Customer Reviews

MPLS and Label Switching Networks

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

 

 

I read the entire book over the course of a weeklong vacation...mostly on the airplane. It's relatively easy to digest, and can be covered quite quickly.

First, a few minor critiques: the book seemed rushed to print, possibly because of the new technology and publishing race to get books out. Addison Wesley typically publishes excellent quality books. There were grammatical and spelling errors, and a few diagram errors. Other than that, the book is clearly written. My other critique is when Black chooses to just block-quote large sections of the RFCs, instead of spending some time exploring the author's intent, and perhaps giving an example of his own to clarify these points. This, again, this is probably an indication of the "rush to print" syndrome.

Other than that, he covers the RFCs well. He takes a vendor-independent approach, which is important to me, and precisely why I avoid most Cisco Press books. Half of the Cisco book on MPLS and VPN concerns learning IOS commands, which is useless to me. He first covers label switching basics -- why there is a need for it, what it is, what it does, and the different types of label switching and networks it can be applied to. Then he delves into MPLS specifics, following with LDP, the IETF's distribution protocol. He also covers RSVP and BGP as alternatives for distribution which is a nice touch. He then covers label switching with ATM and FDDI networks (the one chapter I skipped). Then he discusses DiffServ and how MPLS and DiffServ can work together. Then he discusses Traffic Engineering (a very useful chapter that discusses shaping, policing, etc. algorithms from a higher level). Many of these topics are covered in other texts I have, but Black explains it in layman terms, such that one can easily grasp the algorithms associated with traffic shaping for different classes of network traffic.

It may turn out that I will have to implement MPLS on a switch. I bought the book to familiarize myself with it. It is not recommended for that level of detail (obviously). It gives an excellent text read of the topic, including some helpful design principles. If one is tired of the terminologically-thick RFCs - and tired of printing out ASCII tomes of RFCs, this book provides an easy read on the topic with which to verse yourself on the topic. However, nothing in the book isn't freely available in any RFC document, so it's simply a matter of reading preference. Read all the RFC docs and get the full story, or get a nice overview package which provides a medium-depth overview of MPLS and other QoS technologies and approaches. I would recommend the text for engineers that need to digest MPLS concepts very quickly, and then go on for the meatier stuff. I would highly recommend it to those in technical marketing / sales / writing who need to get the concepts down, as well.

I read the whole book. I found it to be a good introduction to MPLS and Tag switching concepts. It does not go into extreme detail so it probably is not a good reference for someone building MPLS into a product. Unfortunately, the editing seems a bit rushed. I found problems with descriptions and diagrams in almost every chapter. I am not talking about picky grammatical errors but actual problems in the text and/or the diagrams that would be confusing or just didn't match with what I have learned from other sources. I personally recommend the Davie and Rekhter MPLS book as an in depth introduction to MPLS.

From Uyless Black: Some ten years after writing technical books and receiving reviews on them, I've decided to respond to the input from readers. I should have done so sooner, but here it is now. You will now see this note placed on the comments for each book that is listed on this site, so don't bother re-reading. The note is the same for all the technical books.

The "pros" comments have dealt mainly with an easy to understand format. The "cons" comments have focused on the books (a) not being suited for college classes, (b) too many typos, and (c) mere recitations of ITU and Internet standards. There are other positive and negative comments, but these four points stand out.

The books were intended to be general references; general in relation to the topic itself. They were designed specifically to provide a relatively non-technical overview of ITU and Internet standards. They were used mostly by professionals who had degrees, and needed to (quickly) come to a general understanding of a set of standards. Afterwards, the readers could then go into the details of the standards themselves. Thus, my task was to distill many pages of highly detailed specifications into a few pages of summaries. One of the principal criticisms of the books was the very reason they were written.

I fault myself and my three publishers for not catching the typos, of which there are just too many. I was being asked by my publishers and my clients to hurry-up and get the next summary text out the door, as the clients' projects were beginning. That is why I wrote so many books in a short time. The technologies were coming out in rapid succession, and people did not have the time to read perhaps thousands of pages of standards. I did not take sufficient time to proof. But my publishers, sometimes with two to three proof readers---and at least one technical expert---reading a manuscript also dropped the ball.

I think my books provided a valuable service to my readers. My clients used them extensively, and I believe I was able to "short-cut" them to later read the details more efficiently. Nonetheless, in hindsight the books were insufficiently edited and written with too much haste.

I've been quite surprised that these books are still being sold. Not because they do not have merit, but that they are out-dated. The market for them does not come from the publishers, but from being on the used book market. My recommendation to you is not to buy technical books that are (sometimes) over ten years old.

One last point, which I hope you find humorous, perhaps ironic. Some readers compared some of my work unfavorably to an esteemed writer and lecturer. I read some his books. One contained a figure what was quite similar to a figure in one of my books; so similar in fact, that it included an error I had made in the figure. He did not source my figure, but led the reader to think it was his own creation----and his own error!

I would welcome any thoughts you might have. You can send them to Blackssteets@aol.com.

If you already have some basic knowledge of networking, this is a great book to introduce yourself to MPLS. Though the author could make a better use of graphics, if you like reading, this a self contained book. It has a very good review of basic networking and routing concepts.

As an implementer of MPLS, I have been keeping track on MPLS development since its inception. Few days back, I was in B&N and saw this book lying on a table. It took me 15 minutes to realize that this book is a totally useless. I would instead suggest MPLS by Yakov Rekhter for beginners.

I pick this book up at one of your competitors stores and it is a page tuner. The author doesn't assume anything and takes the reader by the hand and delievers the knowledge.

I have found very illustrative and clear description on Multi-Protocol Label Switching