Rating: 
Summary: Great Book for CSPFA Exam Preparation
Review: The stated target audience of this book is the individual pursuing the CSPFA exam. Beyond the CSPFA exam, it is one of the CCSP Self-Study series titles suggested, by Cisco, to propel a person toward full CCSP certification. The text hits the bull's eye and fulfills its promise of test preparation. It addresses each topic of the exam at an in-depth level in a manner designed to empower the reader on exam day. Although it is a test preparation guide, the text also performs well as a practical guide. The authors provide several practical examples and even a sample firewall configuration for study and use. The reader will need at least a basic understanding of network routing concepts with a rudimentary network security knowledge base to fully utilize the text. The reader, who is seriously pursing a successful passing mark on the CSPFA exam, will find this book to be an invaluable resource.
As the authors, Greg Bastien and Christian Degu, build upon each paragraph and chapter, the configuration examples prove to be accurate and relevant. The illustrations enhance the learning experience, by conceptually cementing the topic through visual examples, where appropriate. As with any technical publication, a few examples may be worded incorrectly or even misapplied. However, even the typographical and editing mistakes will provide the reader with an opportunity to deepen knowledge, especially when the corrections necessary to give relevance are considered.
The Exam Certification Guide Companion CD-ROM includes the Exam Gear test, an electronic text of the book, and Internet links pulled directly from the text. Through the use of two separate modes for exam preparation, the Exam Gear test will prove to be very helpful to the reader. The PDF version of the book is convenient for study via workstation or PDA. Whether in written or electronic format, the authors perform wonderfully in their treatment of the subject. The reader should be on the look-out for other texts written by either author for both practical application and certification test study.
This title should be used to further the pursuit of the CCSP certification. The text plus exam preparation software will be most helpful in preparation for test day. Furthermore, this text has proven to aid in the field implementation of Cisco PIX units. A total of five successful PIX unit installations have been aided with the knowledge gleaned from the authors. The illustrations and practical applications are equally valuable both in the configuration of production Cisco PIX units and test preparation.
To either novice or expert, the printed text and companion CD will prove to be indispensable in CSPFA exam preparation and in practical implementation scenarios. The authors work is highly readable with an easy flowing writing style. The attention to technical detail is exacting with the written and electronic test review aids instructionally relevant. This title is strongly recommended for CSPF exam candidates and would rate a 5 of 5 score in value for the reader. The CCSP Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced Exam Certification Guide is published by Cisco Press with ISBN number 1-58720-067-8.Tim Feathers
CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, MCSE
Rating: 
Summary: Fair at best, very poor practice exam
Review: The study guide is only moderately valuable, and sometimes confusing. Worse, the practice exam is sometimes blatantly incorrect. Example: What kind of protocol is easiest to spoof?
Possible answers: UDP, TCP, ICMP, All protocols, or DNS
The "correct" answer is "TCP is the more difficult to spoof..." I've found a few other errors, making the practice test virtually useless. In the example, the given answer is correct for a different question. In some cases, the answer is actually wrong for the question. I'm disappointed that an "official" study guide from Cisco Press has so many issues.
Rating:
Summary: Fair at best, very poor practice exam
Review: The study guide is only moderately valuable, and sometimes confusing. Worse, the practice exam is sometimes blatantly incorrect. Example: What kind of protocol is easiest to spoof?
Possible answers: UDP, TCP, ICMP, All protocols, or DNS
The "correct" answer is "TCP is the more difficult to spoof..." I've found a few other errors, making the practice test virtually useless. In the example, the given answer is correct for a different question. In some cases, the answer is actually wrong for the question. I'm disappointed that an "official" study guide from Cisco Press has so many issues.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS BOOK.
Review: There is a 2nd release of this book not yet in print. This book does NOT cover what you need to pass the test. I just took the test using this book, it was NOT adequate.
Rating: 
Summary: CSPFA
Review: This book covers the Cisco PIX firewall in pretty good detail. It does have a few errors but certainly no more than any other technical books I have used to prepare for Cisco and other Industry Certifications. The Authors present difficult and technical material in a way that makes it less boring than most books of this type. It provides the reader with enough knowledge to become proficient with the first PIX install. It will not make one an overnight expert. Some topics namely VPN and AAA take a lot of experience to configure properly and quickly. It does cover the PIX in most of the scenarios I have encountered in over 2 years of deploying them.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the money by a long shot
Review: This book did not even come close to covering all the objectives on the exam. The book briefly mentions the topics of the Auto-update server, the Pix Management Console, and the FWSM.... and when I say briefly, I mean a single paragraph and that's it. Make sure you know these objectives before taking the test! I failed the test by less than 50 pts, I am pretty sure had I known these items I would have passed easily. Search on Cisco's site for the documentation on these topics and make sure you know how to configure them and what tabs do what. I have over a year configuring dozens of Pix's for customers and have to say I was pretty dissapointed that I failed not from the cabability of installing and configuring Pix's, but because I didn't know what the support tab in the Pix MC did etc. Hope you have better luck than me!
Rating:
Summary: Lots of errors and not adequate for the exam
Review: This book had quite a number of errors in the command syntax as
indicated by a lot of the other reviewers. I had to double
check the command against the Pix manual or the Pix itself to
know which is which and what is what. Some of the answers in their test engine were wrong as well. After taking the exam, I also found it did not cover about 15 percent
of the exam objectives such as the FWSM, auto-update server, management center, etc.
Rating:
Summary: It worth the investment-great read
Review: This book is concise and well written and focuses on what you need to know, I enjoyed reading it and it also filled in a few gaps missing in my understanding of the pix, the pix is not an easy box to configure there are many other devices like Netscreen that are far easier but this book really shows you how to configure the pix as easily as possible, I was really impressed with the examples as well, its an [inexpensive] book with loads of quality examples, recommended if you want to quickly up your knowledge of pix in few days, well written and really disagree with some of the other reviewers, for the price, can't complain.
Rating:
Summary: Fine as a product manual, not enough for anything else
Review: This book is perfectly fine for introducing you to the PIX product line and for giving you an overview of the commands, etc. But, that's about it. If it came free with the box, I'd be perfectly happy that Cisco included it. Beyond that, it's not of much use. It is really written from the perspective of describing what the firewalls are intended/supposed to do as opposed to assisting you with actaully configuring them in a production environment. And, certainly not enough to help you with the exam. ...
Rating:
Summary: This in no way gets you ready for the exam.
Review: This book is the most basic config book I have found for the pix. The test deals quite a bit in FWSM, Pix MC, and AUS. This book maybe has 1 paragraph for each. For this being a training guide for the exam, it lacks critical information.
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