Cisco Systems Books

A complete reference and resource guide in one! Published by Cisco Press, Cisco Networking Academy Program Fundamentals of Network Security Companion Guide, ISBN 1587131226, by Cisco Systems, Inc., Cisco Networking Academy Program, thoroughly complements the Fundamentals of Network Security online course in the Cisco Networking Academy Program.

The book is extremely well laid-out! The beginning starts with an overview of Network Security and provides the reader with insight on how to identify, defend and secure computer-based networks. The book quickly jumps into router and PIX configuration, management and vulnerabilities. Topics covered at length include Router and PIX security, as well as configuration examples and overviews. In order to reinforce the chapter lessons, the book includes several labs and exercises in each section. Each chapter concludes with a summary and key terms that can provide the reader with invaluable information. The most useful part of this book is the chapter questions to reinforce your understanding of the material.

In order to complement the complete online course, there is a workbook that is published by Cisco Press, Cisco Networking Academy Program Fundamentals of Network Security Lab Companion and Workbook, ISBN 1587131234, by Cisco Systems, Inc. This workbook reinforces the methods and principals that are included in the companion guide.

The book is written for anyone interested in learning about Network Security and how Cisco devices integrate and ensure secure connectivity. Many of the chapters that are included in this book can be utilized by Network Administrators as a quick reference guide. Even if you are not registered in the Cisco online course, you will be able to utilize the Cisco Networking Academy Program Fundamentals of Network Security Companion Guide as a resource and a definitive study reference for students seeking to obtain the Cisco Firewall Specialist and CompTIA Security + certifications. The book is written for anyone interested in learning about Network Security and how Cisco devices integrate and ensure secure connectivity.

The CD included with the book "Cisco Networking Academy Program Fundamentals of Network Security Companion Guide CD-ROM" is similar to the online content and can be utilized to reinforce the material and lessons. The CD contains: Photo Zooms, Test Engine, E-Lab Activities, Demo Activities, and Additional Resources. The additional resources include command references and useful utilities to utilize on your network.

This book by far is the best Cisco Press book that I have reviewed this year. The Cisco Networking Academy Program Fundamentals of Network Security Companion Guide is rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Fundamentals Of Network Security Companion Guide is an 870-page textbook specifically written and designed to complement the Cisco Networking Academy Program online curriculum. Developed by a team of Cisco Systems experts, this comprehensive instructional expressly reflects the lessons that students study online, and an accompanying CD-ROM features activities similar to the online material to better understand the concepts. Topics covered and extensively discussed with practical examples include basic router and switch security; router AAA security; router site-to-site or remote access to VPNs; PIX security appliance from basic to advanced protocols; and so much more. A serious, in-depth text highly recommended for anyone pursuing the Cisco online curriculum, Fundamentals Of Network Security Companion Guide is a seminal and highly recommended addition to professional Computer Security reference collections.

This book cover a width range of themes, include security for winnt, unix. Also cover security with CGI, Java.. Excellent !!!

This book provides very good advice on how security works, and some way hackers had invaded systems.

Includes, Java, CGI, SATAN, Kerberos but lacks an step by step advice to protect networks. The book is all about Unix...

Nutshell review - If you are only going to read one book in preparation for the CISSP exam then you must read this one. It is extensive and covers all the bases.

I recently received word from ISC2 that I passed the CISSP exam. I'll be the first to admin that I test very well (used 2.25 of the 6 hours for the test), but I have to give credit to Shon Harris for this excellent book which helped me bring together all the information needed for this exam.

It's definitely true to read people describe the exam as a "mile wide and inch deep", so it shouldn't come as any great surprise to find this book is huge (~1,000 pages), and while it is technical in some areas, it is only superficially so. All the topics are covered at about the right depth to be aligned well with the exam.

My only quibbles are very minor, such as the by-lines at the beginnings of sections that started out cute, but became very irritating as they devolved into a sarcastic tone, and a lack of organization to the quick round-up of the concepts at the end of each chapter. Otherwise, this book is the entirity of the knowledge you will need to pass, but memorizing everything in the book isn't going to cut it - you will need a modicum of real-world experience to allow you to lay all this information out in a framework that meshes with how things actually work in the world.

Buy this book, read it thoroughly, apply a liberal amount of common sense, then pass the test.

