Customer Reviews

Fast Ethernet: Dawn of a New Network

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

 

 

I've found that this book explains more things better than any other that I have read on the subject. Anyone who is looking to understand the how/why of lower network levels should read this as it not only explains Fast Ethernet, but also provides an excellent history of networking in general. After reading through this book you should have a good understanding not only of fast ethernet, but also networking technologies in general.

I needed to "go to school" on Fast Ethernet quickly. In less than an hour I was up to speed on: routers, switches, repeaters, PHYs, MACs, 100Base-TX, 100Base-T4 and many of the major design choices

I was really disappointed after going through the book. For those of you who are familiar with Dr Johnson's classic "High Speed Digital Design- A handbook of Black Magic", don't expect this book to be of the same quality as the earlier one. This book covers Fast Ethernet mainly from the users and Network Administrators perspective- not from the designer's perspective. For example, nowhere in the book he has described the Ethernet Frame format in detail(I agree the book is about Fast Ethernet, not about Ethernet- but still..)!!.
Regarding the good part of it- chapter3(detailed guide to Fast Ethernet) describes all the 10 clauses of 802.3 specific for Fast Ethernet(clause 21 to 30). So if you want a quick overview of the clauses, this chapter would be helpful. However, even here the depth of technical details is not so much. for example, clause 28 (Autonegotiation) is just 4 pages and much of it is about what all features are supported.
For a more comprehensive study, I would rather recommend "Ethernet: The definitive Guide" by C E Spurgeon.

A great part of this book is a history lesson on Ethernet. The author reviews the making of the Ethernet standard as though he were there, which is great because it makes what would otherwise be a "sleepy" review interesting reading. That aspect of the book was unnecessary, but I did enjoy it. What I did not like was the lack of technical detail. I purchased this book based on reviews from other readers, but I was very much disappointed. In all fairness, the author never advocates that this is a book of technical Ethernet wealth. And it could very well be that I was looking for a bit more detail than the previous reviewers.