CCNP Practical Studies: Switching (CCNP Self-Study)

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Reference For Cisco Switching
Review: Do you guys remember Cisco LAN Switching by Clark Hamilton? That book is considered switching bible in networking industry. Now I'll say if you are dealing with Cisco switching in 2003 than this is your bible! This book discusses all new advancements in switching in depth. Justin's hard work is evident in every chapter and he must have put lot of effort in coming up with this book. Hands on labs are just awesome! For those labs only, I'll pay 50 bucks! The book covers all topics like VLAN, STP, VTP, Layer3 Switching, InterVlan Routing and QOS in detail. Clear and Precise diagrams are provided to aid your understanding. CatOS and IOS both get well deserved coverage. Author is not limited to any one switching platform in his examples but he is using 6500s with SUPS, 4500s, 3550 et al. Even hard to find topics like when to use MLS and CEF is discussed in amazing detail. The title is misleading, this book is way too advanced for CCNPs but it is a must-have resource for CCIE lab and field. If you are already a CCIE and might feel you don't need it, think again! This is one of those books which will always find special place in your bookshelf like Jeff Doyle, Richard Stevens. I can't say enough but it is simply a fantastic effort by Justin and Cisco Press. Five Stars!

Rating:
Summary: Carry on and update the legacy of Clark and Hamilton's book
Review: First of all, let me start with table of contents (TOC).

1: Switching Connectivity.
2: VLAN Operations.
3: Trunking and Bandwidth Aggregation.
4: Spanning Tree.
5: Inter-VLAN Routing.
6: Layer 3 Switching.
7: Multicast Routing and Switching.
8: Traffic Filtering and Security.
9: Quality of Service.
10: Maintenance, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting.
11: Comprehensive Switching Self-Study Lab.
Appendix A: Comprehensive Switching Self-Study Lab Part I Solution.
Appendix B: Comprehensive Switching Self-Study Lab Part II Solution.

I agree with previous reviewer. This book reminds me of the Clark and Hamilton book. That book and this book should be side-by-side. The Clark and Hamilton is good for developing and reburshing your theoretical knowledge and some practical and real life configuration. But since the book was a legacy (the book mostly used Catalyst 5000 as configuration example with some Catalyst 6000 example as well), the Menga's book comes in handy to upgrade the knowledge and deliver new features.

I don't really agree though with previous reviewer said that this book is too advanced for CCNP candidates. Hey, currently I am not even CCNA certified but I still can go along, even without equipments within my reach (only by reading and seeing the diagram and configurations). If you already have proper understanding of the Clark and Hamilton's book, devour infos on Cisco website, and some practical configuration knowledge; you will be just fine.

As mentioned by previous reviewer, Menga tries to balance the discussion on both IOS-based and CatOS-based switches. He mostly uses 2950/3500 XL, 3550, 4000, and 6000 running latest CatOS and IOS as configuration examples. For instance he uses two 4000, one 2950, and one 3550 for STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) illustrations (although you can also use one 2948, one 2926G, one 2950, and one 3550 instead for cheaper version). He also mentions that you can use cheaper version (e.g. 2948 instead of 4000) or even no equipment at all and still understand at least 75% of the book content. Go to Cisco Press's website to find out what the least equipments you need to practise the labs.

The book starts with Cisco switches product and technology, then it goes from foundation theory to configuration examples. Although the theory does not go as deep as the Clark and Hamilton's, it should be sufficient for brush up. Again, for those who have little of no switching knowledge, get the Clark and Hamilton's as well as the Menga's as side-by-side references. The link to the Clark and Hamilton's is already provided above for conveniences.

For you who still need more knowledge, you can also get Karl Solie's CCIE Practical Studies Vol. II as complement. Don't get so nervous even both the Clark and Hamilton's and Solie's have title "CCIE" on them. Their contents are not for CCIE but for CCNA and CCNP instead. These three books will provide you a solid understanding of Cisco switching technology and configurations.

Rating:
Summary: Great reference and study guide!
Review: Review: CCNP Practical Studies: Switching

Cisco Press has done it again! Justin Menga's CCNP: Practical Studies: Switching is an excellent addition to the growing Cisco Press Library. As the title indicates, the author takes the reader on a journey through the areas of switching that are practical, timely, and very applicable, both as a reference for real life working situations and as a study guide for people working toward either their CCNP or CCIE for routing and switching. He does an excellent job of showing the ins and outs of configuration for both the CATOS and Cisco IOS.

As with any book, however, there are positives and negatives.

First the positives:

I found the book to be very readable overall. The information given is very straightforward and generally easy to follow. I found the in-depth explanations of the various aspects of switching and switch configuration to be very helpful both as a review and as a teaching guide. The illustrations, tables and configuration examples for the various switches were very useful in conveying the ideas and concepts the author was relating. Additionally, the index and appendices were well put together. I will be renewing my CCNP certification soon and then working toward my CCIE written and lab tests, and the information in both chapter 11 and the appendices will be invaluable in the process.