I am a 25 year old infosec dude and found this book to be the only one necessary. I did practice exams online after reading through the ~1000 pages Shon Harris has put together. It reads well, and is not entirely boring. I think that anyone can pass the exam with just this book, but you can't be an imbecile. I have written exploit code before, researched vulnerabilities, and have been messing around with hacking since the 90's when I was in high school. So, many of the technical stuff I knew very well. With the CISSP, you also need to understand the non-technical side of things. Learning the other domains can be challenging. In the end, when taking the test, you learn to identify what they examiners are looking for. You may be yelling and screaming in your head during the exam that this question is ridiculous, and you would be right. You have to step back and pretend you are in high school again to answer the questions correctly. If you see the word "management", then you should always check that box. The are the tips I can pass on to would-be CISSP seekers. Good luck :-)

Simply put this book is the Bible of CISSP study material, if you read this book and understand the material and can apply it you will be in great shape for the CISSP exam.

Downside? The sheer size of this book can be intimidating

I just received an e-mail confirming I passed the test and I can say that this book is a really good overall reference. It has very good coverage of all the core domains that the CISSP exam covers and was practically my only study tool - definitely my only study book. I used the free exam questions at cccure.org (great reference) as well as some quick guides from that site (that are pretty much built off of the all-in-one and a couple of other books to provide quick reference).

I highly recommend this book (or the 4th edition which has just come out) to anyone considering taking the exam. While the exam is difficult, mastery of the subject matter is definitely possible with this guide and a bit of experience. The exam is very much concept-based, and by that I mean that you need to understand the concepts behind the core domains as oppsoed to just memorizing everything. Memorization is useful (and necessary) in a number of areas, but if you memorize without understanding the concepts there are plenty of questions that you can miss on the test. The exam really does a pretty good job of trying to draw on how well you understand the material. There are a number of people out there that state that the jokes or no good or there are gaps. First, it's not a comedy book. The style is meant to put the reader at ease so that the material can be more easily absorbed. Second, there are going to be gaps with any book because the exam is not written off of one. Plus, I tried reading the "official guide" a long time back. Dry, dry, dry, dry, dry. I couldn't force myself past 175 pages. And finally, there are a number of books that go into an absurd amount of detail. I think it's easy to get lost in that stuff. This one has good coverage without getting you lost in the weeds for an exam where that really isn't necessary. Overall I probably studied about 170 to 200 hours over a period of 3 to 4 months (but not every single day). Give yourself plenty of time to read and understand.

Also, the CD questions are a good way to test your comprehension. Use it. The end of the chapter questions are ok, but you should DEFINITELY use cccure.org to get a feel for how difficult questions will actually be and how they are worded on the test.

To anyone going for it I say good luck. It's not an easy test to take. As a frame of reference, I was able to complete it in about 4 hours - being really careful to read the questions well and also going back over the ones that I wasn't so sure about. It's grueling, but very doable.

Hope this helps.

This is a good book, accurate and up to date, but won't fully prepare you for the CCNA exam. Cisco's ICND book is still considered the official text for the exam.

Just had this book for one day, but I must say I am very impressed with it. I used to have problems with the terms "synchronous", "asynchronous", "port" and "socket". The book explains them so beautifully.

I am preparing for the CCNA test and I believe this book is the key.

I recommend the book to anyone preparing for the test.

To start the things let me say that I pass CCNA exam and this book was one of the responsibles for that. I'm not american and I can say that if you know english enough to read and understand and you want to pass you can buy this book. The Quizes of "Do I know it already" at the beggening of each chapter gives you a good base to know where you are and summaries at the end of the chapters are good enough as a remember of the chapters contents to use the days before the exam. After all ,you've to agree that the best way of try to find out how CISCO sees things(and that a very important point to the exam) is to read CISCO press books. All exam is there you've only to study it hard. Also is very good to try the labs exercises if you can.so that its , good luck!.

I looked at both this book and the Sybex/Todd Lammle book, and decided to order this one. I feel it was a good decision, due to the more rigorous coverage this book provides of the subject matter. I don't think this book's style is "overkill". If you have some networking experience, you can go through this book in two evenings with a highlighter to get a good review before taking a certification exam. And once you've completed the test, this book, unlike the Sybex book, will have some value as a quick reference in your tech library. If you don't have any network experience, I really think this book gives a good tutorial in networking fundamentals although it would take considerable time and effort to soak up all the information in here for the first time. Regardless of your experience level, this book gives you the "Cisco spin" on various topics that you'll need to answer the test questions, even if you're intimately familiar with the works of Richard Stevens, Radia Perlman, etc.

