Review of Routing TCP/IP

Last week I finished Routing TCP/IP vol 2, marking my completion of the Routing TCP/IP set. I've posted my notes for the second volume along with my earlier notes from the first volume for anyone interested. I've found my notes seem to straddle a line between summarization and highlighting concepts unfamiliar to me, so your mileage may vary.

Routing TCP/IP vol 1 (2nd ed) thoroughly discusses routing within the enterprise. A fundamental review of generic network addressing and dynamic routing operation leads into protocol-specific chapters and discussions on route redistribution and filtering. The second volume favors a wider scope, covering inter-autonomous system and multicast routing.

Overall the set has proven to be a remarkably valuable resource. The authors should be commended on having achieved such an elegant balance between encyclopedic reference and cover-to-cover readability. The second volume, having been published in 2001, has understandably grown a bit outdated; the first chapter covers the ancient Exterior Gateway Protocol, for instance. The chapter on IPv6 is also no longer as relevant (through no fault of its authors), but is happily revisited in the second iteration of its predecessor.

Both books are on Cisco's recommended reading list for CCIE preparation, but I'm happy to recommend them to anyone seeking a better genuine understanding of Cisco networking.