Customer Reviews

Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks (CCIE Professional Development)

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

 

 

Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks is a great resource for anybody supporting a Remote Access Network. Supporting Remote access Networks has always been a challenge with limited or no access to the CPE, varied technical levels of users and being seperated by multiple hops of physical layer. The author approaches the different Access technologies in a step by step manner and gives clear and lucid troubleshooting solutions for the various aspects in the specific technologies. The detailed explanation of the show and debug commands will be greatly helpful for anybody looking into a quick solution for an access issue.This book is targetted towards all audience levels from Netowrk Managers to design and operation engineers working with day to day support calls and operation issues. And finally it would be a great resource for the CCIE Lab preparation. The tips and techniques discussed in the book will prove to be a great time saver in the exam as time is the worst enemy on the big day.

A very good book to use for CCIE lab study, areas included are: VPN, ISDN, frame relay and dial. It also goes into depth with many situations for troubleshooting with detailed explanations of typical symptoms and associated output you might see. A fresh and down to earth layer by layer approach to troubleshooting.

Dr. Nedeltchev's demonstration of his mastery of the terrain is in no doubt. Like an Instructor, he walks you through the `art' of troubleshooting remote access networks, concentrating on 4 of the most popular remote access types; Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay and VPN. The modular layout of the text makes it an easy read, not just for CCIE candidates but an invaluable reference guide for the practicing network engineer, who is confronted with many of the troubleshooting scenario highlighted in the book on a daily basis. The book is organized into 5 parts.

Section 1 is a must read for everyone interested in Remote Access Network Technologies from the end user customer, planning to procure remote access service/solution to the service provider customer support engineers whose job it is to ensure customer satisfaction and the infrastructure engineers who are faced with ensuring the health of the system. This section quickly lay out the fundamental issues in Remote Access Network technology, as much as can fit in less than 150 pages, and still provide a good feel for the issues at stake.

Chapters 5 to 22 are where the real juice is. The almost 700 pages of text is divided into 4 modules, each dealing with one of Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay and VPN, in that other.

A feature I found very useful is the modular nature of the book, providing easy reference for the information you need. In practice, Engineers may not have to work with all technologies, but still find the book handy as a reference to the technology that interests them as well as a quick guide to troubleshooting that technology.

Chapters 5 through 8 describes dial technology and troubleshooting issues and chapters 9 though 13 explores ISDN technology.

Chapters 14 to 18 is on Frame Relay technology and as is the pattern throughout the book starts with an overview of frame Relay technology in 14, moving on to design solutions in chapter 15 and configurations in 16. chapter 17 explores the topic of troubleshooting frame relay network detailing specific commands and pointing to specific tools, while chapter 18 reviews some troubleshooting scenarios including new install, mismatched dlci, traffic shaping, ip multicast and even host migration.

The coverage of VPN is quite detailed (chapters 19 through 22) with description of VPN categories, link technologies and a break down of IKE an IPSec technologies providing the ground work for a full chapter on design and configurations which then presented a clear case for the troubleshooting chapter with Cisco equipment as benchmark. Chapter 22 looks at some real life VPN troubleshooting scenarios. Of course the application environment is windows. Linux operating systems users of the popular Cisco VPN software will have to get resources from Cisco website.

Like most Cisco press texts, this book has its share of IOS snapshots and scenario examples and lives up to its stated billings "as a guide to understanding tools, commands and methodologies that enable reliable performance of remote access services"

Having this book within reach when dealing with remote access networks is guaranteed to save you time, no matter what stage of the system you may find yourself, from planning though maintenance/support. For aspiring CCIE, I will recommend this as a must have.

I have found this to be one of the most informative and easiest to read books on ISDN, Dial, and VPN. However I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that it has wonderful troubleshooting sections on T-1 and Frame Relay. If someone would only do for ATM what Nedeltchev has done for these technologies I would be one happy geek.

This is a book that any Network Engineer can benefit from.

I am reviewing Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks (ISBN 1587050765), part of the CCIE Professional Development Series from Cisco Press. This book weighs in at 800 pages, but the font size and subject matter make it feel like well over 1000. Normally, I try to average 50 pages of technical reading a day, but I had trouble getting anywhere close to that. The book is divided into 5 sections. Section 1 covers remote access fundamentals, while sections 2-5 cover Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay, and VPN technologies, respectively. The book is authored by Plamen Nedeltchev, an engineer who worked for Cisco during the development of much of their remote access technology. The problem with this is that it's like discussing photographs with the guy that worked in R&D at Canon. He knows his stuff, but you'd better watch out, lest you be drowned with terminology.

The author does a decent job of explaining the technical concepts, but he has a tendency to get wordy. Maybe I'm having a bad month for cognitive focus, but I find myself "phasing out" while reading this book. If I really concentrate, I can follow the author for a chapter, but trying to hammer out day after day of concentration on this book is really hard. I'd recommend it as a troubleshooting guide or as a desk reference, but as straight ahead CCIE study material, it's too cumbersome. Read a chapter of this book, then go read a section of another CCIE book, then come back here for a few more chapters. That might make this thing easier to take. The book states that the reader should have at least CCNA level skills to read this book. I have to disagree and say that the reader must have passed the BCRAN exam for the CCNP before reading this book. The book is intended to teach troubleshooting, so you'd better know the basics of the technologies and their implementation prior to reading this book. Also, if you're not in the mood for TLA & FLA's (Three and Four Letter Acronyms), then you'd better get in the mood before tackling this book.

