Customer Reviews

Guide to TCP/IP

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

 

 

I have been teaching TCP/IP and internetworking at the college level for three years now. I have reviewed dozens of books as potential texts. Chappell's book is the first I have found that combines the theory with practical laboratory-type experiences - and even includes a free, workable version of the sniffer used in her examples (Etherpeek).
Combine this with a good Cisco IOS book and you have a complete course. Thanks Laura.

Please be aware that this book is published to be used as a TEXTBOOK for college (or trade schools) and thus the answers to problems, labs, etc are available ONLY to INSTRUCTORS. It is thus terrible for self-study or for certification preparation. Furthermore, neither the authors nor the publisher has produced a listing of errata, so you are on your own if something seems wrong but you do not yet possess the knowledge to determine whether the book is in error or not.

I was forced to take a class (requirement for school) that used this book. I have been working with TCP/IP for the last 8 years and I was surprised how in-depth the book covered TCP/IP (the protocol). I did not learn anything new from the book, but approached the class as a refresher course and ended up liking the book. If your looking to get into networking, the book is excellent. It has in depth explaination of TCP/IP and it covers the basics of TCP/IP services (DNS, DHCP, routing).

This is/was the required textbook for a class on TCP/IP I am taking. At the moment, I am only about half way through, and can only give my estimation of it up to the half-way point.

Overall, the book is very good, breaking a vast subject into manageable chapters. The first chapter is kind of a history and overview of the OSI seven layer model. My primary complaint, however, is reserved for chapter two.

Subnetting and supernetting are presented well in concept, but the algorithms (process steps) presented, the binary math and logical operations (and, or, not, complement) are woefully muddled. This chapter requires re-reading a few times to kind of get the idea clumsily put forth. For anyone comfortable in programming low level computer functions, the chapter will seem almost silly.

Among the saving graces of the book are frequent tables and illustrations, a glossary at the end of each chapter, review questions, exercises and class projects to reinforce the skills and concepts just presented. For network programmers, the bit maps of different data packets are a valuable resource. And the book comes with a CD of some fairly good trial-ware.

Overall, I like the book, and appreciate why it was chosen as the textbook. Hopefully future editions can parse down the verbage while clarifying some of the murkier presentations. I expect to keep it as a valuable reference.

for the most part, this book was a pretty decent reference. I was forced to buy the book for our tcp/ip protocol analysis class. The hands on projects were kinda lame considering they focused on analysing packets using the trial version of etherpeek which was included with the book which had so many frustrating limitations. The content in the chapters is kinda scattered and hard to find... The security section is pretty cool though.

I ordered the 3rd edition of this book but received the 2nd edition. Amazon quickly took the wrong book back and returned my money within 2-3 days. 4 stars for the excellent customer service but lacking the 1 because they sent me the wrong book. Overall, I was pleased.

This book is not well written. Chapter review questions often confusing and of little meaning to the subject. Even the teacher can't understand some of them, but he did chose this book so I guess he liked it. The index does not contain some of the words used to describe the subject matter, even some on the words that are bold face. Instructions for the hand on projects are usually wrong, we waste a lot of time just trying to understand the instructions I am on chapter 10 about ½ way -can I have my money back?

I was disappointed to get this book without the CD-Rom that the book calls for. The description for the book does not indicate that CD-Rom is included (so I assumed it did not come with one). But the book calls for CD-Rom, thus it should be included, if it is in new condition. Explanations of abbreviations are in regular typing instead of bold or at least italic. I found myself re-reading paragraphs, as they were written in a confusing way.

I received the book and it was in average to poor condition (appeared damaged by water) and without the CD ROM, which should have accompanied this text book. Therefore, I cannot recommend purchasing anything from this seller.

Regards,

Michael

I ordered this particular book because they stated the book was third edition. I have received the first edition of the book that is outdated.This old book is worthless to me and was a complete waste of money. I am a full time college student and cannot afford to throw money away to bad representation and false advertisement.