Cisco CCNP Preparation Library (Cisco Certification & Training) Book

A fine set for the experienced professional (or an intermediate who's willing to do his or her homework), the Cisco CCNP Preparation Library delivers the goods when it comes to technical specs. But first, note the name of this bookset first: it is the CCNP Preparation Library, not the CCNP Certification Library (which is a separate set). If you're looking for something that will help you pass the exam easily, this isn't the place for you; the text in these books requires intense study, and it isn't always forgiving when it comes to learning tough concepts. If, however, you're looking to gain a solid understanding of how to build, maintain, and troubleshoot networks the Cisco way, this is an excellent place to start. And when you're done, you'll have the nice bonus of being within a hair's breadth of passing anyway. You'll start off with the Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting Guide, which teaches you the fundamentals--basic maintenance and problem-solving methodologies. Along the way, it also goes into some good ground-level detail on how the Cisco technologies work. This book is extremely good and probably the best written of the bunch, although technically speaking it's also the weakest, with a couple of glaring technical errors. But the topics all mesh together nicely, it's packed with examples that will come in handy in the real world--and most importantly, it provides you with a skill set of troubleshooting skills that will come in handy when you're reading all of the other books. Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks delves into detail on routing and switching, and makes up for some of the lingering confusion that you may still have after the Troubleshooting Guide. Routing concepts are always a headache, requiring both visual and intellectual skills to properly process, but this book does a workman's job of walking you through the various routing protocols in easily digestible detail. Building Cisco Remote Access Networks is technically accurate, but it's definitely the hardest slog in the entire set in that it's dense and oddly structured, and it lacks the solid flow that Troubleshooting has. The information's all there, of course, but you'll have to ferret it out yourself, and if you're a beginner to dial-ups you may well find yourself wandering in the woods. Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks is almost as good as the Internetworking guide; it's thorough, thoughtful, and well written. The concepts are fairly heavyweight, of course, but upon useful study you'll find them all coming clear. Which is a problem with all of the books. Most people will be buying them to pass an exam, but they're not written as exam-prep guides--even if some of them are official coursework. These books ladle out information in great heaped spoonfuls, but none of them tells you, for example, which of these topics are heavily tested and which are usually ignored. It could be easy to lose the signal among all of this noise--and it doesn't help that all of the end-of-chapter test questions are open-ended, essay-style quizzes as opposed to the multiple-choice monstrosities you'll find on the actual exams. This turns the nature of this set into an all-in-one exercise; either you slurp down enough information that you can successfully pass, or you don't get anything. But once you get through this sometimes gruelling set, you'll be well prepared for the real world and probably set up nicely to pass the exam too. Much like real tech work, this isn't always easy--but it does come with some nice rewards. --William SteinmetzRead More