Cisco Systems Books

Having had the benefit of having Galina be my instructor for my CCIE boot camp class, I was impressed right from the start! I walked in a pretty Vanilla NP/DP. 2 weeks when I stepped out of that classroom I had felt my skills and knowledge multiply by 3-4x. That is exactly what you will get from this book. You "WILL" be able to walk out to a customer site and not only pitch ATM and sell them on it, but also have the confidence to design, configure, and T.S. ATM if need be. This book gets brought along with my Cisco LAN Switching book now as part of my reference library when I am working on projects. It is also a very integral part of my library. My only complaint is WHY WASN'T THIS RELEASED 2 YEARS AGO??? Keep up the good work Galina, your an invaluable asset to the Cisco community and to the Networking community as a whole!

After purchasing this book a year ago, I am about 400 pages in and totally frustrated. It is like a collection of white papers about ATM theory. Sure, good info, but I want to know how to IMPLEMENT and design ATM networks. The writing style is awful -ex. "the partner agrees on this, that, and the other stuff" (pg. 140). The English usage is suspect at best, leaving the reader with impression that a number of writers had their hands on this one, and that many had English as a second language. While there is some good info in here, as well as some lab exercises, a solid, well-written book on ATM has yet to appear. After about 500 pages of this, you won't even consider putting this technology into your WAN -it comes accross as an administrative nightmare, obtuse, arcane, and altogether incomprehensible.

Nicely written & very informative.Though I was left with a lot of knowledge of the terms / build up of ATM ... I just did not get a real good enough 'grip' on this subject by reading this book !! Considering the reviews that this book already has from other readers, I'm sure I must be just the exception !!

In 1997 I found myself configuring an ATM/SONET based WAN, with no documentation to turn to other than forum White Papers. What I would have given for this book then!

Having read a number of ATM books now, I can say that this is one of the better ones. The writing is relatively clear, and it moves quickly from topic to topic. In addition to the 560+ pages of core text, the book has hundreds of pages of lab exercises and with detailed solutions, and a thick glossary.

On the whole this book isn't so golden that I would rank it among the crown jewels of Cisco Press (i.e. the Routing TCP/IP series) but it is a solid book, and covers precisely what the title suggests that it does. If you had to read just ONE book on ATM, you could do worse than to pick this one.

Ms. Pildush both loves ATM, and believes in it. However, she is also a realist, and clearly aware of how well positioned ATM's competitors are. I found this highly technical book hard to put down, because it articulated a viewpoint. In an understated and very professional way she makes a strong case for ATM vs. Gigabit Ethernet, and ATM vs. IP over Sonet.

Still, there were a couple of minor disappointments. Firstly, I didn't get a clear picture of the physical network landscape. I would like someone to draw a map--either a nationwide or global map--that lays out existing wide area networks (ATM, Frame Relay, etc.), and clearly shows what their role is. Secondly, although she does say she prefers ATM as the protocol for DSL, there's almost no discussion of DSL. If ATM becomes the protocol of choice for ADSL, and Ethernet for cable modems, wouldn't the total amount of data strongly affect the overall competition?

There's discussion of enumerable routers (why am I not surprised?), and many details (standards, layered architectures, etc.), but even with all the detail, the material seems effortlessly presented, and is easily understood. On balance, a fine job.

This book is really easy to read and It contain a good introduction to the IDS philosophy/world.

Did i say introduction? yeah.. because it doesn't go really deep
in IDS deployment procedures and the author seems to forget Director for HP Openview.

The part were it show the signatures is a lost of paper, because
we can access the online database.

But in general it is a good book, a great introduction. The product is limited itself so we have to expect limited explanation in the book too.

Cisco no longer uses, nor do they recommend CSPM (Cisco Secure Policy Manager). Therefore, 60% of this book is irrelivant information.

I wasted $60 on this book, only to find out later, that it was outdated.

I love this book! Why? I just passed the exam (9E0-572 IDSPM) by using this book as a main resource. Excellent and detail description of the Cisco IDS product with Policy Manager.
There's also Planned Cisco IDS Enhancement included in the book.
Another great book by Cisco Press!

