Customer Reviews

Ethernet Networks: Design, Implementation, Operation, Management

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

 

 

I bought this book because I needed to learn some real details of constructing Ethernet networks, such as distance and hop limitations in mixed 10 and 100 BaseT installations. In this I was disappointed, as I found this portion of the book confusing, unclear and even self-contradictory in places. I was able to figure out what I needed to know, but that took a lot of rereading and extrapolation. The text has the feel of a book written by committee, with the same information repeated in various places with different degrees of clarity and from different points of view. The index is so limited as to be useless.

On the other hand, the book contains an extensive introduction to IP and TCP (including their frame structures) and routing, nearly as extensive as the pure Ethernet sections. This was unexpected from the title, but I found it to be a technically strong starting point to making the jump from the details of Ethernet to what may be its major use, the transport of TCP/IP to and from the workstation. The extensive discussions on token ring networks and IBM's SNA were also unexpected, although not relevant to my personal needs. The book succeeds quite well in presenting an integration of the activities of network communication looking from the workstation out to the network. It's driven me to other sources for more detailed information in these areas.

All in all, I found this to be a significant book in my studies. The next edition, in my opinion, would benefit greatly from a more descriptive title and the attention of a professional editor.

You'd expect a book on its 3rd edition to be fairly free of errors; not this one. After reading about "attenuation budge" in several places ("attenuation budget"), and "190 dB" where it should say "19 dB", I lost trust in the information I did not know much about. Beware.

This book should have stopped at chapter 4. From the book:

Chapter 5 - Networking Hardware & Software
Chapter 6 - Bridging and Switching
Chapter 7 - Routers
Chapter 8 - Wireless Ethernet
Chapter 9 - Security (covers access-lists, anti-spoofing, checkpoint firewalls)
Chapter 10 - Managing the Network

Why on EARTH is there a chapter on router access-lists, Checkpoint firewalls and proxy servers in a book on Ethernet???

The book didn't provide much help explaining the ethernet
and internet settings on a computer or router.
The following terms could not be found in the book:

DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System)
Dynamic or static IP address,
Virtual Server/Port Forwarding,
PPPoA (Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM),
PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet),
RFC 1483 encapsulation,
NAT (Network Address Translation)
VCI (Virtual Circuit Identifier),
VPI (Virtual Path Identifier),
UPnP (Universal Plug and Play).

Terms that are covered include:
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol),
DNS (Domain Name System),
Gateway,
MAC address (Media Access Control),
MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit),
Point-to-point in general,
RIP (Routing Information Protocol),
Subnet Mask.

Solid, straight-forward. Perhaps too much coverage of 10base when most new ethernet books should concentrate on Fast or Gigabit (although coverage of those topics was adequate).

This book is really complete. It has almost anything you need to know about Ethernet Networks. It is also written in a clear and understandable form. Buy it.