Rating: 
Summary: Wondering which to buy for your 640-604, Cisco or Sybex?
Review: I passed 640-604 Exam only studying with this book with the score of almost 900. I also bought the Cisco Press's book for the same subject, but could not even go through it to the end once, because, it just made me very sleepy after few minutes every time I tried although I believe this is a great study book. On the other hand, this Sybex book was very fun to read, covering the exam well. Even for those who do not have Engish as a native language like myself, can easily read this book, take the exam in English and can pass it. The only bad point is, like the other reviewer pointed out, this book does not cover HSRP, which was still questioned as of May 2003. I would recommend that you buy the Cisco's book too and take a look at only that section to get a quick knowledge of HSRP, then you are good to go!
Rating: 
Summary: Expected more detail and better explanation in some areas
Review: I read through some sections wondering why they seamed to be lacking in detail and thorough explanation ( STP, Multicast Routing ). My conclusion is that fleshing out these areas was not necessary because such detail would not be covered on the test. Fair enough. But, it would have been more useful to nix the superfluous 85pg glossary and 23pg Multicast Address Appendix ( a publisher corallary to the consumer judging a book by its cover is judging how thick it is ) and provide the more complete detail and explanation. I suppose Sybex is peddling another book with the requisite detail. Some things I found annoying: 1 - In Chapter 5, Spanning Tree with VLANS, no network diagram is provided to give context for all the commands being demonstrated. 2 - In the "in-depth look" at STP somehow the author left out explaining root port selection. 3 - On pg392 the author describes PIM dense mode as using "source root shared tree" and PIM sparse mode as using "shared root source tree". I jotted copious notes in the generous 2" left margins. Notes gathered from Cisco's web site documents and other texts I have in my library. I found Cisco Press's "Cisco LAN Switching" to be invaluable. I did wind up passing the test. My judgement is that you may be able to pass the test with this book alone. But with this book and no experience, prior knowledge or knowledge gleaned from other texts you will be nothing but a "paper" CCNP switch specialist with a shallow understanding of Cisco switching.
Rating: 
Summary: MLS and Mulcasting are awful in this book
Review: I studied this book throughly, and hated the chapter on MLS and Multicasting. I passed the exam with a 815, but I did poorly on these areas. This book did not prepare me as I expected. The questions on the CD are not close to the actual exam questions, and the are a lot of typos. I expected this book to be just as good as the CCNA Study Guide, but unfortunately it wasn't. I will continue with Todd Lammle's book, but I will supplement with the Exam Cram book.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good overall
Review: I took the switching exam this morning and scored 969 out of 1000. To prepare I used this book, the RouterSim simulator, and the Boson exams. The book did a good job covering the conceptual material and also on laying out the command language. I do think that it would have been harder for me to learn all the command syntax without doing some labs on either real routers or a simulator. Too bad that the more complex labs (MLS, multicast) couldn't be simulated. There were a few things on my exam not covered in the book but not enough to keep you from passing, for example some trouble shooting scenarios. With some experience, common sense and a little luck you should get most of those right too I think. I gave only four stars since I felt the practice tests to be a bit easier than the real one so would recommend also doing a Boson exam or two. The author says in his books that Boson is the best source of practice tests.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Book, But Not Ideal Study Guide
Review: In studying for my CCNP/CCDP certs, I read the full set from Sybex and also the Exam Preparation Library from Cisco Press. I found that the Sybex books did a better job of introducing certain topics and laying the foundation for further study - further study from Cisco Press, that is. The switching book is better than Lammle's Routing or Remote Access books, and by that I mean it does a better job of preparation. Of course, that could be because the 640-504 was one of the easier in the bunch, at least for myself. As a previous reviewer stated, there's a TON of MLS ??'s, and this book doesn't really go deep enough for my liking. I'd still choose the Cisco Press equivalent for exam prep, as the language and wording will be very close to the real deal. Besides, the questions that come with the Cisco Press book are 10x better. Really. Jayson Tobias
CCNP CCDP
Rating: 
Summary: It has all that's needed to pass the exam
Review: It appears that T.Lammle knows how to put out books that incorporate all that's required to pass target exams. Moreover, the material covered is comprehensive enough to have it sit with other reference books on your shelf. If your wanting to pass the test, this text is all you'll need. It certainly worked for me.
Rating:
Summary: Good study book
Review: It looks like the two major offerings in the CCNP area are from New Riders and Sybex. I found the Lammle/Sybex book on sale, so I decided to go with this one and give it a try. I bought this book just to read up on switching and VLANS, which I didn't know as much about compared to routers. Most people are probably buying this book to pass the exam, but I was more interested in just getting somemore background in the subject since I am a professional NT administrator. I found the book was excellent for that. The book is clearly and concisely written and although I'm not an expert on switching, I worked on a large corporate network for a lot of years and have been around switches for some time and so have some understanding of them, and it seemed to cover the subject pretty well. The sample tests at the end of each section are sure to be helpful to those taking the certification test, and there is a long general assessment exam at the very beginning of the book too. Another book I picked up that I've found useful is the "Network Certification" volume from Microsoft. I also have the more general CCNP "Support" volume from Lammle and Hale in this series, and although I haven't gotten into it much, it also looks like a good study book on the basic routing material. I'll probably write a brief review for that when I've had some time to take a more thorough look at it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent but I'm spoiled.
Review: Ok, let me start off by saying that I thought the CCNA 2.0 book was one of the best tech books I've read so far. So perhaps Todd has set the bar a little high... Well done book! The examples are clear and the concepts presented in a way that (provided you have the appropriate level of knowledge) makes them easy to understand. The only thing I would like to see added to the book is more info about the 'other' switches: 2900 and the 2900XL, the 3500's, etc. For the test? Probably not on the hit list, but would be good information for those of us that are doing this stuff for a living. Guess I'll just have to buy another book or two ;) Really well done spanning tree protocol information. Multi Layer Switching is heavy on the acronyms for the device parts but once over that hurdle the explanation was very simply put. This is the first book that I've read that really explains multi-casting. I've read the RFC's, but this did a good job of making it clear. So, it's a pretty good book. I've just been spoiled by the best... TTFN, Bill in Anchorage
Rating:
Summary: HSRP on the test
Review: Outstanding book. Provides everything you need to know to pass the test, except for HSRP. I realized that this was not in the book when I went to take the test. It was a good thing that there were only a few questions on HSRP. Maybe I guessed right, but I did pass the test and that is all that matters.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Scored me a 903 after 1 week of studying. I just read the book, and used the flashcards. There were some confusing points, like acronyms that would pop up, and not be explained until the next chapter, but all in all, it is excellent for a study guide.
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