Customer Reviews

CCIE Practical Studies: Security (CCIE Self-Study)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I ordered this book in the hope that it would help me study for the CCIE Security Lab exam. I already have Soli's Practical Studies (both volumes). The beginning chapters in the book are related to Ethernet, ISDN, Routing Protocols etc. Don't expect the same level of detail for these topics here that you would find in Soli's book or in Jeff Doyle's book. Use those books to cover these topics. The security Practices (Part IV) of the book is why you bought this book.
Being an instructor for almost all cisco security courses, I was disappointed by the level of detail in Chapters 14 through 17. But then, the book might be covering just what you need for your exam. In my opinion, you need Saadat Malik's book Network Security Principles and Practices. I would give that book 5 stars!.
For me, the only chapters worth anything were Advanced VPNs (Chapter 20) and Chapter 26 (Sample Lab Scenarios -- which has eight scenarios).
The VPN Concentrator, which now appears on the lab is nowhere to be seen in this book. This is a big MINUS for this book.
Depending on your background with network security, you might want to give a better rating to this book as to the depth of the material covered. If you already have Doyle + Soli's books, get Sadat Malik's book + IOS Network Security documentation and attend the CSVPN course and CSIDS courses (if you can). This book does not cover the IDS Sensor at all. It only covers the limited IDS of the PIX and routers.
I would have liked it better if the routing/switching topics would have been left off totally from this book and the focus would have been entirely on the Security stuff (read VPN Concentrator and the IDS Sensor etc). People would tell you that you can get them off the Documentation CD. Well, if so, the stuff that the book has is also on the doc. cd :-)

This book came out right in time for me, just 2 months before my Security lab exam. I passed my lab (CCIE #8609 R&S and now Security also). The simulation labs at the end of the book have been extremely helpful. The contents are also right in line with the lab and the samples configs are a welcome addition.
Two thumbs up!

Having passed your CCIE Security Qualification Exam, you'll need to spend some time preparing for the lab - no easy task, and with so little information around, you'll need all the help you can get.

I bought this book on its release in July and have just passed the CCIE Security lab in Brussels. The lab was very difficult - and not to be underestimated. This book is close to the real thing and was an invaluable guide, and (with LOTS of practice) helped me to my goal. Above all, it helped me realise how under prepaired I would have been. I'm pretty sure that without this book, I would have failed the lab.

The book has twenty-five chapters of background, followed by eight "Labs" for you to try for yourself. If you can master those in the time given, you'll be in a good position to tackle the real thing. There's the odd typo here and there, but is generally sound and well written, but should of course be suplimented by other material aswell.

Good luck!

Two Thumbs Up!!
Finally, a practical guide for CCIE Security! I haven't finished the whole book yet, but what I've seen so far is right on. I've been looking for lab scenarios to practice for the lab and I got them. The CD that ships with the book is worth getting on its own, but the book text is an excellent reference as well.

I have passed my written exam. Having this book will definitely increase my chance to pass the lab.

I have read dozens of Cisco titles, and this book is by far the best! Whether you are studying for The security Written or Lab, or for the R&S lab This book is the best resource money can buy!

The book covers basically all key areas involved on the Security network environment that is important to be prepared to the CCIE Lab Exam as well for the professionals on Security area. Excellent in content and it brings a real world exercises that links the theory to a practical hands-on scenarios. Execellent buy.

I would like to congratulate Dmitry and his team and cisco press for putting together this title. This book covers all the topics in good details with examples. It covers 12.2(15)T IOS features which are not easily found elsewhere. Amount of information and labs contained in this book will take anyone hundreds of hours to go through these labs and will certainly prepare them for THE CCIE lab. I am sure Concentrator and IDS chapters will be added in due time.

Full scale labs are very well laid out. If you are prepping for this test, you must go through these labs couple of times.

Great job Dmitry and crew! way to go!

-Keyur Shah-
QUAD CCIE# 4799 (Voice;Service Provider;Security;R/S)
Hello Computers
http://www.hellocomputers.com

Incredible work by the authors. I like the way this book is laid out. The neat thing about it is the way it combines material which could be split into several books. My own CCIE study was not funded by an employer. I had to pay my own way (like most people), so having been able to save money on courses and books was a great benefit to me. The CCIE Security lab requires having a strong background in routing and switching and this book is a great bundle of information that reduces your search and study to the areas on which you are most likely to be tested. I don't have R&S CCIE, so seeing real examples of how routing & switching provides basis for security helped me pass the lab. I failed my first attempt because in my studies I assumed that it was going to be only security based, not realizing that I would be tested on the R&S background as well. I bought this book after I failed, and after completing all the practice labs in the book, I was able to get my CCIE after the second attempt. This book does not go into detail on IDS and VPN Concentrator, but I didn't have them on my test (maybe it was added afterwards).

I disagree with previous reviewer's comments. It seems like the author recommends taking 2 classes worth about $3200 each and buying several books which do not provide applicable lab scenarios instead of a $70-some investment into this book. Whatever topics are not listed in this book (and they can't, otherwise the book would need a forklift to pick it up) can be easily found on CCO for free. It's funny that the reviewer is admitting that somebody with a different background from theirs would give it 5 stars. Well, it seems that my background is different and I do give it 5 stars.

The book covers basically all key areas involved on the Security network environment that is important to be prepared to the CCIE Lab Exam as well for the professionals on Security area. Excellent in content and it brings a real world exercises that links the theory to a practical hands-on scenarios. Execellent buy.

The book covers basically all key areas involved on the Security network environment that is important to be prepared to the CCIE Lab Exam as well for the professionals on Security area. Excellent in content and it brings a real world exercises that links the theory to a practical hands-on scenarios. Execellent buy