Slashdot Mirror
Computer Networking First-Step
When I am sitting in front of a computer in San Francisco and exchanging email with a friend in New Delhi, or we are chatting using MSN or the Yahoo! Messenger program, there is a mind-boggling array of data transformation between the sender and the receiver. All our analog data (speech, type face, etc) is transformed to digital data (binary digits of 0 and 1.) We are analog creatures, but the infrastructure for computer communication on which we are so hopelessly dependent is strictly digital. This infrastructure is responsible for various layers of encapsulation/decapsulations, encoding/decoding, etc to move the data through a 'cloud' of intermediary hubs, switches, and routers (the 'cloud' is a black box to us) and establish communication between the end users. The rules (or protocols) at different layers are complex enough, and to make matters worse, the rules inside a Telco network through which our data travels can be very different from the rules in our LAN data network (the Telco network is usually a black box to the data communication folks). Breaking this highly complex phenomenon into smaller, simpler constituent parts is what this book is about.
This book is 515 pages long and is divided into 18 chapters. Odom starts by defining a network in terms of its constituent elements, and goes on to explain how three blind guys -- the Server Guy, the Cabling Guy, and the Network Guy -- perceive the Network 'Elephant.' The authors and the editors have tried hard to explain abstract concepts with real life examples; for example, they tell us how to how to eat a dinosaur (OSI 7-layer model) versus how to eat an elephant (TCP/IP 4 layer model). The whole narration takes place in terms of the human experience of fictitious characters named Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Keith, Conner, Larry, Archie, Bob, Hannah (etc.), who internalize the electronic data communication protocols into their own behavioral model. This tactic makes for easy reading by helping us understand the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. Many newcomers to networking get discouraged by the learning curves for OSI and TCP/IP, and quit before getting to LAN and WAN. The author addresses this concern by strictly focusing on the concepts and leaving the details out for another day.
Odom's description of LAN as roadway and sharing of the local roadway through hub to find destinations is easy to follow. The rules to follow on the roadway cover wrecks, and also how to recover from the wrecks. His description of WAN as leasing hundreds of miles of network cable drives home the basic concepts. The hosts file is explained as a phone book, and AAA as a means to allow the right people and keep out the wrong people. Under the veneer of lightheartedness Odom manages to sneak in the concepts ranging from 4-wire WAN circuit to 802.1Q trunking, VLAN to VPN.
This book introduces many contemporary networking concepts, and would have been more complete with a chapter on wireless networking and VOIP. The diagrams are uncluttered and easy to follow for reinforcing the concepts. The index is manageably short but to the point. The best thing going for the book is its relaxed, you-can-do-it tone. However, this is not for everyone, certainly not enough for anyone seeking IT certifications. If you are looking for a conceptual understanding of computer networking to untangle the underlying mystery, read this book. I think this is a great text for high school students, home computer users, and even computer professionals who do not deal with networking in their daily work. If you are looking for details about networking standards (necessary for any certification test), find a more advanced text.
You can purchase Computer Networking First-Step from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
" fills a long standing void for a truly introductory book which can be read and understood by anyone in less than a month."
The book is 515 pages?!
I'm certain that this review was read by someone who wasn't seeking a truly introductory book. If the reviewer knows anything about networking before he starts reading, I doubt that he's able to objectively make this claim.
Speaking as someone who has taken four semesters of cisco classes, plugging in a router is a lot different than writting the firmware. CCNA is IT work not CS work.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
1. get an ethernet cable.
I can't remember the last time slashdot reviewed a tech book I could possibly be interested in. "Networking First-Steps" "Dummies Guide to Intarweb", "Learn PHP in 21 days", etc.
Has this site shifted to a newbie-oriented focus or something?
The reviews used to be of really in-depth books that might be interesting, or of hardcore SF. Now it's "Total Dummies Guide To Turning Your Computer On" and "Choose Your Own Adventure" titles.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
As popular as home wireless networks are becoming these days, did this book have any mention of at least some of the basics like security?
For that matter, did the book cover security at all? Teaching people networking basics without some basic security techniques is like teaching them how to load and fire a gun without mentioning the safety.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Your boss is now the local "expert" on all things networking, and will challenge your every decision with obtuse, poorly chosen, off-topic comments that are only obliquely related to the topic at hand.