This book is one of the most well written I've seen from Cisco Press. It covers all area of the Cisco Secure IDS System without being too Wordy.

Chapter 10 contains a complete listing of all Signatures (at print time) that the CSIDS system can detect making this an excellent Reference book.

Keep this on your shelf and close by!!!

Kudo's to Earl Carter for the excellent job in Editing!!!

Its a direct portal from Cisco's CSIDS class. If you have the class materials, then you do not need this book. Otherwise, its the only book out there by Cisco, on CiscoSecure IDS (formerly Netranger) product line.

This book is very compact, concise and contains a wealth of information that I could not find in any other single reference. It provides a very good introduction to voice technologies for the data engineer and more specific information about the voice capabilities of Cisco routers (although there is no coverage of 800, 1750 or MC3810) with numerous example configurations.

Contents, 1.Intro, 2. Packetized Voice Overview, 3. Voice Concepts for Data engineers, 4. QoS for IP, 5.Qos for Frame Relay, 6. Understanding Voice Ports and Dial Peers, 7. Developing a Dial Plan, 8. Integrating It All, 9. Sample Configurations, 10. VoIP Case Study, Appendix. Webliography.

The only disappointment is that the book is very IP-centric, VoFR is from an IP over Frame perspective and VoATM gets no coverage. The book is barely over 300 pages, so I don't think this would have been asking too much.

I'd have rated this book much lower if it wasn't cram packed full of great information. The problem is, the writing style makes it impossible to read this book from cover to cover if you don't already know everything in it. If ever an IT book was screaming for a glossary, this was the one. The author habitually uses terms and acronyms as if the reader already knew them, and then goes on to define them chapters later. At least on one occassion, I found a term used in chapter 2 defined in chapter 3. The definition of the term used another that wasn't defined until chapter 5. As said, there's no glossary, and the index is entirely too sparse to cover for that omission. Reading this book WILL teach you well, but don't sit down with it without a reference library and/or net connection handy to look up the terms that you can't find any other way.

Caputo provides an excellent balance between theoretical background and Cisco specific information. Chapter 3, "voice concepts for data engineers" provides just the right level of information needed to understand voice technology, and the challenges of packetized delivery.

Another nice featue is the clearly tabulated facts and figures, which make this book an excellent reference for even the experienced reader.

Overall, Caputo has provided a text that contains everything required to understand and implement successful voice and data integrated networks with Cisco technology.

Caputo maximizes detail without including the often extraneous content found in similar texts. This book accommodates the fledgling beginner with a brief but thorough intro into the technologies and protocols referenced in the first few chapters. With the reader "up and running", the author then gives a wonderfully detailed tutorial into the commonly misunderstood subject matter of "Voice over Data" delivery methods. The title includes a multitude of "real-world" examples in the form of client configs the author has worked on. I personally find this far more useful than the more commonly found "lab-configs" which are far too sterile to be of any use in actual day to day operations. The level of detail is second to none with Caputo's "No such thing as a stupid question" approach. This book is a MUST for any network technologists' desk. Although there is a conspicuous absence of any reference to other voice over data delivery methods such as Voice over Frame and Voice over ATM, I believe the omission was a good decision as Voice over IP is itself sufficient subject matter to fill more than an entire text on the subject.

The information is geared towards the network engineer that has limited phone knowledge, which was perfect for my own background.

The book has excellent technical accuracy and the data is presented well. The book requires relatively strong strength in a networking background because many references are made to associated technologies without explaining them. Explaining such things would be outside the scope of this book.

When/if you read this book, try to seek out unfamiliar terms in the index or look them up elsewhere. Most of the data is relevant and worth understanding as you go along.

Reading and understanding this book gave me a great understanding of VoIP and I now believe that I can effectively evaluate and implement VoIP solutions.

The CCIE program has publicly announced inclusion of VoIP in the CCIE Routing-Switching laboratory exam. Through my experience, I belive that this book is a valuable resource in acquiring the VoIP knowledge necessary to achieve this certification.

