REVIEW: "Network Warrior", Gary A. Donahue
Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor
"Network Warrior", Gary A. Donahue, 2007, 978-0-596-10151-0,
U$44.99/C$58.99
%A Gary A. Donahue
%C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472
%D 2007
%G 978-0-596-10151-0 0-596-10151-1
%I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O U$44.99/C$58.99 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nu...@ora.com
%O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596101511/robsladesinterne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596101511/robsladesinte-21
%O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596101511/robsladesin03-20
%O Audience i- Tech 1 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P 576 p.
%T "Network Warrior"
The preface says that this book is intended for readers who hold a
first-level networking certificate or higher, and that it deals with
real-world practicalities rather than the theory presented in courses.
He also mentions that Cisco equipment will be used in examples.
However, the author doesn't really say what the book will help you to
do.
Part one is entitled hubs, switches and switching, which is fair
enough, since those items are at the (physical) heart of networking.
Unfortunately, in the eight following chapters we have networks
defined in terms of size, hubs and switches defined in terms of
Ethernet, auto-negotiation defined in terms of Cisco commands, VLANs
(virtual LANs) defined in terms of subsetting of ports on a single
switch, trunking defined in terms of broadcast to multiple VLANs,
EtherChannel (a Cisco product) defined in marketing terms, and
spanning tree defined in terms of reducing a packet network back to
Ethernet (with no mention of the risk analysis meaning). Routing is
the logical basis for network, and part two, while still presenting a
great deal of Cisco-specific material, is somewhat better at providing
the general concepts. The content is limited in many respects: only
four routing protocols are described, two of which are Cisco's.
Security, for example, is notable by its absence, except for some
discussion of availability. Part three is completely Cisco-specific;
three chapters dealing with means of managing VLANs. Some terms (and
Cisco functions) related to telephony and high-speed data
communications are provided in part four.
Although the title of part five is "Security and Firewalls," there
isn't much content about security, as such. There is a fair amount of
detail on building different entries in firewall access control lists,
a brief description of a few authentication protocols, a terse look at
firewall topologies, and some PIX firewall settings. Server load
balancing is noted in the two chapters of part six. Two of the
chapters on quality of service (part seven) present a decent overview
of the issues: two outline Cisco configurations.
Part eight is a grab bag of miscellaneous tips, relating to network
documentation, IP (Internet Protocol) addressing schemes, network time
protocol, some general troubleshooting guidelines, and a couple of
chapters of opining.
What real-world practicalities, as opposed to the theory presented in
courses, seems to mean to Donahue is that networking and
telecommunications courses don't always see the world as Cisco does,
and occasionally dare to use terms in ways other than as defined by
Cisco. Well, maybe that statement is unfair: there is a little bit of
material in this book that will be of use regardless of what kind of
network you run. There is, of course, a lot of networking activity
that isn't, and can't, be included in this text. Overall, though,
this work will be valuable if you are running a lot of Cisco gear in a
large environment, and not too useful if you aren't.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 2009 BKNTWWRR.RVW 20090118
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