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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very elementary introduction to Cisco, June 5, 2001
This book is an introduction to Cisco technology and Cisco's IOS operating system. It also instructs the reader on how to deal with Cisco routers, switches, hubs, and access servers. The first chapter starts with an overview of the Internet and how Cisco technology has positioned itself in the Internet explosion. The discussion is very general, and defines the terminology and basic network configurations currently of use in the Internet and networks in general. A listing of the SOHO, midrange, and backbone routers is given along with brief descriptions of each. Access switches and Catalyst switches are also discussed, and the authors are careful to distinguish between access switches and LAN switches. This is followed in Chapter 2 by a very elementary overview of networking and is written for the absolute beginner. The OSI reference model is discussed in detail, along with an overview of Ethernet, Token Ring, and ATM network technologies. WAN trunk technologies are also covered very quickly, with T1, T3, Frame Relay, and VPN discussed. The discussion of TCP/IP is fairly detailed and a should be very informative for those exposed to this protocol for the first time. The chapter ends with an overview of IP addressing, and again, at a very understandable level. Both of the first two chapters could be skipped by a reader with more preparation. My interest in this book was from a network modeling perspective, so I did not read Chapter 3 since I was not interested in Cisco certification. Chapter 4 gives a good overview of Cisco routers, and shows how to log on to Cisco routers directly. A quick discussion of router security is given in this chapter along with an overview of hardware. The later half of this chapter, and the next chapter on configuring routers, are written more for the network administrator, with a thorough treatment given. Chapter 6 covers switches and hubs, and the treatment is fairly general, with a detailed introduction to firewalls. How to configure firewalls to deal with intrusion and denial-of-service attacks is treated very well. Particularly helpful was the discussion of the Cisco PIX firewall and the Adaptive Security Algorithm. The chapter ends with a quick overview of VPNs. Chapter 7 begins the discussion on network design, and the authors do a good job of explaining how routing protocols succeed in delivering packets to the correct destination. Although non-mathematical, the discussion on insuring loop-free routing is a fairly good one, and introduces the reader to hold-downs, split horizons, and Poisson reverse.The discussion on routing protocol architectures is fairly helpful, for it discusses distance-vector routing and link-state routing. A fairly good overview of the Cisco routing protocols is given, wherein IGRP and EIGRP are discussed, along with OSPF and BGP. Performance issues with these routing protocols are not discussed however, unfortunately. The next chapter on network management is very helpful for those who need to understand how networks are monitored for performance. The SMNP protocol is discussed along with how MIBS collect, poll, and aggregate network information. A detailed diagram of the Cisco private MIB hierarchy is given, showing how it is broken into four subgroups. In addition, the authors show how SNMP commands can be used to set thresholds for a particular SMNP variable. The use of traps to report alarms is discussed nicely also. The authors then move on to a discussion of RMON probes in switched networks. They explain effectively why the incorporation of the RMON probe directly into the switch's hardware can insure visibility across switched networks. The chapter ends with a detailed discussion of Ciscoworks2000, CWSI, and NetSys Baseliner. The later is a modeling tool used for baselining by the use of RMON probes and IOS device accounting. Chapter 10 is a detailed discussion of how Cisco implements security into their devices. The authors outline access list and firewall security strategies, along with the AAA security framework. The two security protocols in AAA, TACACS and RADIUS, are treated in great detail.Unfortunately, the security protocol Kerberos is only given scant discussion, even though IOS includes Kerberos commands in its AAA framework.The CiscoSecure ACS package is also discussed thoroughly. The chapter ends with a short overview of dynamic access lists. The next chapter covers how to design networks using Cisco hardware.The three-layer hierarchical design model and the consequent deployment of hierarchical topologies is discussed as a superior design strategy over flat network topologies. The authors give a good discussion on the access, distribution, and core layers. Design methodologies, such as redundancy,load balancing, topology meshing, and backdoor and chain configurations are discussed in detail. There is also a short discussion on QoS. The chapter ends with an overview of logical network design, including IP addressing strategies, and DNS. The last chapter of the book considers network troubleshooting, with the discussion geared toward the actual steps taken to pinpoint network problems, such as host IP configuration and connectivity problems. A detailed treatment of the most common Ethernet statistics is given and a good discussion of troubleshooting WAN links. The book serves well as an elementary introduction to networking via Cisco hardware products and should server well those who are approaching this subject for the first time. As someone interested in network modeling,I found the book helpful mostly in the discussions on network management and network security. The book will pave the way for more advanced reading on the subject.
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