QoS and Traffic Management in IP and ATM Networks

Rating:
Summary: Excellent progression, excellent references
Review: Dr. McDysan covers some very complicated topics, but starts at the beginning and works up to them, so that the reader can enter the discussion at their comfort level. The treatment is broad, with enough depth to provide the essential flavor, and plenty of references for further research when needed. A good QoS jumpstart that made me the local expert for the day :)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book; don't believe Ma
Review: Excellent organization in a way I have not seen in any other book: 7 parts, each with three chapters that gradually increase in level of difficulty. In depth review of all the basic concepts in probability and queuing. I am half way through it and already think it was worth it, even if the book only had the chapters I have read so far.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book; don't believe Ma
Review: Excellent organization in a way I have not seen in any other book: 7 parts, each with three chapters that gradually increase in level of difficulty. In depth review of all the basic concepts in probability and queuing. I am half way through it and already think it was worth it, even if the book only had the chapters I have read so far.

Rating:
Summary: QoS and Traffic Management in IP and ATM Networks
Review: Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic management is increasingly important in the Internet-driven information age. This book aims to fill the void between high-level, simplistic treatments of the subject and the specialist technical literature. The pioneering work in the development of QoS-aware Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switches and protocols is the foundation upon IP developed similar capabilities. Additionally, IP has explored new approaches to QoS and traffic management to meet the challenges of unprecedented growth. Beginning users can utilize it as an introduction to traffic engineering and as a guide to explore specific subject areas in greater depth. Intermediate users can employ it as an authoritative reference. It will also help the expert better explain QoS and traffic engineering concepts to executives, customers, or colleagues.

The outline of the book progresses in a logical sequence of parts, stepping the reader through the basic concepts of networking, QOS, traffic, probability theory, queuing theory, congestion control, routing, network design, decision making, and simulation. Each part begins with an introductory chapter that draws analogies with real-life situations that illustrate important points. The second, intermediate level chapter presents formulas in a cookbook style that is easily put to use by the practicing engineer or manager using commonly available computer tools like spreadsheets and macro languages. The third and most advanced chapter of each part targets the advanced undergraduate student or the introductory graduate student in the disciplines of mathematics, communications engineering, or computer science. The following list of part and chapter titles summarizes the scope and content of the book. Each chapter provides an extensive bibliography for the reader interested in further detail.

PART 1 - Traffic Management in Communication Networks

Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview

Chapter 2. Review of Circuit- and Packet-Switched Networks

Chapter 3. Capacity, Throughput, and Service

PART 2 - Quality of Service (QoS) and Traffic Control

Chapter 4. Perception is Reality

Chapter 5. Quality of Service (QoS) Defined

Chapter 6. Delivering QoS via Traffic Control

PART 3 - The Traffic Phenomenon

Chapter 7. Randomness in Our Everyday Lives

Chapter 8. Random Traffic Models

Chapter 9. Advanced Traffic Models

PART 4 - Queuing Principles

Chapter 10. Queuing - A Fancy Name for Waiting in Line

Chapter 11. Basic Queuing Theory Applied

Chapter 12. Intermediate Queuing Theory Applied

PART 5 - Congestion Detection and Control

Chapter 13. Traffic Jam Up Ahead!

Chapter 14. Open-Loop Congestion Control

Chapter 15. Closed-Loop Congestion Control

PART 6 - Routing and Network Design

Chapter 16. Routing Background and Concepts

Chapter 17. Routing Algorithms

Chapter 18. Performance of Network Routing Designs

PART 7 - Putting It All Together

Chapter 19. Traffic Engineering Applied

Chapter 20. Designing Real World Networks

Chapter 21. Where to Go From Here

Rating:
Summary: Bad content ...
Review: We will have to wait some time longer for a good book on QoS. This is definitely not "the" book to read. The reasons are:

* This book needs an editor. The language needs to be simplified. (e.g. a sentence in chap 3: packet networks define capacity defined in packet-or-cells per second ... What do I make out of that sentence? And this is just one example.)

* This book needs a better technical review (IPv6 header is termed IPv4 header!)

Essentially, I think, the author started off with a "noble idea" of enlightening us "kids" with some Qos concepts. (I actually bought the book after reading through the table of contents, and the author's brief biography.) The author intended to organize the book well. But, he totally blew it on contents. In the preface the author states that "a central theme of the book is old-fashioned common sense." Then in chapter 3 the author goes on to explain why bandwidth and link capacity are different and instead of explaining in easier language the actual difference between baud, bandwidth, and bits-per-second, the author rambles into data communications theory and does a horrible job of it! He does not do justice either to the math of data communications or to common sense. Again, this is but one example.

So, in summary, this book is definitely not worth wasting your time and money on.

Rating:
Summary: Bad content ...
Review: We will have to wait some time longer for a good book on QoS. This is definitely not "the" book to read. The reasons are:

* This book needs an editor. The language needs to be simplified. (e.g. a sentence in chap 3: packet networks define capacity defined in packet-or-cells per second ... What do I make out of that sentence? And this is just one example.)

* This book needs a better technical review (IPv6 header is termed IPv4 header!)

Essentially, I think, the author started off with a "noble idea" of enlightening us "kids" with some Qos concepts. (I actually bought the book after reading through the table of contents, and the author's brief biography.) The author intended to organize the book well. But, he totally blew it on contents. In the preface the author states that "a central theme of the book is old-fashioned common sense." Then in chapter 3 the author goes on to explain why bandwidth and link capacity are different and instead of explaining in easier language the actual difference between baud, bandwidth, and bits-per-second, the author rambles into data communications theory and does a horrible job of it! He does not do justice either to the math of data communications or to common sense. Again, this is but one example.

So, in summary, this book is definitely not worth wasting your time and money on.