From Book News, Inc.
This slick and colorful primer explains the terminology and basic concepts of networking to non-technical professionals in the computer industry. The 34 chapters explain IP addressing, firewalls, virtual private networks, local area network (LAN) switching, disaster recovery, routing protocols, broadband technologies, storage area networks, caching, and systems network architecture.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description

A visual explanation of networking technologies

What you always wanted to know about networking but were afraid to ask!How the Internet worksHow e-mail, e-learning, and telephony work on the InternetWhat makes a network safeHow traffic gets from here to thereDisaster recovery and other ways to keep a network runningHow businesses share dataSee the world of Cisco networking with this illustrated guide's visual approach to learningUseful for both novices and networking professionalsCovers a broad variety of internetworking topics-from e-mail to VPNs

At last-an illustrated guide to the world of Cisco networking. Cisco Networking Simplified breaks down the complicated world of internetworking into easy-to-understand parts. Learn quickly and easily the fundamentals of a variety of topics, such as security, IP telephony, and quality of service, from the full-color diagrams and clear explanations found in Cisco Networking Simplified.

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, the only authorized publisher for Cisco Systems.

From the Back Cover
A visual explanation of networking technologiesWhat you always wanted to know about networking but were afraid to ask!* How the Internet works* How e-mail, e-learning, and telephony work on the Internet* What makes a network safe* How traffic gets from here to there* Disaster recovery and other ways to keep a network running* How businesses share data* See the world of Cisco networking with this illustrated guide's visual approach to learning* Useful for both novices and networking professionals* Covers a broad variety of internetworking topics-from e-mail to VPNsAt last-an illustrated guide to the world of Cisco networking. Cisco Networking Simplified breaks down the complicated world of internetworking into easy-to-understand parts. Learn quickly and easily the fundamentals of a variety of topics, such as security, IP telephony, and quality of service, from the full-color diagrams and clear explanations found in Cisco Networking Simplified.This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, the only authorized publisher for Cisco Systems.

About the Author

Paul Della Maggiora, CCIE No. 1522, is a manager for the Cisco Systems Enterprise Solution Engineering Group and developed their Networking Bootcamp for new Cisco TAC engineers. He is also a co-author of Performance and Fault Management, published by Cisco Press.

Jim Doherty is a Solutions Marketing Manager with responsibility for routing and switching for Cisco Systems. He has taught professionals in both academic and industry settings on a broad range of topics including electric circuits, statistics, economics, and wireless communication methods. Jim authored the Study Notes section of the Cisco CCNA Exam #640-607 Flash Card Practice Kit published by Cisco Press.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
So you￯﾿ﾽre new (or almost new) to networking. How do you bootstrap from where you are to where you want to go? Understand how what you￯﾿ﾽre doing fits into the ￯﾿ﾽbig picture￯﾿ﾽ? Make sense of why things are done the way they￯﾿ﾽre done?

It￯﾿ﾽs not easy to figure all that out on your own. (And who￯﾿ﾽs got the time to teach it to you?) But most networking books are, well, just too complicated. Then there are the ones that treat you like a child. Grrrr￯﾿ﾽ

Try Cisco Networking Simplified. What makes this book special? Well, there are the full-color diagrams on every two-page spread. But this isn￯﾿ﾽt just a picture book. It offers real context. You don￯﾿ﾽt just learn the ￯﾿ﾽwhat￯﾿ﾽ: You learn why it matters, what the benefits of each technology are, what problems must be solved to deploy it, and how the elements of a complete solution fit together.

Each topic gets two well-crafted pages: just enough to brief you on the real issues, so you can drill down further on your own. Authors Paul L. Della Maggiora and Jim Doherty cover an extraordinary range of topics in just 200 pages -- and they￯﾿ﾽve selected those topics wisely.

This is the stuff you really need to know about: mainstream stuff (like VPNs) and technologies that are rapidly becoming mainstream (like VoIP).

You￯﾿ﾽll start with the underpinnings of the Internet, and several of the Internet-based applications you￯﾿ﾽll typically need to implement. There￯﾿ﾽs email, of course, and DNS, and IP addressing with both NAT and Port Address Translation. But there are also some important applications you might not expect in a beginner￯﾿ﾽs book -- Web traffic load balancing, for instance.

There￯﾿ﾽs a full section on video and telephony applications on the Internet -- increasingly important in an era when global travel isn￯﾿ﾽt taken quite for granted. You￯﾿ﾽll learn how multicasting, videoconferencing, and IP telephony work; even the basics of IP call center applications that are blazing the trail towards the long-promised ￯﾿ﾽdigital convergence.￯﾿ﾽ

In under 20 pages, the authors demystify network security. They start with the high-level issues every network administrator will face: balancing trust vs. security, authenticating users, protecting perimeters, defining centralized policies, and so forth. (To focus your attention, they also list today￯﾿ﾽs 13 most serious and widespread network security vulnerabilities.)

Next, you￯﾿ﾽll walk through the basics of firewalls and intrusion detection systems: how firewalls distinguish ￯﾿ﾽgood￯﾿ﾽ packets from ￯﾿ﾽbad,￯﾿ﾽ and how to architect a network for maximum perimeter security. There￯﾿ﾽs also a quick introduction to encryption -- including a look at the pros and cons of application-level, data link level, and network-level encryption.

Cisco Networking Simplified covers the hardware (wireless LANs, Ethernet, routers, switches), the techniques (network management), and the strategies (high availability, QoS, disaster recovery). It covers WANs, campus networks, and LANs; data centers; new storage and content networking solutions; caching; directory services; yesterday￯﾿ﾽs SNA, tomorrow￯﾿ﾽs P2P, and more. In just minutes, you can look like you know what you￯﾿ﾽre talking about -- no matter what you￯﾿ﾽre talking about. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At last -- an illustrated guide to the world of Cisco networking. Cisco Networking Simplified breaks down the complicated world of internetworking into easy-to-understand parts. Learn quickly and easily the fundamentals of a variety of topics, such as security, IP telephony, and quality of service, from the full-color diagrams and clear explanations found in Cisco Networking Simplified.

SYNOPSIS

This slick and colorful primer explains the terminology and basic concepts of networking to non-technical professionals in the computer industry. The 34 chapters explain IP addressing, firewalls, virtual private networks, local area network (LAN) switching, disaster recovery, routing protocols, broadband technologies, storage area networks, caching, and systems network architecture. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal