Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks (CCIE Professional Development)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent source of information to study from
Review: A very good book to use for CCIE lab study, areas included are: VPN, ISDN, frame relay and dial. It also goes into depth with many situations for troubleshooting with detailed explanations of typical symptoms and associated output you might see. A fresh and down to earth layer by layer approach to troubleshooting.

Rating:
Summary: Authority of an Instructor !!!
Review: Dr. Nedeltchev's demonstration of his mastery of the terrain is in no doubt. Like an Instructor, he walks you through the 'art' of troubleshooting remote access networks, concentrating on 4 of the most popular remote access types; Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay and VPN. The modular layout of the text makes it an easy read, not just for CCIE candidates but an invaluable reference guide for the practicing network engineer, who is confronted with many of the troubleshooting scenario highlighted in the book on a daily basis. The book is organized into 5 parts.

Section 1 is a must read for everyone interested in Remote Access Network Technologies from the end user customer, planning to procure remote access service/solution to the service provider customer support engineers whose job it is to ensure customer satisfaction and the infrastructure engineers who are faced with ensuring the health of the system. This section quickly lay out the fundamental issues in Remote Access Network technology, as much as can fit in less than 150 pages, and still provide a good feel for the issues at stake.

Chapters 5 to 22 are where the real juice is. The almost 700 pages of text is divided into 4 modules, each dealing with one of Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay and VPN, in that other.

A feature I found very useful is the modular nature of the book, providing easy reference for the information you need. In practice, Engineers may not have to work with all technologies, but still find the book handy as a reference to the technology that interests them as well as a quick guide to troubleshooting that technology.

Chapters 5 through 8 describes dial technology and troubleshooting issues and chapters 9 though 13 explores ISDN technology.

Chapters 14 to 18 is on Frame Relay technology and as is the pattern throughout the book starts with an overview of frame Relay technology in 14, moving on to design solutions in chapter 15 and configurations in 16. chapter 17 explores the topic of troubleshooting frame relay network detailing specific commands and pointing to specific tools, while chapter 18 reviews some troubleshooting scenarios including new install, mismatched dlci, traffic shaping, ip multicast and even host migration.

The coverage of VPN is quite detailed (chapters 19 through 22) with description of VPN categories, link technologies and a break down of IKE an IPSec technologies providing the ground work for a full chapter on design and configurations which then presented a clear case for the troubleshooting chapter with Cisco equipment as benchmark. Chapter 22 looks at some real life VPN troubleshooting scenarios. Of course the application environment is windows. Linux operating systems users of the popular Cisco VPN software will have to get resources from Cisco website.

Like most Cisco press texts, this book has its share of IOS snapshots and scenario examples and lives up to its stated billings "as a guide to understanding tools, commands and methodologies that enable reliable performance of remote access services"

Having this book within reach when dealing with remote access networks is guaranteed to save you time, no matter what stage of the system you may find yourself, from planning though maintenance/support. For aspiring CCIE, I will recommend this as a must have.

Rating:
Summary: Authority of an Instructor !!!
Review: Dr. Nedeltchev's demonstration of his mastery of the terrain is in no doubt. Like an Instructor, he walks you through the `art' of troubleshooting remote access networks, concentrating on 4 of the most popular remote access types; Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay and VPN. The modular layout of the text makes it an easy read, not just for CCIE candidates but an invaluable reference guide for the practicing network engineer, who is confronted with many of the troubleshooting scenario highlighted in the book on a daily basis. The book is organized into 5 parts.

Section 1 is a must read for everyone interested in Remote Access Network Technologies from the end user customer, planning to procure remote access service/solution to the service provider customer support engineers whose job it is to ensure customer satisfaction and the infrastructure engineers who are faced with ensuring the health of the system. This section quickly lay out the fundamental issues in Remote Access Network technology, as much as can fit in less than 150 pages, and still provide a good feel for the issues at stake.

Chapters 5 to 22 are where the real juice is. The almost 700 pages of text is divided into 4 modules, each dealing with one of Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay and VPN, in that other.

A feature I found very useful is the modular nature of the book, providing easy reference for the information you need. In practice, Engineers may not have to work with all technologies, but still find the book handy as a reference to the technology that interests them as well as a quick guide to troubleshooting that technology.

Chapters 5 through 8 describes dial technology and troubleshooting issues and chapters 9 though 13 explores ISDN technology.

Chapters 14 to 18 is on Frame Relay technology and as is the pattern throughout the book starts with an overview of frame Relay technology in 14, moving on to design solutions in chapter 15 and configurations in 16. chapter 17 explores the topic of troubleshooting frame relay network detailing specific commands and pointing to specific tools, while chapter 18 reviews some troubleshooting scenarios including new install, mismatched dlci, traffic shaping, ip multicast and even host migration.

The coverage of VPN is quite detailed (chapters 19 through 22) with description of VPN categories, link technologies and a break down of IKE an IPSec technologies providing the ground work for a full chapter on design and configurations which then presented a clear case for the troubleshooting chapter with Cisco equipment as benchmark. Chapter 22 looks at some real life VPN troubleshooting scenarios. Of course the application environment is windows. Linux operating systems users of the popular Cisco VPN software will have to get resources from Cisco website.

Like most Cisco press texts, this book has its share of IOS snapshots and scenario examples and lives up to its stated billings "as a guide to understanding tools, commands and methodologies that enable reliable performance of remote access services"

Having this book within reach when dealing with remote access networks is guaranteed to save you time, no matter what stage of the system you may find yourself, from planning though maintenance/support. For aspiring CCIE, I will recommend this as a must have.

Rating:
Summary: Caffeine and Concentration Essential
Review: I am reviewing Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks (ISBN 1587050765), part of the CCIE Professional Development Series from Cisco Press. This book weighs in at 800 pages, but the font size and subject matter make it feel like well over 1000. Normally, I try to average 50 pages of technical reading a day, but I had trouble getting anywhere close to that. The book is divided into 5 sections. Section 1 covers remote access fundamentals, while sections 2-5 cover Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay, and VPN technologies, respectively. The book is authored by Plamen Nedeltchev, an engineer who worked for Cisco during the development of much of their remote access technology. The problem with this is that it's like discussing photographs with the guy that worked in R&D at Canon. He knows his stuff, but you'd better watch out, lest you be drowned with terminology.

The author does a decent job of explaining the technical concepts, but he has a tendency to get wordy. Maybe I'm having a bad month for cognitive focus, but I find myself "phasing out" while reading this book. If I really concentrate, I can follow the author for a chapter, but trying to hammer out day after day of concentration on this book is really hard. I'd recommend it as a troubleshooting guide or as a desk reference, but as straight ahead CCIE study material, it's too cumbersome. Read a chapter of this book, then go read a section of another CCIE book, then come back here for a few more chapters. That might make this thing easier to take. The book states that the reader should have at least CCNA level skills to read this book. I have to disagree and say that the reader must have passed the BCRAN exam for the CCNP before reading this book. The book is intended to teach troubleshooting, so you'd better know the basics of the technologies and their implementation prior to reading this book. Also, if you're not in the mood for TLA & FLA's (Three and Four Letter Acronyms), then you'd better get in the mood before tackling this book.

All of this may make it sound like I don't like this book. That's not true. When I'm in the right mindset, which is to say that the room is right, and the noise level is right, and I have the right level of caffeine, then I can read a section of this book and learn a LOT about the material that he's trying to convey (he IS an expert, after all). On that note, I have to say that I especially enjoyed the section on VPN technologies, as my personal experience and studies are quite light on the subject up to this point. It really piqued my interest in the subject. So much so that I think one of my next reads will be the Cisco Secure VPN Guide.

I'm reading this book as part of my studies for the CCIE written exam. I'm not sure if I needed this much information prior to the written exam. I'm sure I probably could have gotten by with a re-scan of the BCRAN book, but I'm also sure that I will be coming back to this book again and again during my preparations for the lab exam.