The chapters relating to vlans, vlan trunks, spanning tree, inter-vlan routing, and layer 3 switching were particularly useful, for me, since I do a lot of work in those areas. I especially liked the explanations relating to how ether channel works and how to configure it properly. I've done a bit of searching on Cisco's web site and haven't been able to find any information that comes close explaining ether channel as well as Menga. As well, the explanation and illustration relating to vlan hopping was very well done and very helpful from a security standpoint. I also found the information relating to Switch Fabric Modules and Supervisor 720s extremely valuable. Again Menga has topped any information I've been able to find elsewhere. The chapters relating to security and troubleshooting were also very well written and show the author's strength of experience. I will definitely read other books by the author.

Now the negatives:

Though I felt the examples were laid out well, overall, there were times I found the example numbering scheme hard to follow. There were some chapters where the example numbers listed by the examples matched the numbers referred to in the chapter paragraphs. However, there were several chapters where the numbering listed by the examples did not match the example number referred to in the paragraph, making it confusing at times to follow what the author was saying.

There were also several editing errors throughout the book that were a distraction. It wasn't very hard to figure out what the author really meant, but it was an annoyance at times to have to stop and re-read things to get the exact meaning. I got the feeling, as has been the case with many new technical books I've read, published both by Cisco Press and other companies, that the author and editors were under so much pressure to meet a publishing deadline that an appropriate amount of time wasn't allotted to ensure proper editing.

That said, I give the book an overall rating of 4.5 and would recommend the book to others. As stated above, the book is readable, the language and explanations are straight forward, and anyone in the industry will find it to be useful both as a reference for everyday situations, and as a certification study guide.

Rating:
Summary: Great reference and study guide!
Review: Review: CCNP Practical Studies: Switching

Cisco Press has done it again! Justin Menga's CCNP: Practical Studies: Switching is an excellent addition to the growing Cisco Press Library. As the title indicates, the author takes the reader on a journey through the areas of switching that are practical, timely, and very applicable, both as a reference for real life working situations and as a study guide for people working toward either their CCNP or CCIE for routing and switching. He does an excellent job of showing the ins and outs of configuration for both the CATOS and Cisco IOS.

As with any book, however, there are positives and negatives.

First the positives:

I found the book to be very readable overall. The information given is very straightforward and generally easy to follow. I found the in-depth explanations of the various aspects of switching and switch configuration to be very helpful both as a review and as a teaching guide. The illustrations, tables and configuration examples for the various switches were very useful in conveying the ideas and concepts the author was relating. Additionally, the index and appendices were well put together. I will be renewing my CCNP certification soon and then working toward my CCIE written and lab tests, and the information in both chapter 11 and the appendices will be invaluable in the process.

The chapters relating to vlans, vlan trunks, spanning tree, inter-vlan routing, and layer 3 switching were particularly useful, for me, since I do a lot of work in those areas. I especially liked the explanations relating to how ether channel works and how to configure it properly. I've done a bit of searching on Cisco's web site and haven't been able to find any information that comes close explaining ether channel as well as Menga. As well, the explanation and illustration relating to vlan hopping was very well done and very helpful from a security standpoint. I also found the information relating to Switch Fabric Modules and Supervisor 720s extremely valuable. Again Menga has topped any information I've been able to find elsewhere. The chapters relating to security and troubleshooting were also very well written and show the author's strength of experience. I will definitely read other books by the author.

Now the negatives:

Though I felt the examples were laid out well, overall, there were times I found the example numbering scheme hard to follow. There were some chapters where the example numbers listed by the examples matched the numbers referred to in the chapter paragraphs. However, there were several chapters where the numbering listed by the examples did not match the example number referred to in the paragraph, making it confusing at times to follow what the author was saying.

There were also several editing errors throughout the book that were a distraction. It wasn't very hard to figure out what the author really meant, but it was an annoyance at times to have to stop and re-read things to get the exact meaning. I got the feeling, as has been the case with many new technical books I've read, published both by Cisco Press and other companies, that the author and editors were under so much pressure to meet a publishing deadline that an appropriate amount of time wasn't allotted to ensure proper editing.

That said, I give the book an overall rating of 4.5 and would recommend the book to others. As stated above, the book is readable, the language and explanations are straight forward, and anyone in the industry will find it to be useful both as a reference for everyday situations, and as a certification study guide.

Rating:
Summary: Practical Switching guide
Review: There is a new contender in the heavy weight LAN switching category of networking books. Justin Menga's CCNP Practical Studies: Switching, is an excellent addition to the Cisco Press family. Many consider the Clark and Hamilton book the acme of LAN switching, but Menga's book stands right there in the upper echelons.

