Advanced Cisco Router Configuration

Another in Cisco's Certification and Training series, Advanced Cisco Router Configuration picks up where Introduction to Cisco Router Configuration leaves off. Like its sister publication, this book is intended to accompany a like-named Cisco class and provides chapter-ending tests as well as a profusion of diagrams, configuration commands, charts, and such.

However, this volume's six sections tackle more complex topics with an emphasis on network traffic and connectivity issues. Instead of basic internetworking, scalability--particularly in terms of the router--is the idea driving these pages. By this, editor Laura Chappell simply means building a network that is able to expand, while requiring only minor interventions and additions. This leads to another strength of the book: underlying concepts are effectively outlined in the introductory chapter of each section, thereby establishing a context for the remainder of the discussion.

After getting the notion of scalability out of the way, the authors clearly discuss traffic congestion and ways to manage and solve it on Internet Protocol (IP) and Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) networks. They follow with an explanation of which protocol to deploy, be it Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), or Routing Information Protocol (RIP). Also covered is dialup connectivity for remote users and for wide-area connections, as well as how to bridge nonrouted services, such as Data Link Switching. Like many Cisco books, this one wraps up with seven impressive appendices, including a top-notch glossary.--Sarah L. Roberts-Witt