Rating: Summary: Everything you need - Well almost. Review: This is a great book if you are taking the 2 test approach towards your CCNA. Everything on the exam is in this book. I would have given 5 stars however, a beginner in subnetting would be at a loss due to relatively poor coverage of the fundamentals in this book. I had some experience before studying this volume and Mr. Odom managed to confuse me. If you use this book for the INTRO exam, I highly recommend finding an alternate source for subnetting(there are many good free tutorials; try Boson.com.
Rating: Summary: Great set of books! Review: This set of books is great. Easy to understand, well written and good examples.One minor thing, there could be more simulation work, there are lots of examples in the book, but hands on is the only real way to learn. Then again, spending a few bucks on some used 2500's is a much better idea. The errata IS four pages, but the 4th prinitng of the book has corrected most including one reviewers note on RJ jacks. Only about a dozen small errors per book, ie replace "when" with "which". Not bad, or out of the oridanry for a pair of 600+ page books. Overall, these books, some sims work, and some hands on with some real equipment and you are good to go!
Rating: Summary: Fantastic Book Review: Wendel Odom has done a great job with this title. The easy going voice of the book lends itself well to understanding a highly technical text. Analogies ranging from The Flintstones to the Post Office help to gel concepts. I would reccomend this book for network professional who has just never taken the leap to certification and needs to bone up, as well as someone looking for a strong fundamental grasp of networking.
Rating: Summary: If you are ready to become a CCNA - start here. Review: You know by now that you could take just one exam, 640-801 and become a CCNA. But what if you haven't enough experience or want to be able to break down the studying, well then taking one exam at a time maybe just the answer. This book is the INTRO or 640-821 exam which covers the networking fundamentals all the way up to the actual router configuration, which is the other exam. One thing about Wendell Odom is that he usually goes beyond the exam and this book is certainly no exception to that rule. In fact his coverage of switching from layer 2 through layer 7 is more than the exam, but then again isn't that what you really want. As usual the practice question in the book are much harder than the exam, another plus for Odom. One thing that is new is the addition of a router simulator, albeit a scaled down version of the Boson NetSim. Having spent some time on working with the full version, the LE Version should provide enough material to cover the exam and help you out. If you need the full version you can always go to Boson's website and purchase it. Finally, while there is also over 300 practice questions, for the money being spent I think that there should be a more to work with. Overall it seems to be a very good book to work with.
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