Customer Reviews

Internet Routing Architectures (Design & Implementation)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is, without a doubt, *the* definitive routing reference for the network engineer; and one of the best technical books I have ever read. I usually skip to the back and pick out the parts that interest me; I'm reading this from start to finish, it's that well written. If you need to integrate your LAN with the internet, or if you are a network consultant or ISP tech like me, you need this book. This is required reading.<P

I am the architect of a leading MPLS VPN service which uses BGPv4 with MPLS extensions. I constantly refer back to this book for standard BGP scenarios (it has no MPLS VPN info). I have recommended this book to all our techincal support people and our customers for designing BGP peering networks.

The book is well written, well organized and easy to follow. It has great breath of BGP applications. It is a tremendous help for those designing AS peering networks.

It gives a brief overview of internet routing then dives into BGP. After the BGP protocol description, the next part of the book has applications geared around scenarios/case studies. The last part is specific Cisco IOS configurations for the scenarios in the previous part. The scenarios cover, to list a few: load balancing, preference routing (primary/backup), route redistribution, default routes, route summarization, route reflectors and confederations (scaling), damping (stability), policy control (filtering/manipulating routes, attributes and community values).

Note that it is not a BGP specification nor a Cisco IOS reference. A better title would be "BGP Applications".

If you are looking for a book describing all the things which need to be taken care of when planning and implementing BGP then you will appreciate this book.
Mr Halabi provides a lot of example set-ups which are, for the people working in the Internet networking industry, very familiar. The examples range from a typical customer who wants BGP connectivity to multi-customer and international backbone configurations.
Aside from the many examples, which serve the text well in getting the material understood, Mr Halabi takes care to describe the fundamentals associated with it as well.
However, this is not a book for the faint at heart. Prior knowledge of IP and routing will be useful in order to appreciate this book.
Of course, this books focuses on the Cisco IOS architecture syntax, but the explanations and details will suit anyone willing to learn in-depth about BGP.
The other bible is [Juniper's] John W. Stewart's book: BGP4 Inter-Domain Routing in the Internet. Also a must-read. Having both books will tell you everything you need.

I have always felt that I am part of the small minority that just does not see the beauty of this book if studying for the CCIE. I have, for years, read other's comments on the how Halabi's "Internet Routing Arch" is a `must have', yet I still have not found a similar reason why. While I do feel that the book does (probably) the best job at explaining BGP and how to implement BGP in a Cisco-centric world, I have not discovered the value for the CCIE. I would much rather spend my time with CiscoPress's "Routing TCP/IP" Volume 2, by Jeff Doyle and Jennifer DeHaven Carroll than this book.

One item of concern, there is a noticable amount of trivial errors in this book that can lead to disaster if implemented incorrectly. For example:

Page 106 - "...any traffic that has an origin OR destination that does not belong to the local AS." This clearly should be an AND, not OR.

Page 315 - "You can also specify a PREFIX list..." - I believe this should be a filter list, not a prefix list.

And then there are places where the book is too opinionated - for example - page 206 "Many operators choose to filter dynamically learned defaults to avoid situations in which traffic ends up where it is not supposed to be." I do not feel this is true, and can think of multiple times when not filtering the advertised default route may just end up being the worst option. In fact, I do not feel either configuration is the right configuration to admit or condone, as the wrong configuration can have disastrous effects.

I still have to give this book 4 stars - simply because of it's utilitarian value and overwhelming sense of loyalty given to this book by others. But I don't reach for this book too often.

I give this book 4 pings out of 5:
!!!.!

Halabi had no doubt raised the bar for the books to come on internet architecture and so far no one has come close with a book like this. Written by the best in the business today.

I picked it up basically for BGP and it covers all the details of BGP with real world applications. Icky topics like Synchronization, IGP-BGP interaction etc are explained with amazing clarity with diagrams and later on in chapter 10-11 you can see the actual IOS config. I learned a lot from Tuning BGP capabilities chapter which also covers route filtering and route-maps.

Apart from BGP, the entire book is full of useful information. If you have a job in which you have to deal with routing protocols, be it design, implementation, testing, administration you ought to read this book, if nothing else, just for the heck of it.

This book is a very well written and with no errors. The first 10 chapters are more theory and expanations. Chappters 11 and 12 include many mini labs with diagrams and configurations covering all you have to know about BGP. It is a great book for CCIE preparation concerning BGP. You can practice all the mini labs with 4-5 routers and serial connections (and ethernet or loopbacks). If you preparing for CCIE you should not attempt without conbining this book with the Solie Book (CCIE: Practical Studies - over 40 mini labs and 5 complete labs) and IPExpert CCIE workbook (Expensive but is Great !!! Includes many mini labs and over a dozen complete CCIE labs with solutions - ...

Of all the books on networking I have ever read, this is in a league of its own. I have never seen such a complicated topic explained so well. Other authors who write networking books of this level, should speak to this guy on "how to write a book". It manages to join the dots from A to B to C ....etc. and never miss a thing. If you ever hear the word BGP mentioned at in your work place or someone says they are deploying it. buy this book and glue it to your hand. After Reading this book, you could sucessfully deploy a BGP network, no problems. In my opinion, lots of books out there on this level of networking aren't worth the paper there printed on.

For GOD sake, other authors wake up and pay attention.

...the first edition was the standard-bearer for information on BGP (so much so that everyone I know called it "The BGP Book"). After briefly reviewing the second edition I know what they meant. This book covers EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about routing at the ISP level. Lots of technical information, and the content is significantly more thorough and detailed than other Cisco books. A must have...

The book was very easy to read for a networking literate individual. The book builds up to advanced topics and walks you through sample configurations. I now feel confident about my knowledge of BGP.

Internet Routing Architechtures is a marvelous example of how a book can be highly technical as well as thoroughly readable. Hallabi starts from the Internet and ISP Basics and walks the reader through CIDR, VLSM before touching Routing Protocols. He then explains Interdomain Routing Basics and such scenarios as Load Sharing, Symmetry and Load Balancing. Chapters 10 and 11 guide the reader on implementing BGP4 on Cisco Routers. This is the book that I rely on for my own Autonomous System.

Masud Reza