Customer Reviews

Computer Networks, Third Edition: A Systems Approach, 3rd Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking)

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

 

 

This review is for the 3rd edition. I haven't finished reading this book, but I'm really impressed with it. Obviously, computer networking is a huge topic area, and no one book can be all things to all people. But if you're looking for an introductory book that provides a solid foundation of networking concepts and theory, then I strongly recommend this text!

No one area is covered in exceptional detail. Instead, it starts from the ground up in easy to read chunks that manages not to talk down to the reader, covering a wide range of topics in enough detail to allow the interested reader to further his/her studies with more advanced (and focused) material later on.

Contents:

1. Foundation
- Applications
- Requirements
- Network Architecture
- Implementing Network Software
- Performance
- Summary
2. Direct Link Networks
- Hardware Building Blocks
- Encoding (NRZ, NRZI, Manchester, 4B/5B)
- Framing
- Error Detection
- Reliable Transmission
- Ethernet (802.3)
- Token Rings (802.5, FDDI)
- Wireless (802.11)
- Network Adaptors
- Summary
3. Packet Switching
- Switching and Forwarding
- Bridges and LAN Switches
- Cell Switching (ATM)
- Implementation and Performance
- Summary
4. Internetworking
- Simple Internetworking (IP)
- Routing
- Global Internet
- Multicast
- Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
- Summary
5. End-to-End Protocols
- Simple Demultiplexer (UDP)
- Reliable Byte Stream (TCP)
- Remote Procedure Call
- Performance
- Summary
6. Congestion Control and Resource Allocation
- Issues in Resource Allocation
- Queueing Disciplines
- TCP Congestion Control
- Congestion-Avoidance Mechanisms
- Quality of Service
- Summary
7. End-to-End Data
- Presentation Formatting
- Data Compression
- Summary
8. Network Security
- Cryptographic Algorithms
- Security Mechanisms
- Example Systems
- Firewalls
- Summary
9. Applications
- Name Service (DNS)
- Traditional Applications
- Multimedia Applications
- Overlay Networks
- Summary

It also includes a 23 page bibliography.

Although this book clarifies the concepts of networking quite good, it lacks in-depth mathematical & statistical theory.
For those who are interested in the general picture, it's an excellent book. The authors actually succeeded quite good in not making it 'too dry'. For those who need 'more', like engineers and students in telecommunications/electronics, such as theories, applications and examples on efficiency, network performance parameters, etc., please look further as this book just doesn't offer that (and it probably never intended to).

I am studying this as part of my course. I have found this book teaches you from the base about Networking. It's really helpful in understanding the underlying technologies. Larry and Bruce have done a wonderful job in covering almost all of the aspects. But... I found only one thing lacking. That is...graphical explanations. This book is more of text with required graphics but in some places it took time to visualize the concept. I have had Behrouz A. Forozan's (I hope I have spelt the name correctly) "TCP/IP: The Complete Protocol Suite" along with this. Particularly I found some of the parts like ATM, Routing and other chapters' in this book textually gives us a thorough understanding and Forozan's book does depict that visually in a better way. Here is the bottomline, have this book as "The" texbook and have some other books like the as I mentioned before.

I've been dealing with computer networks in theory and practice for quite some time. This book is excellent reference and give in depth details and knowledge. The structure is well designed and the materials are following each other. If you are looking for a startup book though, this might not be the right choice.

I'm really disappointed in this book. It doesn't seem to go into that much depth in the third of the book I've read. I learned far more from Steven's "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1" simply because although he may not cover everything he covers what he does well. From that foundation you can learn other things. Computer Networks doesn't seem to go into much detail and when it does it looks out of place. It's odd to speak in generalities and then dive into some C code snippet. I really thought it confusing to present the OSI architecture at a high level (and useless abstraction it is) and then contrast it with the "Internet Architecture" at a different level of abstraction. Things are not presented like this in either Steven's book or Forouzan's "Data Communications and Networking". They are understandable. I'm not sure if the author tried to simplify things too much but I kept finding myself leaning on past knowledge to figure out what the author really meant and sometimes it seemed a stretch between what was presented in "Computer Networks" and what was presented in other references.

This book is designed for someone who has prior knowledge with the underlying systems of a computer network. It is fairly in-depth, and explains a lot, but I think that for a true beginner it is hard to comprehend. I am working on a degree in Computer Science, so it wasn't like I was new to the idea of networking, but I found it hard to digest a lot of the technical aspects of this book. Some things could have been made to be more of an overview, rather than in-depth explanation of how something works at a bit level. I am now taking CCNA training, and some of the things talked about in this book do not relate at all to what someone needs to understand a working network.