It is okay to take your time to learn how to become an expert. If you want to be proficent, do not expect to become an instant expert. Read Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years to understand why we (IT professionals and IT fans) should remember to take the time to become good at what we do, rather than fall into the false trap of "Internet Time" for everything we do, and produce quick, (cheap) crap.
If you just want to be a network user, or are starting your learning of networking, this might be a useful book. But if you are going to be a System Administrator or Network Administrator go further.
Is that they devalue the experience and skills necessary to do the job. You end up with a horde of PHBs who think that being a DBA or Unix admin is easy, since after all, they read a book on an airplane how to do it. Another consequence is that Management types tend to place less value on the advice and recommendations of their technical people, since they assume all the technical people did was read the cheesy book. Why do you think technical decisions get overriden by PHBs and Marketroids all the time? Because there is no longer the view/perception that being technical is actually hard to do. Since anyone can be an MCSE, who's to say that an MCSE's advice is better than anyone else's?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
book which can be read and understood by anyone in less than a month
Unless, of course, you're Johnny 5.
That's Tanenbaum. No "nn".
stating you have read this book is going to have a positive effect on your System Administrator resume.
So, in short, go further, or go the the back of the unemployment line.
You can't even spend 4 months learning a skill, and you wonder why your job is being outsourced, eh?
Grow up.
Great.. a whole bunch more people who think they are now "networking experts"
Until the first spanning tree problem arises..
or something simple like a duplex mismatch drags the server offline..
which will prompt the usual.. reboot.. or unplug and replug.. which probably wont solve the problem.
and a CCNA shouldn't take a semester.. if it does.. you don't have what it takes to learn it properly in the first place.. The CCNA covers "simple" networking concepts.. i can't imagine how long it would take to cover more complex stuff..
This is why they don't generally teach IT in CS courses..
Don't be fooled by the title of the book.
On a related note, on several occasions I have seen a book in the computer section that has a title of "learn unix in 10 minutes." That title makes me laugh, so I do what any sentient human would and promptly relocate that book to the humor section.
Any book that spends much time on the 7-layer model is more of an IT book. Most ABET CS programs I know of or have taken feature communications courses that spend about a week talking about what IT books will spend chapters going over.
What is more interesting are the algorithms behind error correction, genetic ad-hoc nodal networking, bind revision... well do they ever review serious books anymore?
Not too long ago, I taught the CCNA class, more or less unofficially. The CCNA book he wrote under Cisco press had so many errata in it, it was practically impossible for my students to study with it. Fortunately They eventually became able to recognize the numerous errors, and that skill served better than practice exams at knowing thier knowledge level! BTW: That book had the most erata published on Cisco Presses website of any book I have ever seen from them.
So three blind guys, a server-administrator, a cablelayer and a network-administrator go into this bar, and there's this elephant sitting there with a UTP socket in it's snout...
I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist
What job?
Seriously. I was recently interviewing for a position that required "networking" skills. Uhh, OK. How do you prepare for that? That is like saying you need "Unix" skills. I know networking basics, have set up my own network at home - but that is a far far cry from being a network admin. I went to a bookstore to see if any of the networking books might help give me a good solid overview of things so I could brush up. There were a ton of books, and I couldn't find one I thought would fit. They were either too specific, or too "dummy".
I am not sure where this book fits, but I don't think you can just write off books that give overviews of complex topics. Now if all there were out there were "dummy" books, then I can see why the professionals should care. But there definitely aren't. I am very pleased with the growth I have seen in the computer section at the local bookstores. The Linux section has beefed up quite nicely.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
I learned a lot more about networking by setting up a few myself and writing a few servers than I did in college CS classes. Maybe a better approach to teaching networking would include setting up some test networks and playing around with routing and writing some TCP/IP socket code before you start going on about the OSI reference model and the theoretical limit of bits per second that can be sent over any given pipe. The latter information might be absorbed later if the students have some hands-on context about what's going on. Just a thought...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Step 0: Get a computer.
This is a ridiculous statement. Technologies change so much and new ones emerge so regularly that anyone who moves out of their niche or investigates a new area of the business is going to be a newbie over and over in their career.