The book starts off with basic switch connectivity - identifying the different Cisco Catalyst switches, operating systems, supervisor engines and switching modules as well as installing, configuring, monitoring and troubleshooting a Catalyst switch on a network.

More advanced topics such as VLANS, trunking , spanning tree, inter-VLAN routing, layer 3 switching, multicast and security are covered in depth. Each chapter has several configuration scenarios that help in understanding the subject matter and reinforcing concepts.
Working with actual equipment would be best but for those who do not have access to switching equipment; the configurations are detailed and clear enough to follow.

For those who will be implementing VoIP on their networks, a good grasp of QoS is essential. The QoS chapter adequately covers how to configure end-to-end quality of service on a LAN.

This work is a great effort by Justin Menga and I highly recommend this book both as a reference book and to prepare for the CCNP switching exam.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good Cisco Switching guide!
Review: This book goes hand in hand with Cisco LAN Switching book by Clark Hamilton but is more up to date and focuses more on Cisco's latest switching hardware and technology. There are labs for every chapter though the equipment needed to do the labs is very extensive. Book is great for CCNP / CCIE wanna be's. I found that the book could have been proof read better as there are a lot of editing mistakes.

The book covers a lot of material. Vlans, Inter Vlans, Layer 3 Switching, Qos, STP, VTP and more. Switches covered are 6500's, 4500's, and 3550's and a few others.. Cisco IOS and CatOS are also covered. I particularly liked the labs even though I don't have all the equipment needed to perform them. There are lots of diagrams and configs to help get you through the labs.

I was particularly interested in the real world scenarios that are discussed in the book as this helps me get a better understanding of how other networks are setup and would aid me in designing my own LAN / WAN.

Overall, I give this book 5 stars because there is just nothing else out there that can compare with the depth of knowledge contained in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Hire an editor for crying out loud!!!
Review: This book is a great book. Doesn't get any deeper than this, but I had a very hard time with the figures and the numbering. The text would refer to a figure that didn't exist but the figure above it would be the right one (with a wrong number). Also, a lot of the figures were missing components called out in the scenerios or text. As a previous technical writer, this book drove me insane to read. Also, the chapters needed to be broken up a little more. 100 pages per chapter is way too long.

Otherwise, yes it is a good book. Tons of detail, however, you will be handicapped considerably without having $10,000.00 worth of switch and router gear just laying around. I bought Boson's Netsim hoping to help, and it didn't have any of the commands needed to do these labs. Bottom line, get the real thing if you can.

Rating:
Summary: More than the Skinny
Review: This book is certainly "practical". There are some passages in each chapter for just reading, but the majority of pages in this book are showing actual commands and outputs from several models of Cisco switches. I intend to keep it arms lenghth from my desktop at work as a reference. What if you have a switch down one day because the operating system is corrupted? CCNP Practical Studies: Switching has what to do in this situation for both the Cisco IOS and Catalyst OS.
Justin Menga's 958-page manual is not for beginners to Cisco, or for the CIO who just wants to know the "skinny". In these pages are the dirty details of how the lower layers of the OSI model work in today's campus LANs. Besides CCNP and CCIE candidates, any LAN administrator will find this book useful. The individual who reads this book should have a basic understanding of networking and Cisco equipment.
The first chapter reviews the specifications and capabilities of at least six families of Cisco switches, familiarizing the reader with the equipment that will be used throughout the book. Special attention is placed on the 3550 series switch, which is covered in the CCIE exam. VLANs are covered from many angles in several chapters. This includes concepts, how it works with the big expensive switches verses the lower end models, and the Catalyst versus IOS models. Multilayer switching (MLS) is compared to the next-generation CEF-based Layer 3 switching. However, both are covered thoroughly since both will around for awhile.
A great extra in the book for the certification candidate and teacher are the labs in Chapter 11 and the solutions to them in the appendices. I would really consider the entire book sort of a lab. But the ending labs cover the major parts of the book with two comprehensive assignments. Menga does seem repetitive at times. For example, he remids us several times that if we manually set the speed and duplex on one end of a switched Ethernet connection we should manually set it on the other end. This redundancy is perhaps justified by the probablity that Justin Menga has seen this error many times in network troubleshooting and it can also be an intermittent problem: the worst kind to solve.
One can appreciate the amount of time it takes to write a book of this magnitude. The author had to have access to a number of switches and routers to produce all the output and screen shots in the book. He also shares a number of "notes" that are helpful. Such as, that Cisco has discontinued supplying a tftp server program and recommends a place to download freeware that he has tested.
When reading computer self-study guides, occasionally one finds a volume that accomplishes its goal so well that no other book is needed. CCNP Practical Studies: Switching comes close to this ideal. Improvements that the book could have include a small glossary to help the student define terms that are unfamiliar.