I found the book very confusing. The endless diplay of routing tables became very boring it seemed most of the pages are filled with routing tables. As far as a book that is supposed to help prepare for a test this was the worst one I have ever read and I am presently a CCNA CNE and MCSE so I have taken many tests.

Also one of the reviews mentioned a cdrom with the book that must be a mistake as I am looking at the book now and there is no cdrom with it.

There is no doubt that Cisco is one of the most sought after an coveted certifications going today and Robert Myhre is making sure that you have every chance to pass the certification exams on the first shot.

As with his CCNA certification book, Myhre covers each exam objective completely and with excellent attention to detail. His knowledge of the subject matter is very evident right from the beginning.

The mixing of screen shots with tables, figures and diagrams throughout the book help to make the topics easy to see and comprehend. Topics like routing concepts and protocols like IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, internal and external are given sections in this book.

Myhre also includes review questions at the end of the chapters and this allows you to gauge you learning and also to allow you to review the sections you find more difficult. At the end of the book is Appendix A covering routing commands and B covering subnetting, both are excellent references to have on hand.

The cd-rom included has practice questions and the installation was simple and no major complications were encountered. Also visit Prentice Hall Website to find even more book on several certifications.

I read the Cisco book. I also read the Sybex book. Both gave me a fairly good understanding of the subject. It was not until I read this book that I felt I knew the material well enough to take the test. DO NOT use this book as the only source. Use this book AFTER reading Cisco or Sybex. This book will really bring it together for you. I cannot say enough about the style Robert Myhre uses. The book "talks" to you like someone explaining in person how the protocols work. If you want to really understand routing, this is your book. I read and studied this book after reading the Cisco book (dry, yawn) and this book really kept my interest. I took the test today and scored an 839. If you want to not only pass the test but REALLY understand EIGRP, OSPF and BGP buy this book.

I read this book and will say that this book is certainly not as good as the author's ccna book. Compared to cisco press's books, it lacks clarity and coherency. There were many technical errors- I had to consult cisco CCNP books very often. In the end I decided to return the book from where I purchased it from.

This book is excellent to keep by your desk for reference when you just don't recall the proper command. It is about some one starts publishing books that actually talk about the "how to" aspect of networking as opposed to theory so I disagreee with the other reviewer, No Theory IS GOOD you can get the theory from every corner bookstore. Finally something to help me do my job...

The book is useful for learning every detail about IOS configuration from a command interface level. NO THEORY! It has enough detail that it's great for playing "stump the CCIE". The book has a lot of repeated portions, making for very hard reading. This book reads worse than your average technical reference manual. Most of this information is availible in cisco Documentation.

Excellent reference for Cisco IOS commands. If you are looking for an "Intro to Cisco config", then this isn't the book. If you are looking for a reference that explains every command in great detail, then this is the book for you. Sure this info is available on their website (with much searching), but with this book, you can lookup any command in seconds and find out the syntax, default, command mode, usage guidelines and examples very quickly.

A reader is disagreeing with a review you have removed. Now I know your reviews are "selected"

or if reading thick and heavy "bricks" in the office would improve your image, this is your book.

Basically the book is a hardcopy of UniverCD/ Cisco's web site. There's no rational reason to buy this book. If you have some extra money - then buy it just to have it on hand. Personally I prefer CDs (I have one always with me).

Otherwise - the book itself is not bad, and $70 is not that much ...

I am in TOTAL AGREEMENT with the other (2) reviews (posted as of 8/22/98), and I, too, would likely be disappointed with this text, under THEIR particular conditions ... HOWEVER: I am a Help desk employee who configures 5-6 Cisco Routers over the phone every day, so I do not have my own personal copy of the CD documentation (hence, I must rely on SOMETHING in lieu of the doc CD). Moreover, I am VERY EARLY into preparing for the CCIE, and this book builds on what I already know about IP addressing, and then some.

One criticism of this book said elsewhere is that it does not tell the reader how to configure the parameters documented on it's pages. Hogwash: how more clearer could Cisco Press be than presenting a table with two columns -- "Commanding this ..." and "... makes this ..." ?? ... pretty straight-forward, I thought ...