I just took and passed the CCNA exam. I used this book as well
as Todd Lammle's CCNA Study Guide. Probably overkill but I learned some good stuff. The interesting thing about these books is how they complement each other. Odom's book is great for commands, especially towards the end of the book in the routing, ipx and WAN sections. He has these cool charts that list out all the commands and make it really easy to review ones that you might not use at work (like all that frame relay and isdn stuff). I've seen other reviews mention typos - maybe I'm just not very observant but I didn't notice too many and the ones I did notice were no big deal. I also liked the CD - a full practice test that changes each time you take it. Some of the questions repeat - but it's still a useful tool. Don't be too concerned if you fail the practice test. I took like 5 practice tests before the exam (using Odom's, Lammle's and some I found online) - failed them all but passed the real thing.

This book could definately use a glossary. Lammle's book has one
and it really helps with all those silly acronyms Cisco wants you to know. I preferred the questions in Lammle's book as well. There are no multiple choice questions in the book - all are on the CD.

This book, as well as Lammle's, is very dry. How about some real life examples? There are scenarios in some chapters but they lack realism. Odom must has been a CCIE for quite some time now. He must have all kinds of cool stories - would have been great if some of them had made it into this book.

By far this is the best CCIE book I have purchased to date. It is well written has great technologies overviews (no fat) and great lab scenarios. Well worth the money I highly recommend it.

I am sorry to say this book is full of errors and does not even come close to the complexity level needed. There are far better Lab preparation books available. Don't throw your money away on this.

This book was the reason i was able to pass my CCNA, and CCNP tests to this date.

The review section at the beginning of each chapter, helps you reinforce what you learned in the past, and helps you fill in any blanks you might have had.

Once you start doing the labs, your vision will become clear and you will start hearing yourself say: "Ohh so that's how it works" ...
This book is not really a good source to study for your CCIE however its an invaluable tool for your CCNA, CCNP, CCDA, CCDP study time...

I used this book during my early prep for the R/S lab. There are errors, but still a pretty good book. It however is not even close to the complexity or depth of knowledge required on the actual lab. Just my opinion (and yes, I am a CCIE).

The format of this book has good intentions. Covers a topic, has a brief lab, sounds good, looks good at first.

The biggest problem is that almost all of the labs have some type of confusing inaccuracy. Most of the lab diagrams contradict the accompanying configs (interfaces names and IP addresses are mixed up). Many diagrams show more than one interface on the same router with the same interface name...huh?

It looks like the technical reviewer missed a thing or two...

I received this book within about 2 weeks after my order. It's in near new condition. I am satisfied.

This book is too too old. It's a waste of money...

"Cisco Certification - Bridges, Routers and Switches for CCIEs" by Caslow and Pavlichenko was admittedly published a few years ago. For it's time, this book was the `must-have' book to learn advanced configurations for the CCIE Routing & Switching lab. The authors are excellent teachers, and are able to explain complex subjects in an easy to read style. To find out what Bruce and Val are up to nowadays - check out their website at NetMasterClass.net. They have foregone writing an updated copy of this book and have instead focused their efforts on preparing top-notch labs to test one's knowledge before walking into the CCIE R&S lab. Still, in spite of this book's age, if you can pick up a copy today, you will not be disappointed.

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

Caslow and Pavlichenko have written quite possibly the definitive CCIE preparation book. Unlike most books in the field they focus not just on the relevant technologies, but also strategies for getting straight to the heart of the problems you will face both in the written and practical exams.

The second edition is dated now. The written exam has changed as of August '02, with the practical test due to change in November '02, but this does not render the book completely out of date. No CCIE study guide pretends that it can cover the subject completely without other references, and this is no exception. If you keep an eye on the Cisco CCIE blueprint and supplement your reading with more specific tomes on the recent additions to the exam you will find the methodologies in this book become the core of your exam strategy.

The 3rd edition of this book is currently being prepared and should be available by the end of 2002.

I started my CCIE lab studies with this book in 2000, it was an easy read and I really liked this book, specifically the Frame Relay section which still applies to today's lab. But, I had to put a hold on studies for a while.
I started my CCIE studies again in 2002 and passed the lab in 2003. During that time I glanced at this book for a total of 20 minutes. There are simply so many other books by CiscoPress that are better than this one, although, again, the Frame Relay section very well done. But certain sections, such as switching, token ring, and quite a few others simply don't apply anymore. Also, the Lab exam is so different now, with 3550's, QoS, Multicast galore, that this book falls of the required reading list.
I do think the author did a great job on this book initially, but it needs a facelift of major proportions.

