Cisco Routers for the Desperate: Router Management, the Easy Way [Paperback]

Michael W. Lucas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2004

Cisco routers are the standard devices used to connect companies to the Internet. They are highly reliable and robust, and support anything from small connections to huge circuits used by telephone companies. Cisco Routers for the Desperate is a brief, meaty introduction to Cisco routers that will make a competent systems administrator comfortable with the Cisco environment, teach them how to troubleshoot problems, and take them through the basic tasks of router maintenance and integration into an existing network.

When a system almost never breaks, the tech support people responsible for it do not have the opportunity to learn about it. When it does break, repairs can take a long time simply because the people responsible don't know what to do! This book is designed for the desperate support people who just need to get the darn thing working again -- and fast.

This compact book is designed to be read once, and then left on top of the router until something breaks. It's for people who don't really want to know a huge amount about routers but who do want to provide reliable network services.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly recommended pick" -- Midwest Book Review, January 2005 http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ibw/jan_05.htm

About the Author

Michael W. Lucas is a network/security engineer who keeps getting stuck with network problems nobody else wants to touch. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Absolute FreeBSD, Absolute OpenBSD, Cisco Routers for the Desperate, and PGP & GPG, all from No Starch Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 1 edition (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593270496
• ISBN-13: 978-1593270490
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,664,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars With a few changes, Cisco should ship this with their gear, March 5, 2005

By 

Richard Bejtlich "TaoSecurity" (Metro Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cisco Routers for the Desperate: Router Management, the Easy Way (Paperback)

'Cisco Routers for the Desperate' (CRFTD) is the book Cisco should package with their routers -- assuming author Michael Lucas makes a few tweaks. I've always been amazed by Michael's uncanny ability to include details that matter to administrators, especially in his earlier books 'Absolute BSD' and 'Absolute OpenBSD'. CRFTD is no exception; the book is chock full of life-saving Cisco tips. I suggest you buy one to keep by your router, just as the author recommends.

CRFTD is not supposed to be comprehensive, but it is designed to answer many if not most of the questions facing the average small router administrator. If you're responsible for multiple routers or have complex requirements, this book is not for you. If you are stuck sitting if front of the router connected to your ISP, and don't know how to proceed, CRFTD is for you.

Although this book weighs in around 120 pages, it features material seldom discussed in other Cisco-related books. For example, Michael provides good advice on how to interact with your ISP to troubleshoot connectivity issues. He explains WAN circuits and the equipment responsibilities of ISPs and end users. Most impressively, he dedicates 25 pages in chapter 7 to Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and Cisco's Host Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) -- two topics I did not expect in a book this size. I also appreciated mention of enabling usernames and passwords (beyond the usual 'password' and 'enable' methods) and activating secure shell services.

I like CRFTD because it cuts to the chase and tells the reader what he or she needs to know to properly configure a router. There is not a lot of theory here, but there are some explanations. In some cases, the syntax is not exactly in synch with Cisco's latest expectations. For example, the company recommends using 'copy running-config startup-config' to save the running configuration to flash memory. This does not mean Michael's syntax is wrong, but his approach may harken to an earlier time.

The book has some minor errors which forced me to provide a four star rating. The first issue is the lack of recommending the 'no shutdown' command when configuring interfaces. Having just sat through a week of Todd Lammle's CCNA class, I can personally attest to the number of times router admins forget to enable interfaces. I did not see Michael mention this -- so remember to enter 'no shutdown' when configuring interfaces. Second, Michael mixes up the use of the console port and the AUX port; console is usually for rolled-cable access, while AUX is typically for modem access. At the bottom of p. 31, omit the term 'netmask' from the 'ip address' command; it's not needed. On p. 109, 'timeout' should be 'time-out' in the syntax.

Overall, I really enjoyed CRFTD. I think a second edition will easily make the necessary changes. I heartily recommend buying a copy of this book for router admins at your corporate remote locations. They will thank you for simplifying the administration of their routers. Those looking for a quick, hands-on CCNA refresher will find working through Michael's examples a good way to reinforce key configuration concepts.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars powerful diagnostic tool, September 5, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cisco Routers for the Desperate: Router Management, the Easy Way (Paperback)

No one will mistake this for a Dummies book. No pretty colours or fancy graphics. Just a slim compendium of diagnostic hacks to be performed, probably under conditions of high stress. Lucas assumes you have some prior networking experience with TCP/IP. He claims you don't need much actual experience with a Cisco router to use this book. His reason is interesting. Those routers need to work continuously and in practise they and your network often do. Until an occasional breakdown. But the high MTBF means you might have little actual hands on with the router. Ironic, eh?

It should be said that the book is not really about what to do if the router is bad. Rather, it is about the more realistic case where something has come unglued on your network. Lucas shows how the router can be an invaluable tool in tracking down the problem.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great crash course into Cisco routers, February 5, 2007

By 

Gerald Ford "pho_kin" (The Jack n' the Box at the corner) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco Routers for the Desperate: Router Management, the Easy Way (Paperback)

I started a new job and had almost no experience with Cisco products. I was desperate and bought this book. What a gem of a purchase. This book takes something cryptic as Cisco appliance administration and walks you through it so that anyone can learn in hours.

I have bought books from this author before and have yet to be disappointed. The man has clearly been an admin for years, so he knows the pain we all feel. :) His humor is really refreshing on such a dry topic.

All in all, I would recommend this book for any novice network admin, or someone who wants to start a new job using Cisco products. It's worth the price.