Customer Reviews

Designing for Cisco Internetwork Solutions (DESGN) (Authorized CCDA Self-Study Guide) (Exam 640-863) (2nd Edition)

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I really have some difficulty with this book. I have a lot of network design experience and a CCNA, but I need to learn the "Cisco way" of network design. This book is 930 pages long, but I think with a little effort the information within it could have been condensed into under 100 pages. there's so much to read to get to the meat of the subject. And when I look back at the pages I earmared for re-reading later, there are many pages each with just a small amount of info I want to go over again before the exam.

In at least one case, each bullet point in a list was a paragraph long, and the summary at the end of the bullet list was simply a repeat of the last bullet point. It seems that there was a concious effort to "pad out" the book.

The book does not cover all the information needed to pass this intro-level course in design (it refers you out to texts for the next level course up: eg. Building Cisco Multilayer Switch Networks). To my mind, one should not have to purchase reference material for the advanced courses in order to be able to get through the introductory courses.

All in all an overly-hard read and, at times it seems, more focussed on advertising Cisco product and positioning Cisco as a locked-in solution than on helping one through the CCDA exam.

After 570 pages of text, I have little clue as to what kinds of questions will be on the exam to come (at least in terms of the design questions).

I've been studying this book now for several weeks, and have made a couple attempts at taking the 640-863 test. This book covers many topics to some depth and includes a lot of useful information around modern networking design, from a Cisco viewpoint.

It is, in my opinion, not in and of itself enough to pass the exam. There are many places which are confusing - some of which have direct consequences when it comes to taking the 640-863 exam. Many sections appear to be little more than bulleted lists yanked from product marketing papers.

The section explaining PPDIOO, for example, first lays out the PPDIOO methodology and then a few pages later lays out a similar or overlapping methodology having two parts with three numbered steps each. The author then references the similar but not exact mappings to PPDIOO. Why does the world need 2 different similar six step methodologies to memorize? Worse, this confusing mess specifically contradicts itself in a number of places, which may or may not be (ok, they will be) later included as questions on the test. As well, there are also a few topics which show up on the exam that simply don't appear to be well covered by this text.

Overall - I have accumulated a bunch of network design knowledge, some of which may well be useful for my job, but as far as being able to pass the exam, I find myself more confused, more frustrated and more broke. This book needs a good editor and/or a rewrite. If it is going to be an Authorized Self Study guide, it should illuminate, not confuse and confound. Perhaps it should be sold as a companion to the Official Self Study Guide?

This book is a required textbook for my Master's level course in Network Analysis for the CNSS 4011 training standard. The lack of page numbers and odd pagination in the Kindle version make it very difficult to use. In my experience, it's not worth the $7 savings and portability compared to the print version. Designing for Cisco Internetwork Solutions (DESGN) (Authorized CCDA Self-Study Guide) (Exam 640-863) (2nd Edition)

Fast and timely, received the book sooner than expected. It was also in new condition. Keep up the great work.

Diane Teare does a great job of providing necessary information and case studies to a networking professional wanting to get into the network design field. This is an associate level certification and thusly the information provided is spoon-fed to what is considered a design associate or below design associate-level person with a CCNA certification. The information is a bit wordy, but I think it lends well to learning the material and is relevant to every situation where something is repeated.

The cases are a great way to practice the theory you've learned in the chapters. Overall, a great book on Cisco network design theory. A+.

There are lots of information in this book. Although it looks heavy and thick, I think it will help me to prepare an exam. Good luck, everybody!