Ip Routing Protocols: Rip, Ospf, Bgp, Pnni, and Cisco Routing Protocols

good.

Router and routing protocols are fast becoming the certification path many people are taking. Learning TCP/IP and subnetting is most confusing if you don't understand the basis and the basics. IP Routing Protocols is a first rate work that will make sense of the whole thing.The book is written to the more network savvy users and it's important that you have this understanding before beginning. Once you get into the book you'll find a world of information all packed into 280 plus pages. While the book does start off with the basic of internetworking, again the better understanding you have the easier it will be to grasp the more complex concepts.You'll get router discovery principles, bridges and internetworking basics and then you will start with the routing protocols. RIP. OSPF, BGP, IGRP and EIRGP as well as PNNI are covered in the next seven chapters. The author includes a number pictures, figures and diagrams to help you see visually what he it talking about.There are appendices that cover the OSI layered protocols, address resolution, subnetting subnet masking, translation and configuration. Also there is a section on Next Hop Resolution Protocol and several pages that cover abbreviations used in the book.The text seems to be complete and well documented and the author has put together a excellent reference guide. While it may be a little on the pricey side the overall value is well worth the price.

Uyless Black is one of the most prolific network authors alive today. One wonders how he can write so many books. Indeed, if you have his older books you'll wonder if he even wrote this one. The errors and simplicity far outweigh the good, original content. I bought the book based on his reputation and other titles of his in my extensive library. I returned it the following day. His errors begin with referring to the late W. Richard Stevens's book "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1" as "Steven's book." In the same sentence he recommends Professor Douglas Comer's book "Internetworking with TCP/IP" as "Come's book." If he and his editors cannot even get the singular possessive correct or spell properly, how can you trust the facts in the book? His errors multiply when he recommends a popular title from Cisco Press on OSPF that has "an average of an error a page, on a light page" according to one reviewer (private communication to me at Networkers 2000 in Orlando).Some might think he offers detailed coverage of the protocols. I disagree. The coverage he tenders is of a basic to early-intermediate level at best. If you can follow a URL you can gain much more than Black offers here. Just read the RFCs and you will cover most of the protocols Black's book. There are two clear exceptions: Cisco's IGRP/EIGRP and ISO'S IS-IS. But wait! There is an RFC that discusses IS-IS in the IP world. Cisco has ample documents on their website that discuss their proprietary protocols.Do not think I am opposed to published works. My networking library fills four six-shelf bookcases that are three feet wide each. My collection of de facto and de jure standards nearly fills another such bookcase. Published works fill a role that the standards documents are not intended to. But, please, buy the right book!One gets the impression that the book was not designed to meet the needs of customer, but to fulfill a contract with a publisher. It is unfortunate, too, because the market clearly needs a detailed discussion of these routing protocols in a single volume. The only works that do so now are focused on configuring equipment from Cisco Systems, Inc.Save your money. Buy Radia Perlman's book "Interconnections, 2ed", John Stewart's book "BGPv4", and Ivan Pepelnjak's "EIGRP Network Design Solutions." Or simply buy Jeff Doyle's "Routing TCP/IP." Sure, the last couple are Cisco-centric, but they cover the protocol operations in detail. Doyle's, in particular, covers several protocols and is probably the best overall reference on all rouTING protocols only because he also covers EIGRP. My second choice would be Radia Perlman's, even though she does not cover the popular but proprietary EIGRP. The Mother of Spanning Tree Protocol has done a remarkable job not only on rouTING protocols, but also on the layer two operations of bridges and switches.Save your time. Don't read this book. Unless, that is, you are a paid reviewer getting it ready for a new debut.

This book has help me in understanding routing in general. I wished the author went more indepth on BGP and OSPF.