail and Procmail: Installation and Configuration."

I bought this book for the procmail chapter (Chapter 3) but the other chapters, on sendmail and mailing lists, are also very useful. There is also an enlightening chapter on the history of email. The bulk of the book is a collection clear recipes along with explanatory text, in a practical how-to-get-tasks-done approach. In contrast to other encyclopedic books (in the case of sendmail) or disorganized masses of inconsistent web information (in the case of mailing lists), this book cuts to the chase and gives the key information you need.

Unfortunately, however, in the chapter I needed most (and the chapter I have scrutinized most), I found there are serious flaws. For example, the first two procmail recipes given under 3.5.2 on page 102 resulted in several days worth of my email getting deleted; they simply do not work as described on my system; when I removed these two recipes my email again worked fine.

If you are going to buy this book, wait for the author to put up an errata page, and then be sure to check that page before relying on the recipes in the book. In the meantime I still think the book has its merits since it explains things clearly.

Great information in this book and well presented. There are some serious mistakes in here that could cause less informed readers to stumble however. Needs a good editing.

Alright, I'm not going to try and impress you with all my fancy-pants knowledge about MPLS, they are many more people smarter than I am about the subject. But, I read this book, and I liked it. It's hard material made easy. I would have liked some full color pictures and a glossy more textbook style format. But that's it. It takes the material seriously, and it could have used some more humor to add a bit of levity, but as I see it, this book isn't just a geek manual, it's a geek bible.

MPLS stands for Multiprotocol Label Switching. It is a complicated system of nodes, networks, allocations, routes, and databases. Rick Gallaher's Guide reads like a Spanish 101 textbook. Yes, it's great to know the difference between a physical, a data link, and network layers, but at the same time, it's a whole lot of material to take in at once. This isn't a book you can cram into your head in one sitting. It requires (as with Spanish 101) a semester to get it right. There are terms you have to practice. Acronyms you have to learn and whole slew of words that aren't exactly the easiest things to remember. That is a fault of the subject matter jargon and not the fault of the manual. Gallaher's Guide is a solid learning tool, and I think would work perfectly with a mentor or as part of an intructional class. By itself, it's more like reading a spanish textbook, without ever hearing the language spoken.

This is a wicked intense manual. I was given this book as a holiday gift last year, and I found it to be very intense and full of good metaphors and intelligent information. This year, I'm using the book as a training guide fro the students in my class starting in January. And I've asked for another copy for the holidays (this time to highlight allt he important analogies!)

This is a brilliant book, because Rick Gallaher makes MPLS very clear and easy to understand! The book is LOADED with LOTS of excellent diagrams, and Rick puts the whole thing together with great, simple, and clear explanations! Rick is also one of the few writers who clearly understand that over-engineering bandwidth does not solve the QoS problems! MOST EXCELLENT!!!

My team is working on H.264 video over a MPEG-2 transport stream packet. This book helps a lot on learning systems timing, which is hard to find from any books. I don't understand why so many books discuss about MPEG video, but very few tells about systems timing. Where are those "Professors" ?

The content is original, which cannot be found in other books with the same topic. However, I think the book is overpriced.

A good book ... many sections are new to me ( I didn't find them in other books )... interesting topics ...

The book is good because no one provided many details as given in this book. But just as other Kluwer books, it is over-priced.

This book offers a good intro for someone just entering the field of digital video transport; however, for a well exposed individual operating in this space, it is weak. As my background is in digital signal processing and comm systems, I have read and seen better materials, because of this I have to consider it as extremely overpriced. Its worth in my opinion is at most $80.00.