Optimal Routing Design (Networking Technology) (ISBN 1587051877)

I'm a bit biased....:
Okay, so I'm the author, and I'm a bit biased. :-) But, I just wanted to respond to the reviewer, above, who stated the book was all wrong, and about the new OSPF area type. It is a joke. When you're plowing through this much technical material, it's good to laugh at some things. If you can find real mistakes in the book, things that you think are really wrong with the principles and concepts explained, then please email Cisco Press, or me. As for the "real world" part, yes, I agree, this book could be more real world, if it weren't already so long, as it is. We're currently discussing a case study only book that would pair with this one, to provide more real world exposure. The problem is that packing the theory and the real world experience stuff into one book would make a book too big to be practical, and readable. HTH :-) Russ

A Complete Course:
This is a booked aimed at network engineers who want to understand the concepts and theory of designing and deploying a large-scale network. It is also helpful for engineers who are studying for theie CCIE or Cisco network design certification. As prerequisites, the reader should be familiar with basic routing protocol concepts, including the mechanics of how each protocol works, basic Cisco router configuration, and physical layer interconnectivity. Some review of routing protocol operation is provided in the appendixes, but these are by no means comprehensive reviews. Perhaps the chapter headings are as good a summary of what the book covers as any description: Network Design Goals and Techniques Applying the Fundamentals EIGRP Network design OSPF Network Design IS-IS Network Design BGP Cores and Network Scalability High Availability and Fast Convergence Routing Protocol Security Virtual Private Networks This book is designed to be read, not just used as a reference. It provides a consistent story throughout the book and is intended to be read from front to back and providing a complete course in network routing design.

On the right track, but little detail on dealing with the real world.:
Optimal Routing Design is full of good stuff. Full marks for starting the book with the advice "think about what you would like the network to do". The book contains a wealth of information on how you should design a network if you were starting from scratch. It assists in clarifying the impact of routing protocol configuration choices. For the operator of an existing network, little information is provided on "how to get there from here". Other issues that aren't really addressed are "Having broken a number of design rules, how far am I from a meltdown?" and "What improvement in service/operating costs/convergence would I see if I followed all the rules?" Another area that could have seem more material was how map the desired behaviour of the network (traffic flow wise) into design decisions. Overall a valuable contribution to routing literature. Well done.

Just enough wrong to make you not beleive what is right:
I am not as good at english as I am at networking. This is unforturnate as I can't express how bad this book is. There are mistakes, bad diagrams, and just plain bad formatting. At one point in the book they actually introduce a new OSPF network type: Totally Stubby Not Really Full Areas. After a heading about it and trying to describe it for a paragraph, they end with this: "Actually, this type of area is made up. It does not exist." I do not read text books to find out what DOESN'T exist. I did not give it 1 star as some of the ideas are good; of course I strongly recommend trying all the commands first for yourself. The IDEA of this book was exactly what I wanted, and thats how I was sold on it. Forums have proven better.