Book details of 'Designing Wide Area Networks and Internetworks: A Practical Guide.'

Title	Designing Wide Area Networks and Internetworks: A Practical Guide.
Author(s)	J. Scott Marcus
ISBN	0201695847
Language	English
Published	October 1999
Publisher	Addison-Wesley Pub Co

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Designing Wide Area Networks and Internetworks: A Practical Guide.':

Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
A great many books have taken on the task of teaching how to design the simpler local area networks, and failed. Marcus has looked at the much more complex job of internetworks, and, if he does not always succeed on all points, at least provides a very useful addition to the literature. Part one presents background information for network design. Chapter one outlines what an internetwork is, and starts to talk about design. A rough outline of a design process is given in chapter two. The first phase of the process, the definition of requirements, is introduced in chapter three. While this is an area that could always use expansion, Marcus lays out a comprehensive and comprehensible explanation which should be helpful for novice planners. Part two expands on the second phase; that of preliminary design. Chapter four lists some rough steps in this draft phase. A number of interesting points are made in chapter five regarding circuit costs and the optimization thereof. A solid assessment of transmission technologies; such as ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), SONET (Synchronous Optical Network), ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), and the like; is given in chapter six. Chapter seven looks at hierarchy and topology. Considerations for backbone placement are discussed in chapter eight. Access design is reviewed in chapter nine, with access homing in ten. At this point, and with the extensive additional material in chapter eleven, one can design the backbone topology. Naming, addressing, and routing generally follows the Internet protocols, and particularly IPv6, in chapter twelve. Security is usually an "add on" consideration, and so the reader is lucky that chapter thirteen has such a wide ranging (though not detailed) outline. Chapter fourteen is both a general discussion of the Internet backbone and a kind of case study. A good overview of the options for network management is provided in chapter fifteen. Chapter sixteen gives detailed instructions for validation against the original requirements. Part three, chapter seventeen, deals with the management review, and particularly with how to present various aspects of the costs and financing. Part four looks at implementation. Chapter eighteen reviews the process for finalizing the design. Selection of carriers and vendors is discussed in chapter nineteen. As Marcus notes, a cookbook guide to designing networks simply is not possible. There are a number of gaps, shortcomings, and missing details in this work. Nevertheless, this book is probably the single most practical volume on the subject among the many attempts I have reviewed over the years. Managers and network administrators will find useful guidance here, without being drowned by technical detail. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999
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