Regarding the comment that some of these parameters will be outdated eventually ... well, three comments: first, welcome to the WACKY WORLD of software (yes, Virginia, it's GONNA be outdated in six months; and yet, many of the parameters mentioned in this book will very likely be pertenent two years from now ... now THAT'S holding power); secondly, in a sense, every configuration in this book is ALREADY outdated, due to Cisco's "ConfigMaker," a GUI-interfaced config tool that makes all commands obsolete (BUT ... I feel it really helps to know what I'm commanding for my network, so that when the inevitable 11th-hour troubleshooting parties begin, I know of a place to begin); thirdly, I'm not exactly sure what the writer of that review was hoping and looking for when he even brought up this issue of outdated-ness ... so for this reason, I have no further comment ...

I was a little disappointed with this book. I was expecting more on how the various protocols work, and how they should be configured. Instead it is essentially just a hardcopy of the Configuration Guides and the Command References available on the CD-ROM that comes with Cisco products, and also available on their website. It takes you through the steps required to configure a Cisco router, with a reference to the relevant commands, but does little to describe the fundamentals involved - why you are entering the commands it is describing. I have, however been much more impressed with some of the other Cisco Press books - 'Cisco CCIE Fundamentals: Network Design and Case Studies' being an excellent example.

This book is just the IP section of Cisco's IOS documentation. Buying this stuff in frozen-state hardcover is probably a bad idea, as it will be outdated in no time. There are very few examples in this book, and virtually nothing about how things interrelate. You'd be much better off buying books with author's names on them (I notice that whenever a Cisco book lacks an author's name, it's usually a reprint of the CD documentation). I really wish Cisco would be up front about the source of the material (the Cisco CD) for these reprint titles. But nowhere do they mention how you can get the CURRENT version of this info (and for free to boot).

This is a required book for my cisco class. Overall I think it's pretty good. It has pages and pages of modern networking standards and is filled with a boatload of essential introductory router commands.The only real issue I had was all the errors in it, if you choose to buy this make sure you go to cisco press' website and get the errata. This 2nd edition is about to expire, so if you can find a newer edition scrap this one.

We used it in Class that what prompt me to buy it.

This book has proven invaluable to my students as they navigate the online curriculum. Fantastic as reference as I refresh myself before teaching the lab topics to my students.

I had ordered a book with ISBN 1-57870-236-4 CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY PROGRAM: LAB COMPANION VOL. 1, I was really dissappointed when I received the book after a long waiting time because when I start looking and reading the book I found out that the book is incomplete in inself, means to say it states that the book is structured into three parts: 1.Overview section, 2.Worksheet section 3. Answer section....it has no part 3 and you will notice that the ISBN number inside the book is the same as what I ordered but when you check the back cover of the book wherein you can also find the ISBN number of the book it was covered with another white sheet of paper., and when you going to feel it off you will see that it has a different ISBN number, instead of ISBN 1-57870-236-4, the ISBN is 1-57870-236-X. I dont know if this intentionally done or what but I feel being cheated when you sent me this book. Hope this will be corrected as soon as possible.

I looked through a dozen Cisco books trying to obtain an insight into tuning my organuzations router. Unfortunately, most book do not cover this topic to any extent, with the exception of this book that I stumbled upon. I found this book refreshing, as the author shows some examples that are both practical and illustrate his use of routers. Some of the other books I bought make you wounder if the author ever used a router. Even the price of this book was outstanding. The only real regret I have is I wasted $55 $70 a book for junk when I should have bought this one first for $29.95. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb me!

Quick reference with information that can be found inside Cisco's public web site. (CCO) More than 30 pages wasted with the Mib-II and Cisco's private mib extension that are also public domain. If you're really looking for Router's performance analysis and troubleshooting tips do not buy this book.

This book places all the important metrics concerning Cisco router performance in one easy to read reference. It is well worth the $29.95 price when other books selling for double the price only peripherally cover performance.