In 2002 this book and test CD was good enough to pass. But after Nov 2007 when Cisco changed the test to make CCNA harder it is not. The book is good enough. It has been updated with all the info you need to pass the new test. The practice test has not been updated. It resembles the format of the questions you would have seen on the old test. It only has multiple choice questions. It has no simulators, no drag and drop, and no simlets. I passed the old CCNA exam 5 years ago. But I failed the new one just using this book and practice tests to study. I would recommend the book but would look elsewhere for practice tests. The lab simulator is flawed but adequate. This new test is hard!

For one, the book is a great book for review of the CCNA exam. It has practice exercises, practice tests (after every chapter), and four bonus exams, which makes this book not only great for practical knowledge, but a bargain as well. You don't need to buy practice exams when you get this book. The author Todd Lammle writes it in an easy to understand format for someone that has no networking knowledge. Now for the routing simulator, for me I thought it was great and simulates a real world environment. Don't listen to people that say ping or some of the other commands don't work. For ping to work, each router has to have the clock rate and encapsulation set the same on the serial interface (on both routers) to be able to work (I tried it, ping does work). This has everything you need to pass the CCNA exam. The only thing I wish it had was a few more scenarios to troubleshoot in the simulator for the real-world. Otherwise I would have given it a 5 star rating. Believe me, get this!

I bought the book and software seperatly as I didn't know you could buy this kit at the time.

I am telling you that you just HAVE to have this kit if you want to pass the CCNA new 607 exam with simulations.

So this kit says it was published in 2007 and all the comments are from 2002 ???? These people can make better money elsewhere !!!

I passed my CCNA exam after using this kit. I am an MCSE and MCP+I and now a CCNA thanks to these materials. The kit covers the vast majority of what you need to know to pass this exam.

After using several other books to prepare for other exams, this is by far the most thourough. The simulator did have some bugs, but it was still a valuable tool to simulate hands on practice. You can pass the exam using this kit alone, or got to ... for the complete router simulator.

This is excellent for those who want to learn on Cisco Routers and Switches and who are interested on CCNA exams. Certainly this is the best book, well written most of the topics, easy approach.

Try reading pages 313 to 321 and you will find coverage of HSRP. Good god and these people want to be CCNP's? I give up!

Outstanding book. Provides everything you need to know to pass the test, except for HSRP. I realized that this was not in the book when I went to take the test. It was a good thing that there were only a few questions on HSRP. Maybe I guessed right, but I did pass the test and that is all that matters.

I passed 640-604 Exam only studying with this book with the score of almost 900.

I also bought the Cisco Press's book for the same subject, but could not even go through it to the end once, because, it just made me very sleepy after few minutes every time I tried although I believe this is a great study book.

On the other hand, this Sybex book was very fun to read, covering the exam well. Even for those who do not have Engish as a native language like myself, can easily read this book, take the exam in English and can pass it.

The only bad point is, like the other reviewer pointed out, this book does not cover HSRP, which was still questioned as of May 2003. I would recommend that you buy the Cisco's book too and take a look at only that section to get a quick knowledge of HSRP, then you are good to go!

I must confess, that I used this book only for:
1) The chapters discussing multicast concepts and configuration (Chapters 8 and 9), and
2) The testing engine and flash cards contained on the companion CD.
This is the reason why I chose to go with the average rating of the book on Amazon, which at the moment is 4 stars. I'm sure there is truth to reviewer(s) whose opinion affected the rating from five stars to four.

I opted for CCNP: Switching Certification Guide, a Cisco Press book, as the base for preparation. However, I found the discussion on multicast confusing and lacking adequate illustrations. This is where Todd Lammle's book came to rescue. Lammel's book has good diagrams to illustrate how source distribution tree, shared distribution tree, bidirectional shared tree, PIM DM mechanisms (flooding, pruning, grafting), and PIM SM pruning work. The understanding gained from this book helped me comprehend multicast as discussed in the Cert Guide.

The testing engine was just an added bonus. I particularly like the flash cards that I download on my Palm for when I'm stuck in a traffic jam, which btw happens a lot in a crowded city.

After taking and passing the exam (luckily) today I can honestly say that this book did not prepare me well enough for the exam. Between 1/3 to 1/4 of the questions I was presented with I simply had to make an educated guess at because they were not covered in the book (For Example: I was asked questions about the user configurable options of PAgP and the configuration of the 3500 series of switch. In the Sybex book PAgP is given about 1/4 of a page that does not mention configuation and the 3500 series never appears in the book). On top of this there were several annoying typos and editing problems such as using the acronym CAM two chapters before it was defined as Content Addressable Memory.

It also appeared that Todd Lammle got bored or was working on a deadline because the last 3 chapters were in general harder to read and contained more errors than the first 8.

