Rating: 
Summary: Finally! Someone Get's It.
Review: Multicast is a pain to learn only because most authors make it seem like rocket science. FINALLY an author who gets it right! Presenting in a logical manner and with an understanding of his audience.
I picked up what I needed to know with multicast for the CCIE lab exam in just a few evenings with this book. That was the end of a 6 month search for a good reference.
The chapters IP PIM DENSE, IP PIM SPARSE, IMPLEMENTING IP PIM DENSE, IMPLEMENTINT IP PIM SPARSE, are worth the cost of the book alone, but you get much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome
Review: Multicast is not a very easy technology. When I first encountered with Multicast, I bought the book from one of my favorite writers (Jeff Dolyle) Volume II, but was very much disappointed the way he explained Multicasting. I then searched for other books and finally found the book which really made this complicated topic as a piece of cake. The way Beau Williamson presented each complicated object of multicast made me realize that not only he must be one of the best designers for Multicasting Networks, but also the best writer in terms of how to teach newbie of this complicated Technology.If one seriously wants to learn about Multicasting, this is the book to buy without even second thought. Just go and grab it. Good job Mr. Williamson. I encourge you to write more books on other complicated technologies.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Multicast is not a very easy technology. When I first encountered with Multicast, I bought the book from one of my favorite writers (Jeff Dolyle) Volume II, but was very much disappointed the way he explained Multicasting. I then searched for other books and finally found the book which really made this complicated topic as a piece of cake. The way Beau Williamson presented each complicated object of multicast made me realize that not only he must be one of the best designers for Multicasting Networks, but also the best writer in terms of how to teach newbie of this complicated Technology. If one seriously wants to learn about Multicasting, this is the book to buy without even second thought. Just go and grab it. Good job Mr. Williamson. I encourge you to write more books on other complicated technologies.
Rating:
Summary: May well be the best multicasting book available
Review: Multicasting is truly a technology solution in search of a problem. Excepting highly specialized conferencing applications (a few of which are mentioned here) it is difficult to see how multicasting can be a money-making service for carriers and providers, and the protocols have yet to really penetrate to wide deployment. That said, knowledge of this separate realm of IP networking is a must for any professional in the telecom space. I'm glad to say that this book rewards determined scrutiny. As a technical writer supporting a very complex product line that has recently added PIM-SM to its bag of tricks, I've found this book painstaking and tremendously informative. You will need to understand IP networking before approaching this title; on the assumption that you do, you will fully understand shared trees, SPTs, and their combination in PIM to an absolute fare-thee-well. My focus when reading this book was on IGMP and PIM-SM, so I have not read absolutely every page of this title. However, Williamson breaks the processes down packet-by-packet for each protocol in the multicasting suite in almost excruciating detail. Advanced coverage of topics such as registration, pruning, and Rendezvous Point behavior means that you will have complete mastery of Cisco multicasting, and for any platform that conforms to the standards, by the time you are finished. This is an excellent, excellent effort in what I think is a consistently solid networking series.
Rating:
Summary: Good read- better than Parkhurst's
Review: This is a good book. It appears to be just what I was looking for. There are some typos. This is much better than Parkhurst's multicasting book. I like Williamson's style. Not too dry. I'm only half way through. I expect to have a firmer understanding of PIM-DM and PIM-SM after reading it all. The author apparently has much real-world IP multicasting experience. Highly recommended. In terms of CCIE-level usefulness, I put it on a par with Jeff Doyle's "Routing TCP/IP" book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Multicast resource
Review: This is one of the best Cisco press books available right now. You'll find this information applicable to any vendor's hardware.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best Multicast book available
Review: This is the best multicast book on the market. It is a must have whether you are preparing for the CCIE Lab or just want to understand multicast. The explanation was simple and clear. There are tons of configuration examples covering pretty much all kinds of scenarios. The author actually explained every single line of the configurations. I bought this book for my Lab exam, and after two days of reading, 99.99% of my questions were answered (the only one I still have is I actually made PIM-DM work in a hub-spoke frame relay network. The prune message from one spoke was actually seen by the other spoke, I don't know why the hub would forward it out). I have to admit this is one of the best books I've read for a long time. Just like Jeff Doyle's TCP/IP Routing is the Bible of IGP, this book is the Bible of Multicast.
Rating:
Summary: Developing IP Multicast Networks
Review: This is the finest Technical book I have ever read. It is outstanding!! Beau Williamson has covered multicasting in great detail and has done so is such a way that everyone can understand it. It covers all aspects of the many different multicasts protocols and mechanism. He clearly explains the RFC�s and their weak points. It takes a general approach to multicasting and is an excellent guide to any vender. There are very few Technical books that have been written is well. Great job!!!
Rating:
Summary: Developing IP Multicast Networks
Review: This is the finest Technical book I have ever read. It is outstanding!! Beau Williamson has covered multicasting in great detail and has done so is such a way that everyone can understand it. It covers all aspects of the many different multicasts protocols and mechanism. He clearly explains the RFC's and their weak points. It takes a general approach to multicasting and is an excellent guide to any vender. There are very few Technical books that have been written is well. Great job!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This was a good read. Not only was the book a great interpretation of a hard-to-understand RFC, but it also contained had good configuration examples for sample networks. I recommend this to network designers and protocol developers that want to get a good high-level analysis of the multicasting process.
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