This volume completes “The Ultimate Protocol Guide.” While Volume 1 [1] concentrates on core network and transport protocols, Volume 2 describes the application protocols, including management ones, and offers insights into security issues related to Internet protocol (IP) networks.
The text consists of three sections. Section 1 overviews all of the transmission control protocol/IP (TCP/IP) application protocols, services, and operations, such as domain name system (DNS), (trivial) file transfer protocol ((T)FTP), hypertext transfer protocol (secure) (HTTP(S)), and simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP); it also includes a description of network management.
The next section deals with various aspects of security, from authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) to public-key infrastructure (PKI) insights, and the IP security (IPsec) framework description. Readers may be somewhat disappointed because of a too-short discussion of virtual private networks (VPNs). On the other hand, the information on firewalls, network address translation (NAT)--the introduction of which can be found in Volume 1--intrusion detection, virus protection, spam, and denial of service (DoS) attacks is very comprehensive and practical.
The final section is dedicated to wide area communication, particularly point-to-point protocol (PPP) characteristics and its deployment over various types of links. This overview is also very helpful for home networking. Tunneling that uses either layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) or point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP), based on the generic route encapsulation (GRE) mechanisms, is well described.
In contrast to Volume 1, this volume offers only one appendix, which lists selected RFCs dated through 2007. An acronym list would have been very useful, particularly as the reader may be confronted in the index with the wrong interpretations of some abbreviations (for example, instead of correctly identifying MPLS as multiprotocol label switching, the term “multi-protocol layer switching” is listed). While MPLS is discussed in Volume 1, MPLS VPNs are completely omitted from Volume 2.
The guide to the TCP/IP protocol stack is a much-needed reference for any network professional or student. Although numerous popular titles on TCP/IP networking exist, with the most successful ones issued in many editions, even versed professionals may occasionally find it useful to read other titles, in order to get updated and obtain fresh views of various topics of interest. Both volumes are indispensable for understanding TCP/IP completely, especially because of the way the sections and chapters are divided.