Cisco ISP Essentials

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Summary: Read This If You Run an ISP
Review: Cisco ISP Essentials is the ideal book for those responsible for ISP networks, whether big or small. The authors mix in practical examples, along with industry standard methods to describe ideal network setups.
The book follows a logical step by step look at ISP networks, first by examining basic router setup and maintenance. Here topics such as memory and backup issues are discussed. The wonderful thing about this book is that it covers in detail many books simply leave out and unnecessary. There are detailed examples of the Network Time Protocol and configuration management. Along with the how, is the very important why for the various techniques.
In the routing protocols section, most of the space is dedicated to BGP, as would be expected in a book dealing with ISP networks. The authors did not forget about internal protocols and laid a foundation for the rest of the book. There is in depth coverage of BGP setup, and the various features and setting to further enhance your network based on its requirements. Examples are provided to show actual running configurations proving the practices out.
Security is a hot topic right now, and it seems to not receive as much time in its chapter of the book. What you will find however, is the constant minding of security issues throughout the rest of the book. Securing routers and routing protocols is followed by discussions on ACL's and network filters. Every area of the book touches aspects of security at some point.
The fifth chapter is entitled Operational Practices, and takes the detailed ideas presented so far, and applies them to actual situations seen on ISP networks. The chapter starts with design ideas, and follows with discussions of ISP services such as DNS, Mail, and News. A detailed discussion of IPv4 addressing covers the basic structure of addressing history. There is a detailed example of an allocation plan for an ISP's needs, as well as any customers. It shows the steps to plan for the present as well as future growth in your network.
There follows an extensive survey of external routing topics. A few examples for interior protocols are given, but the main topic is exterior protocols. Scaling route protocols is discussed for both interior and exterior protocols. This talk leads in to peering practices involving BGP. Multi-homing is the last topic covered, and is done in great detail. The authors describe the various options available for stub networks, single and multiple ISP connections, as well as load sharing designs.
Here again security and the management tasks talked about in earlier chapters are placed into the ISP network and their use described. Tools and sample configurations follow in appendices to wrap up the discussion on best practices.
Overall, the detailed examples and well thought out explanations of the various practices will serve your ISP for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: ISP Engineering Bible
Review: Finally....a book from Cisco press that is suited to the real world rather than the whiteboard or certification mill.
This book is by far the best Cisco press book I have come across and is an end-to-end guide of ISP best-practices...in IOS!
Probably not anything earth-shattering or unavailable elsewhere, but an excellent assembly of network engineering info for the service provider.
Very high ROI on this one for those of us in the industry.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely a Keeper
Review: Good work and a must have for people dealing with networks daily.

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Summary: Agree!!!
Review: I totally agree with the other reviewers. Reading this book is an enjoyment.

Better yet, this book has both to-the-point explaination _and_ example on all topics.

I would say, if you wanted to learn tricks to doing things, this is for you. Don't forget this book concludes with full examples/templates showing how people configure their ISP core and edge routers/switches.

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Summary: Network engineers, this book is for you
Review: This book is based on a living document that Philip, Barry and many network engineers around the globe have been working on for quite a few years. Since I do work with the original document I feared that it might only be a printed version of the online document, but I was delighted to discover that this is not the case, the book really is an expanded and up to date version of the recommended best practices based on real work network engineering experience.

The book is well written (typos and a few mistakes here and there) but the essence, the meat of it all are the detailed Cisco related commands and the usefull information that is provided. Saves a lot of time versus searching mailing lists, Cisco's web site and other ressources.

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Summary: Now this is a great book....
Review: What I love about this book is both the way the authors explain complex technologies simply and also (and more importantly for me) add a very real-world/practical slant to everything. Not much more I can say except do yourself a favour and buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: A much-needed supplement to often confusing documentation
Review: Written especially for network engineers by Cisco experts Barry Raveendran Greene and Philip Smith, Cisco ISP Essentials is a 428-page, matter-of-fact, "access friendly" guide to the many versions of Cisco IOS Software, and cogently explains how to ensure the best configurations that provide Internet access, as well as having a reasonable expectation of security. Offering a wealth of detailed technical information at the expert level, configuration diagrams, examples, and much, much, more, Cisco ISP Essentials is an indispensable and recommended guide, serving the Cisco using community as a much-needed supplement to the often confusing documentation of the Cisco IOS Software itself.