Rating: 
Summary: Behind the scenes of protocol design
Review: The previous version of this book has long been one of my all-time favorite networking books (up there with Steven's "TCP/IP Illustated Vols 1-3"). I was pleasantly surprised when I found a second edition had been released.This book didn't fail to deliver on my expectations of excellent content delivery. I mean, for a fellow nerd that Perlman can sure communicate! For those of us who have had to develop and debug protocols, this book's background of the "why" behind the "what" is extremely illustrative and informative. Its one thing to review RFC's and IEEE literature, its another to read the pain went into these defined behaviors.
Rating:
Summary: Foundational Reading!
Review: There are moments when this book reads like a detective story with drama, plot, and humor but even when Radia Perlman is simply working through the details of internetworking protocols the writing is clear and crisp. The chapters are well organized and diagrams are used very effectively to make even dense concepts accessible. What I liked best about Interconnections was being consistently able to understand what the author was saying. While an electrical engineer might get a little more out of her discussions than I did I never felt locked out because my undergraduate education was in the liberal arts. The material she presents is not always easy. In fact, Radia notes, "Anyone who isn't confused about when routers become EGP neighbors and what the rules are for configuring routers to initiate being EGP neighbors does not understand EGP" (p. 428). And yet the reader who is willing to concentrate and follow her lead can understand everything covered. Even though this is a marvelously written book it is not for everyone. I would hesitate to recommend it to a network technician wanting to understand networks more fully. While I think every computer science student should spend two semesters working through these 18 chapters, memorizing the Glossary, and discussing the suggested homework problems the book is overkill for the ordinary MCSE candidate wanting to master Networking Essentials for a Microsoft certification exam. Interconnections is foundational reading for those who would design protocols or vendor equipment designed to interoperate with protocols but it is a bit much for someone who just wants to know which port to plug the cable into. While Interconnections is not for everyone, I think it is essential reading for anyone who makes purchase decisions in an enterprise network. Without a firm understanding of bridges, routers, switches, and internetworking protocols they become far too vulnerable to sales techniques. And Interconnections is an essential reference for the Network Analyst. Radia notes that in the first edition of her book she assumed people would read the RFCs to get details that she omitted but they didn't. As someone who has spent some time trying to digest RFCs I am grateful that she bulked up the Second Edition with what she thought people needed to know. I can figure out what she writes but frequently feel I have wasted the effort when trying to get what I need out of the RFCs. Interconnections is a convenient one stop resource for researching packet headers and the various control messages that analyzer software may capture while sniffing a network to identify problems. Interconnections, Second Edition is 150 pages larger than the First Edition published in 1992. Radia has reorganized, rewrote, added examples, included new protocols and more fully documented details to make it a better reference book. The Glossary was expanded from 4 pages to 10 but that was not enough. Radia does a good job of defining terms in the body of the book the first time they are used but not again in later chapters. When they are not in the Glossary it leaves the reader having to page around looking for the first definition. And the Index shrank from 15 pages to 5 between the First and Second Editions and thus became less useful for finding obscure terms. Radia Perlman proposes that, "Before we design a solution, it's often useful to define the problem to be solved" (p. 505). To explain a protocol in the book she typically presents a list of problems and then walks through adding features to an algorithm to solve one or more of them. She discusses how adding one feature may create new problems. It is fascinating to do this exercise in relationship to real world protocols that are used everyday and to realize that some problems could be relieved if standards bodies could more readily agree. And that brings up one of the most enjoyable aspects of Interconnections, Radia sharing anecdotes and criticisms from years of participating on the Internet Engineering Task Force. One take home message for me from reading Interconnections is that it is always best to keep it simple. Added complexity rarely pays off in anything but trouble. Radia opined, "I think people should be grateful if their packets get there at all" (p.202) rather than jumping through a lot of hoops to insure optimal routing. This is a good message for those who build internetworking protocols as well as those who just plug cables into ports.
Rating:
Summary: An informative and enjoyable reference on bridges and router
Review: This book covers a wide range of topics in packet switching, both routers (layer 3) and bridges (layer 2). While there are other books that cover routing well, books about bridging are much harder to find. Radia discusses the two side by side, showing similarities and differences, drawbacks and benefits of each. If you're used to the traditional dry and impersonal textbook style, this book will come as a refreshing surprise. You will get lots of facts -- and also opinions. If Radia thinks some particular technique is not a good thing, she'll simply say "I think this is a mistake". Nice. The book covers both recent practice and historical background. Learning how these protocols evolved will help the reader understand why they now look the way they do. And discussions of "lessons learned the hard way" shows what design principles are important for reliability. The final chapter "Protocol design folklore" is a valuable addition to this second edition.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This book is one of the better out there in the field. Written by someone with great insight in the material and a touch of humor now and then it gives you a good understanding of the technology available at the moment and the history behind it. Seldom found; is that it does not only explains the technologies, but it does also discusses the pros and cons. Valuable is also the section on protocol design, the only I came ever across.
Rating:
Summary: a must have book
Review: This cover and explain the details about Network
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book!
Review: This is probably the best, most enjoyable computer book I've ever read. Radia does a fine job at making the material fun yet very informative. She wrote many of the switching algorithms that we use today. Yet, she doesn't just throw a heaping pile of theory and facts at you and call it a book. She has a great sense of humor and her sharp witty comments about some of the stupid things that the standards committees do are priceless. This book is a good read just for the fun of it, but if you really want to know everything about switching and bridging this book will deliver. I highly recommend this one from the newbie to the networking professional. Great book.
Rating:
Summary: If you're into Milton or Rumi, skip the Algorhyme :-)
Review: Used both 1st and 2nd ed. of the book fr my CCIE R/S. The bridging and STP coverage in this book is as clear as it can get. VLAN discussion is added in the 2nd Ed. I was bored to see the old quotations in the book. Have'nt we got any new quoatations in 8 years? :-). Get this book...
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: Wow! I enjoyed reading this book for several reasons: Ms. Perlman provides an insider's perspective on the evolution of the IEEE's 802 standards. I even like how she explains some errors that the 802 committee made in designing the protocols. Cisco recommends this book to prepare for the CCIE qualifier exam. (See http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/625/ccie/certifications/routing.html#34 for details) What else would you expect from the inventor of spanning tree?
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: Wow! I enjoyed reading this book for several reasons: Ms. Perlman provides an insider's perspective on the evolution of the IEEE's 802 standards. I even like how she explains some errors that the 802 committee made in designing the protocols. Cisco recommends this book to prepare for the CCIE qualifier exam. (See http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/625/ccie/certifications/routing.html#34 for details) What else would you expect from the inventor of spanning tree?
| 
