Ccnp Exam Notes: Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting

The back of the book says it all: "CCNP Exam Notes provides the fastest and most effective way to make sure you're ready for the CIT exam." And that's true. In other words, if you have a fair amount of Cisco experience and you think you're ready to take the exam, read this book to make sure you've got it all down the official Cisco way, because as all good certification junkies know, real-life experience doesn't guarantee a passing grade. It's always a good idea to double-check what you know, and this book serves that function admirably.

What the back of the book doesn't tell you, though--and it's sad that it doesn't--is that this book is an excellent and affordable starting place for a competent CCNA to get a concise explanation of the issues and objectives covered on the CIT test. Even if you don't have hand-on experience with a Cisco router but you want a good high-level overview that explains the core concepts of CIT clearly, this is a fine book to get.

The concepts covered map almost exactly to the exam objectives. One of the this guide's strengths is its introductory section, which has 10 pages' worth of charts listing common networking problems--and the usual fixes--for each exam objective. Memorizing this section alone would be helpful for the CIT.

There are multiple-choice spot quizzes after each section as well, but there are few questions afterward and, they tend to be simple questions that are highly unlikely to appear on the notoriously brutal Cisco exams. Perhaps they're there to ensure your conceptual knowledge rather than prepare you for the test. However, the lack of simulation-style quizzing detracts from the book, since troubleshooting is all about taking diverse, complex network setups and narrowing them down to the one or two problem elements. This book does not develop or strengthen the skills needed to screen out the irrelevant factors, although it does give the reader an extremely thorough primer in what is likely to go wrong with each technology individually.

An additional problem is that much of the voluminous "show X" router output that is screenprinted in the book is not properly explained. Given the often-confusing gouts of information provided by many of these commands, it would help to have them explained line by line; but then again, the book is aimed at the networking professional, who probably does not need the handholding.

The guide also gets bogged down while explaining problems with VLANs and Catalyst switches. Careful reading and rereading may be required to get these concepts fully, although to be fair they're complex areas. The rest of the book sports fine, lucid writing that explains technologies succinctly with a minimum of fuss.

These are minor carps on what is basically an extremely good book. Overall, this is an excellent choice for the Cisco technician looking for a free upgrade, or for the new CCNA looking to get an overall grasp before diving into the guts of internetwork troubleshooting. --William Steinmetz

Topics covered: The Cisco-certified eight steps of problem-solving, applying Cisco troubleshooting tools effectively, diagnosing both TCP/IP and Novell IPX problems, diagnosing downed VLANs and Cisco Catalyst switches, solving Frame Relay problems, ISDN BRI troubleshooting, and executing router core dumps.