Routing in the Internet (Textbook Binding)

by Christian Huitema (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Routing in the Internet takes a carefully measured, textbook-style approach to a very complex topic, and rewards the attentive reader with a deep knowledge of how packets traverse networks. Author Christian Huitema begins by explaining the mechanics of IP addressing and returns to that theme (as it applies to IPv4 and IPv6) throughout this book.

Once he's laid his addressing groundwork, Huitema sets out to explain interior routing. He begins with the relatively simple (and relatively weak) Routing Information Protocol (RIP), using it as a vehicle for introducing routing terminology and concepts before explaining why RIP is not a good solution for most real-world internetworking problems and moving on to more robust routing algorithms. His coverage of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) compares favorably to others'--he is careful to explain each aspect of OSPF (including link state databases) thoroughly. Exterior protocols are covered similarly well. Huitema isn't stingy with coverage of special situations, such as those created by mobile IP and IP multicasting.

Huitema's style tends to emphasize the theoretical aspects of the subjects he covers, and he writes with a somewhat academic tone. (You'll appreciate his liberal notes if you want to follow up on particular details of his presentation.) He makes good use of packet and network diagrams. You'll be pleased by the depth and detail of the material in Routing in the Internet and, despite its lack of practical material, will find it useful in real-life router configuration work and in studying for Cisco certification exams. --David Wall

Topics covered: Internet Protocol (IP) addressing (including versions 4 and 6), address resolution, routing metrics, distance vector protocols, and (especially) routing algorithms. Covered interior routing protocols include Routing Information Protocol (RIP, versions 1 and 2) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), while covered exterior routing protocols include Exterior Gateways Protocol (EGP) and Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). Futures, especially multicasting, receive attention as well. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
This comprehensive guide to all the latest advances in Internet routing protocols is written in a very user friendly style. Taking an applied approach, the author examines the organization of routing, the structure that glues together the worldwide Internet. ROUTING IN THE INTERNET * Introduces the general principles of the Internet architecture and presents IP- the Internet Procotol. * Describes routing with organizations' networks. It presents RIP, the most widely used "interior gateway protocol" in today's Internet, and makes OSPF easy to understand. It also presents ISIS, IGRP, and EIGRP. * Explains the set of routing protocols required for interconnections between organzations' networks and their providers. It shows the progress of the technology from EGP, the first "external gateway procotol," towards BGP, the new "border gateway protocol," and the recently developed CIDR-- "Classless Inter Domain Routing." A separate chapter presents the requirements of "policy-based routing." * Details the recent advances in routing technology including multicast transmission, mobile hosts, and the support of real time applications. These technologies will be used by the new generation of the Internet Procotol, IPv6, that will connect thousands of billions of hosts in the 21st Century.

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Product Details

• Textbook Binding: 319 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (March 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131321927
• ISBN-13: 978-0131321922
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,159,892 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing work from a master in the field..., May 11, 2000

By	Thomas H. Ptacek (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Routing in the Internet (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

I bought this book with high hopes. Huitema's first edition was exceptional, covering in detail protocols in use on the Internet at the time. What it lacked in theory, it made up for in practical applicability. When combined with Radia Perlman's _Interconnections (1st Edition)_ and access to the IETF RFC database, readers had access to all the information they could ever need about Internet routing.

Then Perlman's 2nd edition was released. What _Interconnections_ had lacked before in practical details is more than addressed in that amazing book. One might hope that Huitema's 2nd edition would catch up to Perlman's in theoretical detail, making both books equivalent references for the field of Internet routing.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Huitema's second book reads much like the first. The "2nd Edition" enhancements seem to center on coverage of "new technologies" such as label switching and quality of service. None of the background that _Routing on the Internet_ lacked in the first edition is made up for here, and I found some of the coverage of new technologies to be superficial or poorly presented.

Moreover, the presentation of the material is simply bad. The book is poorly edited, with grammatical errors throughout the text and fairly unclear writing. Worse, the diagramming style is extremely inconsistant. Throughout much of the book, the diagrams used appear to simply be typeset ASCII pictures!

There are also points in the book where it appears that dated, inappropriate text from the first book was literally pasted into the second book. For instance, at one point the author asserts that "not many companies are making money off of Internet routing devices" (paraphrase), and "a company called cisco" (which he continues to lowercase) is a vendor of the most popular routers. Since he laters makes mention of Ipsilon, I'm guessing he hasn't just been asleep as Internet routing companies rampaged across the NASDAQ.

Huitema is at his best when giving his opinions about aspects of Internet technologies. His recommendations are usually spot-on, and the historical background he provides about protocol development rivals the similar, excellent content in Perlman's _Interconnections_.

However, with _Interconnections 2_ on the shelves, I can't see a good reason to shell out ... for this book. Huitema covers some technologies that Perlman doesn't, but Perlman covers essential technologies (such as switching and multicast forwarding) far better than _Routing on the Internet_.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another look to Internet, July 29, 2000

By	Ruslan Moskalenko (Lafayette, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Routing in the Internet (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

There is a general rule of 80/20. It means 80% of networking books cover 20% of the available networking technologies because they are most common. The average book about internet routing includes 10% of RIP and IGRP, 25% of OSPF, 20% of EIGRP, 20% of BGP and just few words about multicasting, IPv6, resourse reservation, Internet architecture, mobile hosts etc. Another common feature of such books that they give you static shot of current state.

Usually it's more then enough for day to day operations and many people are completely satisfied. But some people want to learn a bit about other 20% and see piture in motion. This book is exactly for them. Probably it doesn't help you much in Cisco router configuration, but you can learn internet history and future from the routing point of view. You can learn a way how routing protocols are developing, what are the current problems and what to expect in a recent future.

This book was included in the CCIE library set and many people were really disappointed because it isn't focused on Cisco routing and switching. In opposite, the most part of this book covers everything that is usually not included in Cisco books. From CCIE or Cisco prospective this book is not really interesting, but it has another goal.

A few more words about this book. It was written by French guy, and he is not Cisco employee. His style is completly different from e.g. Cisco press books'. Cisco wants to show you how well and smoothly it has solved problems, and this book wants to show you what are the problems and drawbacks of current solutions. Cisco gives you answers and this book sometimes just states questions without answers. It's more academic review then manual. Keep it in mind if you are going to buy it.

The final words. Sometimes the language is dull and too dry but if you want to know current state of the internet evolution this book gives you information which is hard to find in any other single book. This book is very good but it's goal is different. It's like the most part of passengers have questions about tickets and they ask ticket agency. But some of them might want to learn more about airplane itself. They can find very good book about airplanes. It's also interesting book but it's definitly different and optional reading for the traveler. The same about this one. It's optional and not the highest priority book but it really gives you a lot of new information about internet routing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The perfect Big Picture book to get started., January 22, 2001

By	[e-mail] (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Routing in the Internet (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

My manager instructed me to learn about BGP. We're talking total novice here. First I tried looking in some CISCO books but they were highly specific towards CISCO products, and that wasn't what I was looking for. Besides, we weren't using CISCO. What I needed to see was the big picture.

This book gives the big picture. Quite honestly I wish there were more books like it.

One reviewer mentioned that the book was rather dry and that he'd "rather read the RFC's". Personally, I find the RFCs much more difficult reading, because they assume prior knowledge.

This book won't give you recipies on how to configure a certain product. Products come and go, new technologies arrive. What this book does give you is a balanced view of the many protocols out there and how they work. It will be on my shelf at work for quite some time to come, while the CISCO books grow old and stale.