This book saved me a router upgrade. My company was set to replace our existing routers until I found this book and went thru its contents. While it discussed some obvious things, it also alerted me to a series of techniques which I put to use. Other than some obscure Cisco documents this is the only text that covers router performance and its cost was literally worth its weight in gold. Now if only my cheap company will give me a bonus.. but thats another story.

Passed the Cisco security exam using only this book. Has just the right combination of theory, backed by solid examples and explanations.

I use this book to prepare the exam MCNS, it meets what I need. It can give a good overview of network security, and enough information on the FireWall, VPN, AAA, Intrusion Detection. It provides enough examples to illustrate the idea, especially for those commands usage. Don't expect this book can give you much in-depth information on all areas, such as network security design, but still can give you an overview and enough information for beginner to intermediate level.

The Syngress publication "Managing Cisco Network Security" provides a decent collection of concepts pertaining to architecting secured information systems. However, I found the book lacking in examples of creative applications and substantially less comprehensive than documentation available on Cisco System's web site. In this respect, I was disappointed with the publication contents.

I would recommend the book to those seeking foundation knowledge in the art of network security while cautioning that expectations of specific Cisco guidance might be better satisfied through research of Cisco repositories.

Extremely informative. Much better than the "Cisco Press" technically written version.

The Cisco Press "CCSP Self-Study: Cisco Secure Virtual Private Networks" is the Cisco Authorized self study book for the CSVPN Exam 642-511 (ISBN: 1587051451). I personally used this book as my primary study resource for the CSVPN Exam, which I passed with flying colors (934/1000), thanks in most part to this book.

The book format mirrors the CSVPN class format. The first chapter is nearly identical to all the other CCSP courses, discussing the general principles of network security, including types of threats and attacks. The opening chapter also reviews the fundamentals of VPNs and IPSec, which should be a review for those readers who have already passed the SECUR exam.

Chapter 2 jumps right in the meat of the course material, with an introduction to the 3000 Series VPN Concentrators. Subsequent chapters walk the reader through setting up the VPN Concentrators, from Quick Configuration mode, through complex configuration scenarios using Preshared Keys, Digital Certificates, Load Balancing, and Redundancy. Additional topics also cover the 3002 Hardware Client as well as the Cisco VPN Software Client.

The book does a terrific job presenting the material. Each chapter includes numerous screen shots relating to that chapter's specific topic. In fact, I was able to replicate many of the example configurations in my home lab.

The book obviously does not cover the latest Concentrator Release 4.7. While it is probably too soon to expect Cisco to begin testing the new 4.7 features (such as SSL VPNs), the student is advised to check www.cisco.com for the latest exam roadmap. As mentioned earlier, I highly recommend this book for any student preparing for the CSVPN Exam 642-511. Every question that I encountered in the exam was covered in "CCSP Self-Study: Cisco Secure Virtual Private Networks". When Cisco does begin testing 4.7 features, the student should be able to easily augment this text with additional information from [...].

I bought this book because when I started my new job, I inherited two cisco vpn concentrators. After working with the concentrators for several months and had a good handle on how to create new L2L vpn's, remote access groups, etc., I bought this book. I was looking for a good detailed book that would explained the individual settings within vpn's, groups, etc. This book was not it. It does a good job of covering the concentrator at a 30k ft level, but it lacked the detail that would be useful in a production environment. This may be a sufficient book to pass the exam (I wouldn't know since I've never attempted the exam), but did not meet my expectations as a "go to" book for explaining the details. So if you're looking for a book to explain the basics for exam prep, then I would give this 4.5 stars, but as a reference source, I can only give it 3 stars. I think this book is marketed as a good exam guide and not a "nuts-n-bolts" book, so I think I may have had wrong expectations for this book.

Having passed Cisco Exam 642-511 this morning with a score of 878, I would defiantly recommend this book. However, this book alone will not guarantee you a pass, the book is well written but does not cover all the exam topics, there a few questions on my exam which were not covered in this guide. I have given this book an overall rating of 4 stars and with the use of Cisco on-line documentation you should be able to gain enough knowledge the exam.