On my 5 ping rating scale, I give it a 3.
!!..!

Rating:
Summary: Caffeine and Concentration Essential
Review: I am reviewing Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks (ISBN 1587050765), part of the CCIE Professional Development Series from Cisco Press. This book weighs in at 800 pages, but the font size and subject matter make it feel like well over 1000. Normally, I try to average 50 pages of technical reading a day, but I had trouble getting anywhere close to that. The book is divided into 5 sections. Section 1 covers remote access fundamentals, while sections 2-5 cover Dial, ISDN, Frame Relay, and VPN technologies, respectively. The book is authored by Plamen Nedeltchev, an engineer who worked for Cisco during the development of much of their remote access technology. The problem with this is that it's like discussing photographs with the guy that worked in R&D at Canon. He knows his stuff, but you'd better watch out, lest you be drowned with terminology.

The author does a decent job of explaining the technical concepts, but he has a tendency to get wordy. Maybe I'm having a bad month for cognitive focus, but I find myself "phasing out" while reading this book. If I really concentrate, I can follow the author for a chapter, but trying to hammer out day after day of concentration on this book is really hard. I'd recommend it as a troubleshooting guide or as a desk reference, but as straight ahead CCIE study material, it's too cumbersome. Read a chapter of this book, then go read a section of another CCIE book, then come back here for a few more chapters. That might make this thing easier to take. The book states that the reader should have at least CCNA level skills to read this book. I have to disagree and say that the reader must have passed the BCRAN exam for the CCNP before reading this book. The book is intended to teach troubleshooting, so you'd better know the basics of the technologies and their implementation prior to reading this book. Also, if you're not in the mood for TLA & FLA's (Three and Four Letter Acronyms), then you'd better get in the mood before tackling this book.

All of this may make it sound like I don't like this book. That's not true. When I'm in the right mindset, which is to say that the room is right, and the noise level is right, and I have the right level of caffeine, then I can read a section of this book and learn a LOT about the material that he's trying to convey (he IS an expert, after all). On that note, I have to say that I especially enjoyed the section on VPN technologies, as my personal experience and studies are quite light on the subject up to this point. It really piqued my interest in the subject. So much so that I think one of my next reads will be the Cisco Secure VPN Guide.

I'm reading this book as part of my studies for the CCIE written exam. I'm not sure if I needed this much information prior to the written exam. I'm sure I probably could have gotten by with a re-scan of the BCRAN book, but I'm also sure that I will be coming back to this book again and again during my preparations for the lab exam.

On my 5 ping rating scale, I give it a 3.
!!..!

Rating:
Summary: Not just remote access.
Review: I have found this to be one of the most informative and easiest to read books on ISDN, Dial, and VPN. However I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that it has wonderful troubleshooting sections on T-1 and Frame Relay. If someone would only do for ATM what Nedeltchev has done for these technologies I would be one happy geek.

This is a book that any Network Engineer can benefit from.

Rating:
Summary: Not just remote access.
Review: I have found this to be one of the most informative and easiest to read books on ISDN, Dial, and VPN. However I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that it has wonderful troubleshooting sections on T-1 and Frame Relay. If someone would only do for ATM what Nedeltchev has done for these technologies I would be one happy geek.

This is a book that any Network Engineer can benefit from.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Troubleshooting Resource
Review: Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks is a great resource for anybody supporting a Remote Access Network. Supporting Remote access Networks has always been a challenge with limited or no access to the CPE, varied technical levels of users and being seperated by multiple hops of physical layer. The author approaches the different Access technologies in a step by step manner and gives clear and lucid troubleshooting solutions for the various aspects in the specific technologies. The detailed explanation of the show and debug commands will be greatly helpful for anybody looking into a quick solution for an access issue.This book is targetted towards all audience levels from Netowrk Managers to design and operation engineers working with day to day support calls and operation issues. And finally it would be a great resource for the CCIE Lab preparation. The tips and techniques discussed in the book will prove to be a great time saver in the exam as time is the worst enemy on the big day.