Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 387 pages
- Published by: Prentice Hall PTR March 10, 2000
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0130142484
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0130142481
-
Book Dimensions:
9.4 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
- Weighs: 1.9 pounds
Product Review
Without some practical study, you might drive yourself crazy wondering how an e-mail message gets from Brussels to Hong Kong via a series of routers that, by themselves, have no specific knowledge of either city.
Uyless Black, best known for his defining works on voice over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, has written
IP Routing Protocols to explain the various route-finding algorithms. The book stays one step removed from the details of specific routing hardware and
software platforms, instead explaining routing protocols as they're defined in standards documents.
IP Routing Protocols, therefore, comes across as a bit academic at times, but active router technicians will find the approach clarifies their understanding of procedures used in their work.
After introducing the engineering problems routing protocols are meant to solve, the book describes five (or six, if you want to separate IGRP and EIGRP) such protocols. It explains how each one came to exist and lists its relative strengths and weaknesses, plus how each protocol calculates the best-available routes, advertises these routes to neighbors, and deals with problems.
IP Routing Protocols's dense style rewards readers willing to study the words carefully and draw meaning from the utilitarian conceptual drawings. The book will also pay the greatest dividends to readers who have used the covered routing protocols in practice, and can connect the high-level explanations to real-life observed phenomena.
--David Wall Topics covered: The most popular routing protocols used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks and internetworks, including Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and Private Network-Network Interface (PNNI). The book also briefly discusses two proprietary Cisco protocols, Inter-Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) and Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP).
Book Info
Examines the routing protocols at the heart of IP-based internetworking and the Internet itself. Your complete guide to IP routing for all network professionals. DLC: TCP/IP (Computer network protocol)
Reader ReviewsUyless Black is one of the most prolific network authors alive today. One wonders how he can write so many books. Indeed, if you have his older books you'll wonder if he even wrote this one. The errors and simplicity far outweigh the good, original content. I bought the book based on his reputation and other titles of his in my extensive library. I returned it the following day. His errors begin with referring to the late W. Richard Stevens's book "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1" as "Steven's book." In the same sentence he recommends Professor Douglas Comer's book "Internetworking with TCP/IP" as "Come's book." If he and his editors cannot even get the singular possessive correct or spell properly, how can you trust the facts in the book? His errors multiply when he recommends a popular title from Cisco Press on OSPF that has "an average of an error a page, on a light page" according to one reviewer (private communication to me at Networkers 2000 in Orlando). Some might think he offers detailed coverage of the protocols. I disagree. The coverage he tenders is of a basic to early-intermediate level at best. If you can follow a URL you can gain much more than Black offers here. Just read the RFCs and you will cover most of the protocols Black's book. There are two clear exceptions: Cisco's IGRP/EIGRP and ISO'S IS-IS. But wait! There is an RFC that discusses IS-IS in the IP world. Cisco has ample documents on their website that discuss their proprietary protocols. Do not think I am opposed to published works. My networking library fills four six-shelf bookcases that are three feet wide each. My collection of de facto and de jure standards nearly fills another such bookcase. Published works fill a role that the standards documents are not intended to. But, please, buy the right book! One gets the impression that the book was not designed to meet the needs of customer, but to fulfill a contract with a publisher. It is unfortunate, too, because the market clearly needs a detailed discussion of these routing protocols in a single volume. The only works that do so now are focused on configuring equipment from Cisco Systems, Inc. Save your money. Buy Radia Perlman's book "Interconnections, 2ed", John Stewart's book "BGPv4", and Ivan Pepelnjak's "EIGRP Network Design Solutions." Or simply buy Jeff Doyle's "Routing TCP/IP." Sure, the last couple are Cisco-centric, but they cover the protocol operations in detail. Doyle's, in particular, covers several protocols and is probably the best overall reference on all rouTING protocols only because he also covers EIGRP. My second choice would be Radia Perlman's, even though she does not cover the popular but proprietary EIGRP. The Mother of Spanning Tree Protocol has done a remarkable job not only on rouTING protocols, but also on the layer two operations of bridges and switches. Save your time. Don't read this book. Unless, that is, you are a paid reviewer getting it ready for a new debut.
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