Customer Reviews

CCIE Routing and Switching Official Exam Certification Guide (2nd Edition)

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I used the "CCIE Routing and Switching - Official Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition", by Wendell Odom, Jim Geier and Naren Mehta. ISBN: 1587201410 as part of my preparation the CCIE Routing and Switching exam. This book provides an excellent high-level overview of the topics covered in the CCIE Written blueprint. However, be aware that it is in fact an abbreviated overview of each subject.

This book is well organized, contains an excellent glossary and index, and provides quick summaries of each subject. On many of the topics, the authors provide some excellent insight and unique presentation methods. For example, the mnemonic for the BGP decision process was tremendously helpful. Also, I like the included CD-ROM which provides the entire book in PDF format and an excellent test engine.

I did not like the deviation from the standard Cisco Press format in the Foundation Summary section. In multiple instances I felt the new information presented in the Foundation Summary section would have been much more appropriately placed in the chapter. Additionally, I prefer the more specific detailed questions typically found in the Foundation Summary rather than using the practice exam for chapter review. Additionally, I felt some of the topics were discussed so quickly and at such a basic level that it was as if the authors were just short of saying yadda-yadda-yadda.

I used this book in conjunction with "Routing TCP/IP - Volume I" and "Routing TCP/IP - Volume II" and Cisco's website. Typically, I would read the explanation in the "CCIE Routing and Switching - Official Exam Certification Guide" and if clearly understood everything in that section and was able to add more detailed information, I would move on to the next subject. Otherwise, I would go back and re-read the subject as presented in the Routing TCP/IP book and as presented on Cisco's website.

All in all, "CCIE Routing and Switching - Official Exam Certification Guide does a good job of covering the topics outlined in the CCIE Routing and Switching blueprint. Some topics are cover in more detail (or clear explanations) than others, but overall they are covered mostly at the fundamental level. This book alone does not cover every thing you need to know, but it does do an excellent job of facilitating a thorough review of subject that you must know in order to pass the written exam.

I recently read the book titled "CCIE Routing and Switching - Official Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition", by Wendell Odom, Jim Geier and Naren Mehta. ISBN: 1587201410. Having read other titles from Wendell Odom, I had high expectations from this book. My expectations where met after reading this title. This is one of the most well put together study guides that I have read. Very well organized and easy to find information.

There is a section at the end of each topic called "Memory Builders". This is a great addition to this study guide. The objective of the section is to help reinforce key topics by providing tables that you fill in key information relating to a given topic. It helps link the information in more than one place in your memory which gives the student a greater chance of remembering the information.

The title covers several topics that reflect the CCIE Routing and Switching Blueprint. Some topics are cover in more detail than others. For example the sections on Wireless Networking has quite a bit information covered in the title. On the other hand IPv6 coverage is very sparse. All in the entire book does a good job of covering several topics, mostly at the fundamental level. You won't find many tips or tricks that aren't already covered in other titles. The book is geared to engrain the fundamental technologies required to pass the CCIE Routing and Switching written test.

The book comes with a CD-ROM that has the entire book, in PDF format, on the CD. This is wonderful, when you want to do a quick search on something or you want to take the information on the road and travel light. The CD-ROM also has the best test engine I've ever seen in a CCIE study guide. The study guide on the CD-ROM alone is worth the price of the title. It's packed with 500 questions with user configurable settings that allow you to customize your testing experience to maximize your time.

The authors, having foresight, also included a nice section on MPLS. Thinking Cisco may put MPLS back into the CCIE Routing and Switching exam again.

I have read several CCIE routing and switching study titles from different publishers. This is the best study guide you'll find to date for preparing for the CCIE Routing and Switching Written exam. After reading through this material I went and took the CCIE written exam and passed. This title doesn't cover every thing you need to know, because real world experience is still required, but it covers the material you'll need to have a strong grasp of in order to pass the written exam.

I would highly recommend this title for those individuals that have a fair amount of experience in data communication networking and are pursuing the coveted CCIE Routing and Switching Certification. As for me, it's on to the lab. I will be going through the Cisco Press CCIE Lab study guides and Practical Study titles. Not to mention burning a lot of midnight oil.

I used this book to study for and pass my CCIE R&S Written.

The book has relatively few errors for its size, and I found the companion CDROM to be extremely helpful at putting concepts in another light. The software itself is standard fare with the other Cisco Press titles - kind of clunky, stops after 75 out of 100 questions, and the diagrams sometimes don't match the question, but it was still very helpful. A side effect of the software is helping you speed up comprehension of route-maps, class-maps and access-lists. The written exam demands it with 100 questions in 120 minutes.

The foundation summaries at the end of the chapters often list commands that are supplemental to the chapter. While handy to see, it would have been more helpful to include an explanation of them in the chapter. Looking them up is tedious.

I found the BGP section particularly helpful. The QoS and multicast sections were also superb.

This book is for anyone looking to pass the R&S written, or who wants a straightforward explanation of the topics covered.

This book is an excellent introduction into advanced Routing & Switching concepts. I have just completed the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) examinations, and chose this book as the next logical step. I've already been very pleased with the decision.

The text is understandable and well written and can easily be studied from. I've started preparing for the CCIE and am working through the book as it is written, understanding and memorizing as I go (I also use the computer software "Supermemo").

One thing I will point out: the CCIE Written Exam Blueprint (available on Cisco's website) is changed to version 3.0 as of mid-June, 2007. This book is written for the previous version of the blueprint and doesn't include all aspects of IPv6. MPLS (another new topic for the CCIE Exam) is included in the appendix of this book.

I used the book to study for the CCIE Written R&S and found it to be the most complete reference available. It provides a wide overview of topics but doesn't "gloss over" them. This book is a must for anyone working on their CCIE R&S.

This book in my opinion will not help you pass the written test. I took and passed my test on the first attempt, but I also read the book before this book was realeased and one other CCIE book. This book basically gives you summaries of each topic. If you are weak in a subject this book will not enhance your knowledge in that area, you are better off going back to your CCNA and CCNP book.

Best of luck

The authors have excelled at making difficult subjects easy to understand. Its hard imagine someone could read this book and not pass the CCIE written.

Wendell's books are still good refrence and operational manuals for practictioners and teachers alike

David

Well written, covered v2 exam blueprint. Highly recommended as a review guide before taking exam. Included tests in cdrom is big plus. Used it and passed re-cert.

Was I hoping for too much? mmm maybe.

The whole blueprint is covered here (well almost) but there are some things that are missing, and oh ... the mistakes. My girlfriend is going through the trauma now of CCIE and she is using it as a guide. I see that the Web site has come up with an errata fixing a couple of the mistakes, but others are missed. What happened to CDP using SNAP frames? How do we make On demand routing work without it? Are you sure EIGRP uses that multicast address? bit of a booboo with vtp too. Oh and the diagram of InvArp and frame-relay is bizzare, the configs dont match the diagram, then three pages later you talk about and configure dlci's and there is no frame config on the diagram.
But it's ok, i guess your going to get mistakes. Just don't think that this one has all the answers and it's error free.