Cisco : A Beginner's Guide [Paperback]

Toby J. Velte (Author), Tom Shaughnessy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Network Professional's Library | Publication Date: January 2001

"Cisco: A Beginner's Guide", second edition, offers a solid foundation in Cisco technology by leading the reader from introductory concepts to hands-on implementation. This new edition will contain the following additional and updated material: new coverage of wireless technologies; new chapter on Cisco business solutions; information on routers and switches will reflect the current Cisco product range including recent products releases; all material on certification will be updated to reflect the current programmes and course objectives; more routing theory; and new material on security, specifically intrusion detection.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You generally can't pick up knowledge of Cisco products casually, the way you can learn about Microsoft Windows, Unix, and other products that are more generally accessible. For this reason, Cisco: A Beginner's Guide performs a valuable service. It introduces internetworking novices to the language and fact base that underlie routers, switches, network protocols, and the rest of the Internet's infrastructure. True enough, no book can teach you everything you need to know about a subject as complex as internetworking, but this one does a great job of giving you the background you need to perform well in a class or do hands-on experiments intelligently.

The book goes heavy on prose, enabling you to slowly absorb the truth about complex systems as the author lays a foundation of knowledge and then builds upon it. Conceptual diagrams help drive home relationships among network devices, though the blueprints in the center of the book suffer from being split down the middle by the book's binding--foldouts would have been far better. This is a superb book, though, one of the best around on internetworking with Cisco. It would make an excellent first purchase for a future Cisco expert or a fine "fundamentals" reference for more accomplished network engineers. --David Wall

Topics covered: Internetworking from a theoretical standpoint, backed up by information on how Cisco products handle implementation (meaning, in part, that you get information on which Cisco lines and models are good for which jobs). Technically, readers get the goods on Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS), routers, switches, routing protocols, and security. There's great information on the pantheon of Cisco certifications too. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Learn all about cisco technology - the backbone of the world's networking systems. Gain a solid foundation in Cisco technology from this practical, hands-on resource. Cisco products run approximately 80% of the networks in the world, making its IOS operating system second only to Microsoft Windows in importance. Cisco: A Beginner's Guide covers the fundamental technologies of this networking giant, including IOS command structure, routing and networking protocols, design and management tools, network security, and network device configuraion. If you want to become Cisco certified, this book also outlines Cisco's certification programs and test objectives. Plus, you'll get blueprints that map out sample network designs using Cisco products. This valuable reference is ideal for IT professionals ready to work with cisco products, as well as business managers faced with critical technology decisions.

Understand the 7-layer OSI model, TCP/IP architecture, SNMP management protocols, and IP addressing; Use IOS commands to configure Cisco internetworking devices - routers, switches, and hubs - and handle pathway determination; Get familiar with WAN technologies such as ISDN, Frame Relay, and DSL; Manage, maintain, and troubleshoot devices using Cisco tools, including ciscoWorks, CWSI Campus, ConfigMaker, FastStep, NetSys Baseliner, and more; Handle network security using AAA models, CiscoSecure, and access lists; Learn how routers communicate with each other using routing protocols - EIGRP, BGP, OSPF, and RIP. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 710 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2nd edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072133392
• ISBN-13: 978-0072133394
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,252,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Cisco reference book!, June 12, 2000

By 

Kevin Long (Harrisburg, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: CISCO: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I passed the CCNA today, partially due to this book (although the test study guides were more useful for that purpose). I'm new to IT, coming from a completely unrelated field. This book isn't the best introduction to networking and Cisco I found (I'd recommend Myhre's CCNA Certification book for that), but I know this will be my most useful reference book as I begin my IT career. It's full of information and laid out in an accessible format. I was truly a beginner when I picked up this book, and when I finished it I had a good grasp of routers, switches, IOS, and the OSI model. I'm sure this is a great book to get if you're familiar with networking but new to Cisco. If you're really green (as I was) and in pursuit of your CCNA, you'd do well to try Myhre's book first.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very elementary introduction to Cisco, June 5, 2001

By 

Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: CISCO: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

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.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Have" book for both the beginner and professional., January 21, 2000

By 

Thomas Ostrowski "theostrowskis" (LAND O'LAKES, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: CISCO: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

For the beginner this book fills in all the holes left out by the many different study guides and training materials available for the CCNA exam. Terms and definitions are very abundant and are located right along side of the terminology being discussed. Tom Shaughnessy assumes that the reader knows nothing about Cisco products and takes you from A - Z on routers, switches, hubs, and much more. After reading this book the study book I used was more of a review guide. Also a great book for review of networking essentials. For the professional this is a great book to have in your reference library. This book is not a study guide. It contains no practice exams, questions or exercises. When it's time to get back to the basics, this is the book to have!