Customer Reviews

Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook (2nd Edition)

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

 

 

Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook, Second Edition is a well written and easy to understand book. The book's goal is to provide a quick guide to the most commonly used features for Cisco Catalyst switches from 2000, 3000, 4500 to 6500 family series ranging from the basic switched network design and IP address configuration to a more advanced Quality of Service and voice.

Each chapter starts with a quick introduction of the features, followed by common design overview, configuration steps and examples and further reading where readers can find more extensive advanced topics on the features.

This is not a comprehensive reference book. The book is for network technicians that need to work on switches fast and do not need too much explanation to get the job completed. As a result, this book seems too basic for CCNP level engineer but it is a good start for CCNA level and networking beginners.

However, the authors have done a good job covering the switching configuration and concepts from a vast range of Cisco switching family series considering that the book has only 340 pages. The official Cisco configuration guide for 6500 switch itself has almost 600 pages.

I agree with some readers that question why the book is missing CD / DVD learning resources that will allow readers to access the book material anywhere. The book however does come with a free 45 days online edition from Safari Books online site.

Some drawbacks I found including the need to give more depth for Quality of Service chapter and perhaps a chapter dedicated for routing protocol concept as well. Most of these switches are layer 3 switches that can do routing. With the proliferation of layer 3 access layer switches, this will be helpful for readers to configure them. I would add some basic concept and configuration for Cisco Nexus switch family including 1000v virtual switch as well for future releases.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. Overall, the book is a good reading to get a quick grasp on the switching configuration but readers will need to supplement their reading with other Cisco Press books to learn the switching concepts and features in detail.

Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook is an excellent resource for those tasked with configuring Cisco Catalyst switches. The layout of the chapters assists in finding what you need quickly, and each chapter includes both required and optional configuration parameters. The diagrams within each chapter also aid in identifying configuration tasks. Further reading is encouraged on advanced topics, so this book should not be considered to be a comprehensive resource. The appendices are well-organized and most helpful.

My only criticism is that an electronic version of this reference should have been included on a CD with the book.

This book has several advantages over the official Cisco documentation on their switches.

First it is not an all encompassing reference book that covers every little detail. The authors have taken advantage of their experience to identify those features that the person actually setting up the device is likely to need to know. As a result, even though the book is about half the length of the official documentation, the individual subjects can be given more attention.

Second the writing style is better. It doesn't have the totally dry, boring detail where the official documentation has to cover every little possibility. Here is the information you need in a quick and easy to find, easy to understand format.

Finally, this is not an exam prep book. It covers what you need to know to get your system working, not written to cover the material that is on the test.

All in all, this is a good approach that I'd like to see followed in more computer books.

Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook, Second Edition by Steve McQuerry, David Jansen and David Hucaby is a basic guide that enables the reader to quickly configure and deploy the Cisco Catalyst family of switches in their network environment.

The Cisco Certified Network Administrator and/or System Engineer should easily understand the concepts that are presented in the book and implement the switch features. The senior level engineer may find this book to be too basic for their use, but the authors recommend several different resources through-out the handbook that can be beneficial for them to utilize. The novice systems engineer can use this book as reference guide to successfully deploy layer 2 and/or 3 Catalyst switches with ease, as well as use the resource to assist them in preparing and studying for their Cisco certification exams.

The authors clearly explain the theory of each command that the administrators could implement and suggest several optional configurations based upon where the switches are deployed. They clarify the how and the why in utilizing each of the commands / configurations from basic through advanced layer 3 switching.

The handbook covers the Catalyst switches from the 2000 models through the high-end 6500 series. The network and system administrators could utilize the soft cover handbook as a day to day configuration guide that they can refer to on a daily basis. I also believe that they may find it to be a valuable resource in their IT library. I have utilized several of the instructions that were presented throughout the book and have improved the security and management of our switched environment. The basic configurations, features and instructions that were given are extremely easy to follow and implement.

I have found that the main weakness of the book is a lack of CD/DVD learning resources that would be beneficial for the reader to utilize in a variety of settings. The instructions, definitions and the informational links that are referenced throughout the book are extremely useful, but if they were contained on removable media, it would be extremely valuable. An additional suggestion and/or improvement would be a video resource that could emphasize the configurations and information contained throughout the book.

Overall, the concepts presented in the Cisco LAN Switching Configuration Handbook, Second Edition were easy to understand and were presented in a clear and concise manner and would be a vital resource for the network administrator. I look forward to additional titles from the authors. I give this book 4 out 5 stars.

This book Chapter 1 explains ROMMON Commands very extensively and clearly. These details will help customer troubleshooting booting issues and recovery of IOS.

Explained in detail about Session timeout ,Absolute timeout and Exec timeout. Details about accessiing switch via web interface and regular expressions is very useful for debug.