Customer Reviews

Interdomain Multicast Routing: Practical Juniper Networks and Cisco Systems Solutions

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first half is multicast theory and descriptions of how the protocols work and is vendor agnostic. The authors pull no punches when it comes to how it actually works in the real world, which I like.

Next is a section on how to configure the protocols on a Juniper Networks router. It's followed by a similar section on how to configure a Cisco router. The two chapters show how to configure similar features on the vendors' equipment. There is no performance testing nor discussion about capabilities of specific revisions of code, which I also like. Any attempt to do that would make the book quickly become outdated. I believe these types of issues are best discovered in a lab, not in a book.

All of this is followed by a detailed service provider implementation case study. I liked this part the best. It includes configuration for both vendors' routers.

Finally, there are some good detailed appendices.

Certainly you can pick up some good information in the configuration examples that may be useful outside of multicasting. On the other hand, the book itself is entirely focused on multicast traffic and protocols. I read it for fun which should give you an idea of how interesting I am to talk with at parties.

Hope that helps. I highly recommend it!

I have never understood multicast prior to reading this book. Yeah, the concept of it is easy but when it came to knowing how it worked and knowing the difference between Sparse and Dense mode, etc, I was lost. Well, after reading this book I can now answer those questions and many more. This book has open my eyes and inspired me to want to learn more about it. It is so easy to follow and understand and all topics are well covered and explained. It's a keeper.

-Mario

The authors writing style is very detailed and thorough. This has all relevant information to get somebody started in the world of multicast. After finishing this book you can jump straight into the rfcs/drafts and be able to read them like a childrens book. I love the fact that they omit talking in depth about DVMRP/CBT/MOSPF, since those protocols serve no relevance in todays modern networks. It is a much more coherent read then "Developing IP Multicast Networks" by Beau Williamson. The authors begin by giving you an overview of multicast technology, including IGMP, PIM-SM, MSDP, and how they work together to create the state required to deliver multicast traffic from a source to reciever. They then go more detailed into each protocol to give you a more detailed understanding about the protocols behavior. This is what "Developing IP Multicast Networks" shouldve done to make it a better multicast book. I also like the packet decodes at the end, turns the book into a great reference. Definite 5 stars.

Note: If you are a network admin thinking about deploying IP multicast, PLEASE, buy this book and pay close attention to the SSM service model as described by the book. After reading the book you should have the knowledge to deploy and troubleshoot SSM. The next-gen 'killer-apps' all depend on pervasive multicast throughout the internet. Do your part.

-andrew

This is a great book for really understanding how multicast works. It presents the technology from a vendor neutral perspective as well as its specific implementation in Cisco or Juniper networks.

As recommended by Jeff Doyle, this is really one of the two great books to understand multicast.

This book is excellent in explaining the concepts and steps in IGMP and PIM operations. The first six chapters along is worth the money, it gives you a confidence to go into any network and have a baseline understanding of how everything should work. They can improve on the chapters for M-BGP and M-ISIS to include more examples. That is, if you'd like to 'see it work' then you need to lab it out yourself and apply the configuration in the later chapters. For someone who does not have access to a lab it is definitely a draw back. But all in all, I have read over many documents from Cisco CCO and other vendors, but they dont do nearly as good of a job as this book.

The topics are well chosen and the configuration chapters covers most of the scenarios in a multi-vendor provider network.

I liked this book - it has good, clear explanations for many core interdomain multicast concepts. I give it three stars, though, because whilst it's a great start, it doesn't really go far enough - only 255 pages on interdomain multicast - I think there's plenty more that could have been included.
I would check out Developing IP Multicast Networks volume 1 for IP multicast in general. For a really detailed examination of interdomain multicast, I guess we'll have to wait for Beau Williamson to write volume 2!

I never understand multicast technology that well. I know how it is used but from the technology prespective I don't know how it works in ISPs.
Well this book helped me in understanding it.