Overall this book is useful for those who are just beginning to learn about Cisco Switching and need a book that is readable to develop a basis on which they can build with other books such as those printed by Cisco Press. As a book that can prepare you for the exam or worse yet that can prepare you for actually working on the Cisco equipment this book is totally inadequate.

I used this book to pass the 640-441 exam. What more can I say? I read it from cover to cover and it gave me what I needed to pass the test!

This book contains a lot of information obviously written by a group of people who didn't talk to each other. Most of the information is repeated several times. Content is very disorganized. Most other Cisco Press Certification Books are much better organized. On a positive note, the CD Rom is VERY helpful. (Note that as of this date (Mar 2003) the test 640-441 has been retired and replaced by 640-861.)

This book provides a very good overview of the tasks involved with designing a network. It is well laid out and very concise. Over half of the book, however, is dedicated to appendices that do little more than provide a small refresh of past exam (CCNP path) topics.

If you are thinking about buying the book, reading it, and then heading to the exam without a course AND you have almost no networking experience, then I'd say to save your money. Buy a book that goes into greater detail in terms of networking and network protocols. This book will help you answer all the case study study questions, and is excellent teaching the theory behind network creation, but it will do nothing to aid you in answering any of the number of protocol based questions or routing questions or connectivity questions that are a part of the DCN exam.

About 60% of the exam is covered by this book, the rest of the exam dealt with the above issues that I was able to answer with my experience in networking. If you have 3-4 years of solid network experience and have your CCNP designation, then this book should provide a quick and dirty solution to your exam needs (no course required).

Excellent guide, but you'll need the classroom course and hours of studying...It's not a wizard like some people think, you have to analyse because the exam uses cases and several questions about each case, it's not just memorize steps and if you are preparing for the CCNA too, it is better.
The CdRom include a simulation test...believe it or not, I found some equal questions in the exam. I passed because I had patience to read and understood each case in the exam even I don't speak english.

I just bought this book. But the book was written for the 640-441 and you can't take that test anymore, they discountinued that test 3 days ago!! I get to the test and now the CCDA test is 640-861 and I was not told that the test was changed!! They sold me this book for a discountinued test!! Half the questions were on material not covered at all in this book such as IPV6 and VoIP. They should not be selling this book any more if the test is not given. I want my money back!! It i confusing to get a book for the CCDA test that is useless.

Whether or not you pursue the CCNP certification router configuration is something that is a key to ensuring that your network is safe from the outside and the safety of the data is a prime concern of any network administrator.

This 635 page guide is a great addition to my technical library with the information presented I was able to enhance my router knowledge for both network and training purposes. The book is broken into five parts with Part 1 covering the overview the scalable Internetwork.

Part 2 delves into the topics of managing traffic, network congestion, setting up IP access lists, IPX/SPX and SAP access lists and setting up queuing to take care of traffic problems. Part 3 covers VLSM, Classless and Classful subletting, OSPF in both single and multiple areas, EIGRP and BGP protocols.

Part 4 is the Dial-Up section with topics like WAN encapsulations, ISDN, DDR, PPP and HDLC. Finally part 5 the Non-Routing section where you learn about bridging techniques like source-routing, transparent and translational. The book is filled with actual examples of the code to make the understanding easier. Overall an excellent buy for the money.

This book could have been much, much more than it ended up. I bought it without having read any kind of review and I definitely regret it. After having read a far superior book on ACRC (Semester Five Companion Guide), I have to say that this book lacks too much in detail for the price. There are numerous errors (which you can view errata on the Cisco Press web site, it's massive) in this book as well that can confuse the reader tremendously. I only buy Cisco Press books, but had this been my first, I may have reconsidered. Mark McGregor did a much better job writing the Academy curriculum.

This will be a short review--I assure you. If you are serious about achieving CCNP status, this is the book to read after completing your CCNA (for that I recommend Tod Lammle's book).

As i have advised many CCNP-tobe, you'll need both thing : 1) Cisco Press Study Guide ( this book for ACRC ) 2) Cisco ACRC exam guide ( for brushing and prepare you in the coming days of your testing experience :).

Use this study guide for your replacement of ACRC traning course.

Good luck, ( Scored 884, in 1 hour, though i thought i failed ).

The concepts of this book are great - it explains the steps the router takes to accomplish a task. Unfortunately, the implementation isn't what I expected. Perfect example is setting up NAT. This book explains everything about how nat works, what it does and how it does it, but it doesn't give the OS commands to implement it! For the price, I would think that could be included.