Rating:
Summary: Hire an editor for crying out loud!!!
Review: This book is certainly "practical". There are some passages in each chapter for just reading, but the majority of pages in this book are showing actual commands and outputs from several models of Cisco switches. I intend to keep it arms lenghth from my desktop at work as a reference. What if you have a switch down one day because the operating system is corrupted? CCNP Practical Studies: Switching has what to do in this situation for both the Cisco IOS and Catalyst OS.
Justin Menga's 958-page manual is not for beginners to Cisco, or for the CIO who just wants to know the "skinny". In these pages are the dirty details of how the lower layers of the OSI model work in today's campus LANs. Besides CCNP and CCIE candidates, any LAN administrator will find this book useful. The individual who reads this book should have a basic understanding of networking and Cisco equipment.
The first chapter reviews the specifications and capabilities of at least six families of Cisco switches, familiarizing the reader with the equipment that will be used throughout the book. Special attention is placed on the 3550 series switch, which is covered in the CCIE exam. VLANs are covered from many angles in several chapters. This includes concepts, how it works with the big expensive switches verses the lower end models, and the Catalyst versus IOS models. Multilayer switching (MLS) is compared to the next-generation CEF-based Layer 3 switching. However, both are covered thoroughly since both will around for awhile.
A great extra in the book for the certification candidate and teacher are the labs in Chapter 11 and the solutions to them in the appendices. I would really consider the entire book sort of a lab. But the ending labs cover the major parts of the book with two comprehensive assignments. Menga does seem repetitive at times. For example, he remids us several times that if we manually set the speed and duplex on one end of a switched Ethernet connection we should manually set it on the other end. This redundancy is perhaps justified by the probablity that Justin Menga has seen this error many times in network troubleshooting and it can also be an intermittent problem: the worst kind to solve.
One can appreciate the amount of time it takes to write a book of this magnitude. The author had to have access to a number of switches and routers to produce all the output and screen shots in the book. He also shares a number of "notes" that are helpful. Such as, that Cisco has discontinued supplying a tftp server program and recommends a place to download freeware that he has tested.
When reading computer self-study guides, occasionally one finds a volume that accomplishes its goal so well that no other book is needed. CCNP Practical Studies: Switching comes close to this ideal. Improvements that the book could have include a small glossary to help the student define terms that are unfamiliar.

Rating:
Summary: More than the Skinny
Review: This book is certainly "practical". There are some passages in each chapter for just reading, but the majority of pages in this book are showing actual commands and outputs from several models of Cisco switches. I intend to keep it arms lenghth from my desktop at work as a reference. What if you have a switch down one day because the operating system is corrupted? CCNP Practical Studies: Switching has what to do in this situation for both the Cisco IOS and Catalyst OS.
Justin Menga's 958-page manual is not for beginners to Cisco, or for the CIO who just wants to know the "skinny". In these pages are the dirty details of how the lower layers of the OSI model work in today's campus LANs. Besides CCNP and CCIE candidates, any LAN administrator will find this book useful. The individual who reads this book should have a basic understanding of networking and Cisco equipment.
The first chapter reviews the specifications and capabilities of at least six families of Cisco switches, familiarizing the reader with the equipment that will be used throughout the book. Special attention is placed on the 3550 series switch, which is covered in the CCIE exam. VLANs are covered from many angles in several chapters. This includes concepts, how it works with the big expensive switches verses the lower end models, and the Catalyst versus IOS models. Multilayer switching (MLS) is compared to the next-generation CEF-based Layer 3 switching. However, both are covered thoroughly since both will around for awhile.
A great extra in the book for the certification candidate and teacher are the labs in Chapter 11 and the solutions to them in the appendices. I would really consider the entire book sort of a lab. But the ending labs cover the major parts of the book with two comprehensive assignments. Menga does seem repetitive at times. For example, he remids us several times that if we manually set the speed and duplex on one end of a switched Ethernet connection we should manually set it on the other end. This redundancy is perhaps justified by the probablity that Justin Menga has seen this error many times in network troubleshooting and it can also be an intermittent problem: the worst kind to solve.
One can appreciate the amount of time it takes to write a book of this magnitude. The author had to have access to a number of switches and routers to produce all the output and screen shots in the book. He also shares a number of "notes" that are helpful. Such as, that Cisco has discontinued supplying a tftp server program and recommends a place to download freeware that he has tested.
When reading computer self-study guides, occasionally one finds a volume that accomplishes its goal so well that no other book is needed. CCNP Practical Studies: Switching comes close to this ideal. Improvements that the book could have include a small glossary to help the student define terms that are unfamiliar.