Customer Reviews

Cisco Internetwork Design ((CP) CERTIFICATION)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Design exams are usually very tough because you are supposed to demonstrate not only knowledge of some facts but also right way of thinking. In some questions you have to choose between appropriate and the most appropriate answer and it's much more difficult then to find out just one corrent answer.

I believe this book really helps you to understand the Cisco vision of design rules and ideas. I used only this book for exam preparation and passed it with 73% (passing score is 65). The score was not very high and one of the reasons that I didn't find in this books some terms like 'router cluster' for ATM and StrataCom hardware overview (like number of modules). But obviously it was my fault that I didn't study SNA well even this books contains good review of this architecture.

I would say that if you just carefully study this book only after passing other three exams in CCDP track, you will pass this exam on the first attepmt but probably your score will be less then 90%, but higher then limit.

About errors mentioned in some others reviews. In the design test it's more important to understand general ideas then some numbers and command spelling and usually misspelled command or wrong figures in tutorial are annoying but they don't affect you understanding of basic design ideas dramatically. Especially if you have passed previous three tests. I would recommend this book even it contains a few mistakes.

Many reviews stated they saw questions on the exam that they did not see in the book. Sorry, the CID is an application type test.. not meant to pass the same way 25 other paper cert test were passed ... simply memorizing facts.... Excellent prep for the knowledge necessary to attack the CID but, you still must have the experienced recommended by Cisco... I reccommend this book for any serious network professionals desiring the title Cisco Certified Design Professional or for that matter someone wanting a better understanding of Network Design.

Allow me to say that this book does an excellent job in covering the CID Course Material. The author, Mr. Birkner has done an excellent job of adding value to the material and "correcting" all the problems found in the course. I took Cisco's Course a year a go and I bought this book in order refresh myself for the CCNP exam. It is an outstanding value because I can't afford to sit the actual CID course. I actually liked the complete explanations on many of the subjects, they reinforced the design concepts. It is quite clear that Mr. Birkner did an excellent job with this book.

I would like to take a minute to comment on the previous review. This individual did use this book and he did pass the test however he did not score like he expected so he attacked every resource he used from this book to BFQ. Another insight into this person is that using 2500's with modems is not an even an objective for the CCNP.... Don't let sour grapes stop you from achieving your CCDP!

The only two reason this books would worth buying would be:
1. This is a Cisco Press book
2. There aren't too many books about CID around

Other than that, this books is not clear written and there are some obvious mistakes. I agree that since the CID exam has such a broad topic list, it's hard to really cover all the points while making them clear. Unfortunately, the editor could not make a good balance between the covering all the topics and making them clear at the same time...

Finally, I figured out that printing out the Cisco design documentation online would be more efficient.

I've used quite a few of the Cisco Press books and this is the one doesn't quite cut it. I don't know if I am able to exactly pin-point what it is missing but when I read a book I like to learn. This book does not teach much. As a matter of fact I found the Designing Cisco Networks to be more educational than this book. As for the test, yes all I used to pass the test was this book, and some years of experience, and most of the answers in the test can be found somewhere in the book. Then again, the questions in the test are so ambiguos that unless you have photograhic memory to remember everything in the book or have GOOD network experience I will advice to use other study materials.

This book is very good! Highly recommended. It is really hard to teach a design course but this book is very good.

Covers all the material in the CID course, which I just took. I highly recommend this book for students who are getting ready to take or have already taken the CID course.

Birkner's book really helped me gain a better understanding of network design and also got me through the CCDP exam. I am scheduled for my CCIE lab in 3 months.

Honestly, there really isn't another book out there that covers the breadth of technical areas that this book does. Granted it doesnt cover every miniscule detail, but it does cover the important pieces any good designer needs to know.

With CID, CIT, and ACRC under my belt, I now have the technical foundation & I am preparing for my CCIE final lab test.

The CID book by CCIE Matthew H. Birner is a good reference for the CID test however, it lacks any information on the Cisco WAN products you need to know about. Specifically the BPX, AXIS (redesigned the MGX 8220) IPX, and IGX Carrier class units. It is a good source of SNA information that you will need both on-the-job and to pass the test. As for use on the job, I didn't think that this book covered the actual design procedure, documentation, and fact gathering checklists anywhere near as welll as the CiscoPress CCDA Exam Certification Guide did.

I would recommend to anyone wishing to pursue a CCDP, to wait for the new release of the CiscoPress CID Exam Certification Guide by Mike Crane and Reggie Terrell. It is due out in mid-September and should have all of the new and updated information needed to pass the test.

Ed Wilcox CCNP, CCDP, CNE, MCSE, and Nortel NNCSS

I found this book to be an excellenent reference text, and one that I expect to refer to for a few years to come.

I have only 2 criticisms to make: (i) As it is the Cisco book designed for the certification exam, it should have a CD ROM with practice exams, like the older certification books had (ACRC, CLSC, etc); (ii) It was scanty on the Stratacom section, although it did cite useful documentation on the subject and provide URL's to such.

I found the explanations and diagrams to be thorough, and picked up additional information when rereading topics. As mentioned above, URL's to additional information were spread throughout the book, and the URL's that I checked took me to treasure troves of information. Appendix E consists of a design and implementation guide for OSPF, direct from the Cisco website, and this is the best description and reference material of OSPF that I have ever come across.

The exam is now 100 questions over 2 hours with a pass mark of 755, and I used this book and some Boson study tests to prepare. Subsequently, I didn't find any surprises on the exam.