Customer Reviews

Developing IP Multicast Networks, Volume I

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best multicast book on the market. It is a must have whether you are preparing for the CCIE Lab or just want to understand multicast.

The explanation was simple and clear. There are tons of configuration examples covering pretty much all kinds of scenarios. The author actually explained every single line of the configurations.

I bought this book for my Lab exam, and after two days of reading, 99.99% of my questions were answered (the only one I still have is I actually made PIM-DM work in a hub-spoke frame relay network. The prune message from one spoke was actually seen by the other spoke, I don't know why the hub would forward it out).

I have to admit this is one of the best books I've read for a long time. Just like Jeff Doyle's TCP/IP Routing is the Bible of IGP, this book is the Bible of Multicast.

I was skeptical about buying a book this old, but I just finished it and am still slightly amazed at how little has changed in multicast technology in ~8 years. I have read Doyle's multicast coverage, listened to InternetworkExpert's excellent "class on demand" (CoD) on the topic many times, and worked through over half of their 20 CCIE lab scenarios, all of which have multicast sections. This doesn't make me an expert by any means, but I know enough now to recognize that the material in this book is still worth reading.

The differences between this book and Doyle's (2004) are:
- Williamson dedicates a lot more effort to explaining the mroute table. This was my single biggest stumbling block in multicast routing
- Doyle, IMO, gives IGMP a better treatment
- Doyle goes over mtrace and mstat
- Williamson spreads the information out over more pages via liberal usage of config snips and diagrams, often one per page. This allows him to go into *brutal, painful and excruciating* detail about every line in the mroute table, every flag, every state transition, etc.
- Williamson does a more thorough job of explaining exactly what happens in PIM-SM networks (100+ pages to Doyle's ~25)
- Doyle goes over Anycast RP and gives a better explanation of MSDN, which appears to have been rather cutting edge when Williamson put finger to keyboard

I finished the book in about a week of serious effort, but I skipped the following chapters (Cisco has not put much effort into the technologies described), leaving me with about 400 pages of groovyness:
DVMRP
CBT
MOSPF
Connecting to DVMRP Networks
and several sections of other chapters

To be sure, some things have changed. I didn't see any mention of the "ip pim autorp listener" command, which negates the need for sparse-dense mode when configuring Auto-RP (can't recall if Doyle mentioned that either). Also, in current versions of IOS one *does* need to specify the RP on the RP itself, whereas Williamson (and Doyle) explicitly say this is not the case (they were both right at the time of print, Cisco has changed this). Overall however, I would say that easily >95% of the material is solid here.

So which book to buy? Well if you're serious about the CCIE and/or running a multicast network you'll get both, and read them both several times. I do hope Williamson updates the book though, as he alludes to several draft proposals, and gives a "state of the multicast internet" address that I would like to know more about without digging through two dozen RFCs. Also, the few things that have changed would be a boon to the book.

Multicast is a pain to learn only because most authors make it seem like rocket science. FINALLY an author who gets it right! Presenting in a logical manner and with an understanding of his audience.
I picked up what I needed to know with multicast for the CCIE lab exam in just a few evenings with this book. That was the end of a 6 month search for a good reference.
The chapters IP PIM DENSE, IP PIM SPARSE, IMPLEMENTING IP PIM DENSE, IMPLEMENTINT IP PIM SPARSE, are worth the cost of the book alone, but you get much more.

This was a good read. Not only was the book a great interpretation of a hard-to-understand RFC, but it also contained had good configuration examples for sample networks. I recommend this to network designers and protocol developers that want to get a good high-level analysis of the multicasting process.

This is a good book. It appears to be just what I was looking for. There are some typos. This is much better than Parkhurst's multicasting book.

I like Williamson's style. Not too dry. I'm only half way through. I expect to have a firmer understanding of PIM-DM and PIM-SM after reading it all. The author apparently has much real-world IP multicasting experience. Highly recommended. In terms of CCIE-level usefulness, I put it on a par with Jeff Doyle's "Routing TCP/IP" book.

Beau's book is indeed the true Multicasting Bible. I was totally new to multicasting when I began my CCIE studies, and having achieved that certification yesterday, I can tell you that Beau's book really opened the door for me on a topic that just isn't covered well elsewhere.

The only recommendation I'd make to readers is that if the first 10 chapters aren't quite sinking in, go through the actual configuration chapters (they're at the back of the book), and then reread the theory chapters. It worked for me.

Chris Bryant
CCIE #12933

I read this book after reading a lot of materials from different web sites. I also read many books and this book addressed most topics that were out of sight for me. This book also has configuration issues and a lot of information that is not available else where. I would say that this is the best book on IP Multicasting I have ever read.

Absolutely the best book ever written on Multicasting. No books ever cleared my concepts about multicasting. Multicasting was not an easy topic for me before I read this book. But now it'a piece of cake and the credit goes to Mr. Williamson.

Multicast is not a very easy technology. When I first encountered with Multicast, I bought the book from one of my favorite writers (Jeff Dolyle) Volume II, but was very much disappointed the way he explained Multicasting. I then searched for other books and finally found the book which really made this complicated topic as a piece of cake. The way Beau Williamson presented each complicated object of multicast made me realize that not only he must be one of the best designers for Multicasting Networks, but also the best writer in terms of how to teach newbie of this complicated Technology.

If one seriously wants to learn about Multicasting, this is the book to buy without even second thought. Just go and grab it.

Good job Mr. Williamson. I encourge you to write more books on other complicated technologies.

This is the finest Technical book I have ever read. It is outstanding!! Beau Williamson has covered multicasting in great detail and has done so is such a way that everyone can understand it. It covers all aspects of the many different multicasts protocols and mechanism. He clearly explains the RFCs and their weak points. It takes a general approach to multicasting and is an excellent guide to any vender. There are very few Technical books that have been written is well. Great job!!!