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Rating: 
Summary: For my needs, this book is excellent ....
Review: I am in TOTAL AGREEMENT with the other (2) reviews (posted as of 8/22/98), and I, too, would likely be disappointed with this text, under THEIR particular conditions ... HOWEVER: I am a Help desk employee who configures 5-6 Cisco Routers over the phone every day, so I do not have my own personal copy of the CD documentation (hence, I must rely on SOMETHING in lieu of the doc CD). Moreover, I am VERY EARLY into preparing for the CCIE, and this book builds on what I already know about IP addressing, and then some. One criticism of this book said elsewhere is that it does not tell the reader how to configure the parameters documented on it's pages. Hogwash: how more clearer could Cisco Press be than presenting a table with two columns -- "Commanding this ..." and "... makes this ..." ?? ... pretty straight-forward, I thought ... Regarding the comment that some of these parameters will be outdated eventually ... well, three comments: first, welcome to the WACKY WORLD of software (yes, Virginia, it's GONNA be outdated in six months; and yet, many of the parameters mentioned in this book will very likely be pertenent two years from now ... now THAT'S holding power); secondly, in a sense, every configuration in this book is ALREADY outdated, due to Cisco's "ConfigMaker," a GUI-interfaced config tool that makes all commands obsolete (BUT ... I feel it really helps to know what I'm commanding for my network, so that when the inevitable 11th-hour troubleshooting parties begin, I know of a place to begin); thirdly, I'm not exactly sure what the writer of that review was hoping and looking for when he even brought up this issue of outdated-ness ... so for this reason, I have no further comment ...
Rating:
Summary: For my needs, this book is excellent ....
Review: I am in TOTAL AGREEMENT with the other (2) reviews (posted as of 8/22/98), and I, too, would likely be disappointed with this text, under THEIR particular conditions ... HOWEVER: I am a Help desk employee who configures 5-6 Cisco Routers over the phone every day, so I do not have my own personal copy of the CD documentation (hence, I must rely on SOMETHING in lieu of the doc CD). Moreover, I am VERY EARLY into preparing for the CCIE, and this book builds on what I already know about IP addressing, and then some. One criticism of this book said elsewhere is that it does not tell the reader how to configure the parameters documented on it's pages. Hogwash: how more clearer could Cisco Press be than presenting a table with two columns -- "Commanding this ..." and "... makes this ..." ?? ... pretty straight-forward, I thought ... Regarding the comment that some of these parameters will be outdated eventually ... well, three comments: first, welcome to the WACKY WORLD of software (yes, Virginia, it's GONNA be outdated in six months; and yet, many of the parameters mentioned in this book will very likely be pertenent two years from now ... now THAT'S holding power); secondly, in a sense, every configuration in this book is ALREADY outdated, due to Cisco's "ConfigMaker," a GUI-interfaced config tool that makes all commands obsolete (BUT ... I feel it really helps to know what I'm commanding for my network, so that when the inevitable 11th-hour troubleshooting parties begin, I know of a place to begin); thirdly, I'm not exactly sure what the writer of that review was hoping and looking for when he even brought up this issue of outdated-ness ... so for this reason, I have no further comment ...
Rating: 
Summary: This is just the CD-based config manual in hard cover
Review: I was a little disappointed with this book. I was expecting more on how the various protocols work, and how they should be configured. Instead it is essentially just a hardcopy of the Configuration Guides and the Command References available on the CD-ROM that comes with Cisco products, and also available on their website. It takes you through the steps required to configure a Cisco router, with a reference to the relevant commands, but does little to describe the fundamentals involved - why you are entering the commands it is describing. I have, however been much more impressed with some of the other Cisco Press books - 'Cisco CCIE Fundamentals: Network Design and Case Studies' being an excellent example.
Rating:
Summary: If you don't have laser printer ...
Review: or if reading thick and heavy "bricks" in the office would improve your image, this is your book. Basically the book is a hardcopy of UniverCD/ Cisco's web site. There's no rational reason to buy this book. If you have some extra money - then buy it just to have it on hand. Personally I prefer CDs (I have one always with me). Otherwise - the book itself is not bad, and $70 is not that much ...
Rating:
Summary: If you don't have laser printer ...
Review: or if reading thick and heavy "bricks" in the office would improve your image, this is your book. Basically the book is a hardcopy of UniverCD/ Cisco's web site. There's no rational reason to buy this book. If you have some extra money - then buy it just to have it on hand. Personally I prefer CDs (I have one always with me). Otherwise - the book itself is not bad, and $70 is not that much ...
Rating:
Summary: This is just the CD-based config manual in hard cover
Review: This book is just the IP section of Cisco's IOS documentation. Buying this stuff in frozen-state hardcover is probably a bad idea, as it will be outdated in no time. There are very few examples in this book, and virtually nothing about how things interrelate. You'd be much better off buying books with author's names on them (I notice that whenever a Cisco book lacks an author's name, it's usually a reprint of the CD documentation). I really wish Cisco would be up front about the source of the material (the Cisco CD) for these reprint titles. But nowhere do they mention how you can get the CURRENT version of this info (and for free to boot).
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