CIM LAN Switching (Network Simulator CD-ROM)

Most engineers like to learn new systems by playing around with them to see what happens in response to various inputs. You can learn software that way easily enough, but systems that involve expensive hardware--internetworks that are based on Cisco routers, for example--aren't often available for engineers' playtime. A simulator that accurately mimics the behavior of real-life hardware and software systems can be almost as good as the real thing, however, and that's what Cisco Systems has provided in the Cisco Interactive Mentor (or CIM) line of multimedia CD-ROMs. At the core of the CIM self-education environment, you'll find a simulation of the Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS) as it appears on Cisco routers. The simulator allows you to do all of the configuration (and misconfiguration) that you like, and faithfully reacts as a real-life network would. It even allows you to perform troubleshooting.

Cisco Interactive Mentor: LAN Switching applies the CIM formula to local area network (LAN) switching, as performed by the Cisco Catalyst 5000. The software presents information about switching topics as neatly illustrated text documents (that you can hear read aloud). More importantly, it presents you with a series of LAN-switching laboratory problems, and allows you to solve them on the IOS simulator. You can work freehand from diagrams that show you what your configurations are supposed to do, or scroll through (or listen to) instructions that tell you the commands to issue. The effect is quite convincing. No simulator is perfect, and this one is flawed by restricting you to commands that are relevant to the problem at hand. It would be better if it allowed you a complete set of tools with which to foul up. But what's here is great, and this multimedia training kit should help Cisco trainees learn about their platforms during time away from live systems and training labs. --David Wall

Topics covered: Data-switching fundamentals, plus the specifics (with exercises) of configuring ports, virtual local area networks (VLANs), trunks, the Route Switch Module (RSM), multicasting with Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP), token ring, FDDI, and ATM LAN emulation (LANE). There's troubleshooting on the simulator, too.