Customer Reviews

Cisco QOS Exam Certification Guide (IP Telephony Self-Study) (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

CiscoPress's "Cisco QoS - Exam Certification Guide" 2nd Edition by Odom and Cavanaugh is marketed for the QoS 642-642 exam. In reality, this book is an excellent resource for both real-world implementations and for the CCIE R&S exam. Typically, QoS is not a subject that would keep me engaged, but this book does just that. The writing style is crisp, clean and succinct.

The book jumps right out of the gate at explaining, in very easy to understand terms, the underpinnings of QoS and also the enemies of QoS (Bandwidth, Delay, Jitter and Loss). The book next discusses the different tools for QoS (classifying and marking, queuing, shaping, congestion avoidance and link efficiency). This is the bulk of the book and where the book most shines. The diagrams and configs greatly enhance the discussions of the various QoS techniques. The book finishes up by discussing the nuances of LAN QoS (particularly CoS and DSCP) and best practices.

Items I find of particular use:
* Chapter 3 discusses MQC (Modular QoS CLI) - this is an area where Cisco has, lately, really focused their energies at developing. It seems each new Cisco IOS has new commands to further enhance the MQC capabilities. This chapter does a great job at discussing the syntax of these commands (for instance - checkout the different `match' commands on page 148).
* Chapter 6 discusses traffic policing and shaping - I have an admitted difficult time knowing when to implement shape average vs shape peak. This chapter documents the use of each command as well as the difference in policy-based police commands (see page 385).

Overall, I consider this book an essential tool in my preparation for the CCIE R&S lab. Weighing in at over 700 pages, this is a tome that I reference often (and keep handy on my bookshelf).

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

OK, so I'm impatient to mouth-off. I've only read the 1st 100 pages but I'm so impressed, I want to tell you.

I just want to know about QoS. Exam is much lower priority.

I really like the language used in this book ... it resonates with me. I also like the fact that several different ways are sometimes used to describe something. This confirms my understanding & if I don't understand the 1st way of explaining it, it gives me another chance. When different terms mean the same thing, this is explained. This is great since this is a major source of confusion in IT.
The plentitude of diagrams helps clarity.
This book is very considerate of the user ... not just dumping immature thoughts on a page like so many comms. books.

I generally have developed a negative impression of CiscoPress books (eg. the MPLS 'bible') but this helps recover this.

One little bit of feedback is that I find packet flows from right a left a bit counter intuitive. Compare figures on P.90 - 101.

Regards, MH

The authors absolutely produced a gem in this Cisco QoS Exam Certification Guide. Whilst I used the book primarily to pass the 642-642 QoS exam, this book can definitely serve as a reference to anyone remotely doing anything with QoS.

The authors explain the concepts in a easy-to-follow manner, and follow each concept up with at least 1 or more examples that complement the concept and re-inforce learning.

Compared to other Cisco Press books, this book is engaging, covers the concept in depth, has good examples, and has relatively fewer errors. Therefore I give it 5-years, which it richly deserves.

After reading the book once I sat and passed the 642-642 with flying colors. This is how good the book is. I now also feel confident about the QoS section on the CCIE written exam.

I bought this book for two reasons. First and most important to teach myself a lot more about QOS and understand how to use in a VoIP shop. And second to pass the QOS test.
I am half way through the book and like the way the book is written. Author does a great job explaining the subject matter and throwing in hints about the exam. I have no background in QOS but have several years in routing and switching. Overall this book is a perfect fit for me.

I haven't found any other book that explains Cisco's QoS implementation this accurately, and it's also very straightforward in its explanations. I really have to applaud the authors for their work.

The book spends most of its time covering the modular QoS interface, and for good reason - the other, more traditional tools are slowly being phased out. The older methods are still mentioned and explained however.

There is also a good amount of discussion on fragmentation and interleaving, why you need it, and how to implement it. The explanations were particularly excellent in regards to frame relay interleaving and how it ties together with all the other QoS tools.

The diagrams can sometimes be confusing - sometimes they read right to left, other times left to right. While the authors make note of which way to read it, making it consistent would be better.

There are also questions to get the juices flowing both at the beginning and end of the chapters, to keep the bits (no pun intended) where they belong.

If you are studying for the CCVP QoS exam this book is a fantastic resource, quite possibly the best available.

Attempting to keep this review short and to the point, let me point out the following...

1-This book covers ALL the subjects required for the exam with ALL the details needed, plus a very little extra for more confidence on the exam and for a better understanding of the required subjects. You do NOT need any other material to pass the exam.

2-Expecting to need 1.5 to 2 months to finish the book, it took me less than 3 weeks ! The writing style and the language are crisp and clear (English is a second language to me !)

3-Useful, or actually, indespensible for both, the exam and pratical usage.

4-I was going to split this review into "Pros" and "Cons", but couldnt find any real cons, except maybe some typos, which were mostly corrected in the errata.

In short, very highly recommended, for both, passing the exam, very quickly, if I may add, as well as for applying QoS in production networks.

This is an excellent book for QoS. I recommend this for anyone interested in mastering QoS.

Well I originally bought this book to help study for the 642-642 QOS exam. I certainly used it for that and then some. It covered all of the exam topics pretty well and for me was an easy read. I might add that I ended up scoring a 905 on the exam, so it can be done!!
What I didnt realize was that I would use it even more after the fact for a reference on deploying QOS for customer networks. Definitelt worth the money for this book.

I design voice, video and data networks and this book is great for QoS implementation and designs. Easy to follow and understand. Thanks Mr Odom a cisco press book that I can really use. I passed the 642-642 exam using this book also.

In the category of network books written for the practicing engineer it simply gets no better than this. Outstanding!!