All of this may make it sound like I don't like this book. That's not true. When I'm in the right mindset, which is to say that the room is right, and the noise level is right, and I have the right level of caffeine, then I can read a section of this book and learn a LOT about the material that he's trying to convey (he IS an expert, after all). On that note, I have to say that I especially enjoyed the section on VPN technologies, as my personal experience and studies are quite light on the subject up to this point. It really piqued my interest in the subject. So much so that I think one of my next reads will be the Cisco Secure VPN Guide.

I'm reading this book as part of my studies for the CCIE written exam. I'm not sure if I needed this much information prior to the written exam. I'm sure I probably could have gotten by with a re-scan of the BCRAN book, but I'm also sure that I will be coming back to this book again and again during my preparations for the lab exam.

On my 5 ping rating scale, I give it a 3.
!!..!

Being cited as a supporter of this publication does of course mean that I could have some bias when providing a review. However, knowing and working with him personally, I can honestly say that Plamen and the entire team of contributors that actually deployed and operated Cisco's remote access infrastructure have produced a text of significant value for any engineer designing, deploying, and operating remote access services across various technologies.

Some of the technologies covered such as analog dial and ISDN may seem dated, but one must remember that in many areas these technologies are still widely deployed and of course require ongoing support. And to that end, "Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks" provides the foundation and tools to support those technologies based upon real world experience.

Having been part of the team that initially created Cisco's remote access services, it was a pleasure to see Plamen, Felicia, and the entire staff carry the torch forward and take Cisco's remote access infrastructure to the next level with global deployments and VPN solutions.

The practical expertise that Plamen and the Cisco Remote Access Team built over that time is reflected in this publication, and is invaluable for anyone supporting or designing similar services.

That being said, the only reason I give this reference 4 stars is due to its relative age to the industry. As time moves on, an updated revision that addresses changes in technologies and techniques does become desirable.

But even 5 years following its publication, this reference should be on the shelf of any remote access engineer's library. And if it is already on yours, I bet "Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks" is heavily dog-eared!

CiscoPress's "Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks" by Nedeltchev is mislabeled. As with their "Troubleshooting IP Routing Protocols" , CiscoPress has labeled this book as part of their `CCIE Professional Development' series - I do not think these books should be considered as necessary for the CCIE. This book does have some merit, and I have found some of the documentation to be extremely valuable at troubleshooting and isolating WAN issues.

The book is broken down into 4 sections - Dial, ISDN, Frame-Relay and VPN. I have been supporting Frame-Relay and ISDN for years (and have been given the unfortunate title of `ISDN guru'). This book does an excellent job at describing some little understood issues with each technology. For instance, on page 331, various BRI cause messages from a NI-1 ISDN switch are discussed. On page 499 are given tips/commands on how to troubleshoot an internal CSU/DSU. I also like the discussion on how to use other methods to help isolate an issue starting on page 109 (ping, traceroute and Netcat - yes, Netcat!). This book is mammoth, weighing in at over 850 pages.

There are not that many typos in the book. If you are a WAN network administrator, and you are looking for a book to place on your shelf to help you or your colleagues, you probably can't go wrong with this book. If you are a CCIE, looking to help prepare for the lab, I suggest you save up and buy some extra rack-time with the money.

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

WOW!!! If this book isn't in your library, then your library is not complete. This book is a must have for the serious network professionals. Being in the CCIE Professional Development Series should tell you all you need to know about this AWESOME book.


Do you want to know about ISDN? Frame Relay? Dial Services? VPN's? How Remote Access troubleshooting? Then look no further

The first part of the book gives the reader foundational information on telecommunications and the various technologies associated with it. Then you learn about the options that can be deployed for remote access. The options section is good, and it describes the technologies along with the limitations and benefits for each of them. This will help you to make an informed decision on what you should deploy. You are also presented a handy section on management considerations for remote access. It's always nice to know what management might be thinking. The telecommunication chapter is very well done. After reading this chapter your knowledge of this subject will be substantial.

Next you get into the cloud chapter as the author calls it. This chapter describes the components that you would find in the network cloud. The pages in this chapter are good and provide the reader with a wealth of information. This is a very well prepared section that helps the user build a solid foundation. Trust me you'll have to know and use this material in the real world regardless of whether you are on a data, voice or converged network. The components and service provider sections are good for helping complete the readers' knowledge and understanding of a cloud.

The troubleshooting chapter is GOLDEN. You are given general steps and advice to help resolve problems in any type of environment not just remote networks. You are then taken on a review of the DoD and OSI models. They even through in a cool little protocol diagram that maps different protocols all the way from layer 7 to layer 1. I could ramble on and on about this chapter suffice it to say this is arguably the BEST TROUBLESHOOTING SECTION I have ever read!!! Buy the book and checkout this chapter.

Parts II - V of the book gets into the main technologies that can be used for remote access. I really liked the format the author used for these parts of this book. He starts by providing an overview of the technology. Once you have a solid foundation he then takes you into design solutions. After your introduction you are shown practical application of it. Next you are taught how to troubleshoot this specific technology. The next phase that is used to hammer home everything you just read of the last few chapters is a chapter on troubleshooting scenarios. You are walked through various problems complete with commands and screen outputs.
The materials that are presented in parts II - V are just incredible for knowledge of Dial up, ISDN, Frame Relay, and VPNs.

This book is for people that need to have accurate and detailed information on Remote Access. Whether you're looking for foundational skills or need to troubleshoot remote access networks. You will be very happy with this book. After all it is in the CCIE Professional series, which should be enough to buy the book alone.