This is a perfect reference book for the network engineer. This is especially true if the network engineer is trying to pass the Cisco certified network administrator (CCNA) test, or has a large network of Cisco routers and switches that require management. In reading this book, I was reminded of how complex the CISCO IOS software truly is. I feel that, to be an expert on the CISCO IOS, one has to be using the software on a daily basis. This book would serve that daily user of CISCO IOS very well.

The book is separated into two distinct sections. The first section is made up of 14 chapters, which progress from the basics of managing a router to some of the more advanced complex concepts of open shortest path first (OSPF), border gateway protocol (BGP), enhanced interior gateway routing protocol (EIGRP), and other routing protocols. Thankfully, this book only delves deeply into the TCP/IP protocols. Although CISCO IOS supports many others, TCP/IP is definitely the most prevalent.

The second section is just one chapter, chapter 15, which is a reference to essentially all of the TCP/IP commands, organized alphabetically by command. Although it is tedious to read command after command, it is very easy to find a command when necessary. This is not the case with the first section. Because of the way the book is organized, it isn’t easy to find answers unless you know exactly what command or concept relates to your question. For example, if you were the new owner of a router at a company, and you didn’t have the password, how would you obtain access to the router? While the answer to the question is in this book, it might be difficult to find it.

The CISCO IOS would be very tempting for any comic to make fun of, as some of the concepts are almost funny on their own, namely OSPF’s Not-So-Stubby Area, routing information protocol (RIP), Time to Live, and so on. Thankfully, the author is very direct in his writing, something fellow network technicians like myself find very refreshing, as a subject like this shouldn’t be written with a comic tongue.

I did try and test some of the information in the book, and was not able to find any errors. The author carefully explains some very complicated issues: passive interfaces, hot standby router protocol (HSRP), network address translation (NAT), route redistribution, and ISDN configuration. I have personally had trouble with the last, and the author did a great job of explaining it. One technique the author pointed out, which I felt was quite ingenious, was using the CISCO IOS as a packet sniffer. This tool is an extremely handy one for a network engineer, one that is often direly needed, especially at remote offices when a packet sniffer is too far away.

If I had to point out a downside to the book, it would be that it does not discuss any of the firewall concepts and commands of the CISCO IOS.