Seriously. I was recently interviewing for a position that required "networking" skills. Uhh, OK. How do you prepare for that?
Experience.
Don't want to spend the time? Then "don't do the crime." In this case, the "crime" is being involved with computers in a higher capacity than advanced user.
If you're working with computers and can't do even the basics, why are you in the field? A hobbist probably wouldn't mind spending the time to learn it "right". However, for a 'professional' you've got to know things properly and thoroughly so as to not be an idiot about things.
The intro just smacks of a pre-dotcom bomb mentality. There are many, many people with quite indepth resumes and experience, many of them looking for jobs and willing to take menial tech jobs just to remain in what they love.
I can't believe there are still people getting into IT at 40 for a career change and "good jobs". Where have they been for the last 4 years? (yes, I know of quite a few people)
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
I am suprised to read the angry comments about how this book shouldn't be reviewed here or how your boss is going to read it and "no wonder why we're all getting outsourced"....the sky is falling and we are all going to hell.
/. but ease up on the fundamentalism. Make room for those bringing up the rear or those trying to join in. You were all learning once too.
I understand you guys are hard core. That's what is great about
I am, by Slashdot standards, a newbie. I only understand 30-50% of the article topics discussed here. I lurk in the forums piecing together concepts with the help of the insightful and funny comments posted by all of you. This book sounds like a great tool for me to further develop an understanding about networking basics.
You champion open standards..how about being open people..
Thanks for posting this review. I will definitely order the book.
Deep
Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my hard disk?
It sounds like this book would really helpful to the guys in the networking group where I work....
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"obtuse, poorly chosen, off-topic comments that are only obliquely related to the topic at hand."
Wait a minute.. are you talking about your boss or slashdot?
I first heard of TCP/IP somewhere in 1981. Since then I've looked at many books, all of which start with the obligatory chapter on the OSI model, followed by a lot of gibberish which furhter confuses things. To be honest, I never got it.
This book broke the mold. Yeah, I could do without the post office pictures, but otherwise, Thank You!
When the author immediatly dismisses the OSI model as academic gibberish, I knew we had a start, and was greatly pleased thereafter!
(page 515)....and after you joyfully watch your computer crash into the pavement far below, you can breathe a sigh of relief, as since we have destroyed the computer, you no longer have anything left in which to network and you can forget everything you just read. Now go watch TV.
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
Experience in what? Network Administration? Basic networking? Token ring? Ethernet? Cisco router configuration? Setting up a network from scratch? Maintaining a network? Windows? Unix? Mainframe? Wireless?
Saying you want "networking skills" is like saying you need someone with "programming skills".
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
How does that work?
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
1. Obtain friend
2. Get him/her/it to memorize what's on your screen.
3. Make him/her/it go to your other computers and replicate the information.
Total Cost: $50 (he/she/it needs food)
I'm going to go create my own technology news site, with blackjack and hookers. You know what? Forget the news site.
Well , what can I say I am learning from the scratch for past 1 year now and my friend is right some of the books require atleast one semester to get well versed. I have experienced it myself .....
.
Starting from basics of each and every layer and then moving to real concepts like packet formation , transportation. It takes too much time. In the later stages when you get hang of it you then realise the true power of data exchange.
I think book learning has to be transformed into practical knowledge which in many universities in India is missing except for the IITs etc. Students like me who are not from these premier institutes suffer a lot because on one hand you are reading from the book about the cables, Network Management concepts etc etc and on the other hand you dont have equipments to try your concepts
Moreover, I have realised specially in this field if you havent work on equipments and have practical knowledge you cannot learn the way you should. Example : -
How can person configure a vlan on a switch if he havent seen one in his entire college years. How can he later uses MIBs to configure the switch.
I strongly believe the books should be eaiser to understand and focus should be made on practical knowledge so that a person could get real knowledge.
Saying you want "networking skills" is like saying you need someone with "programming skills".
Well, I certainly would not hire a Java programmer that did not have programming skills. It is possible to knowledge a programming language, i.e. language syntax, without having the broader knowledge and experience to make that language knowledge useful as a developer.
When a job ad says they want networking skills, you should be able to deduce what sort of skills based on the job title (Network Administrator or Unix System Administrator), and the other keywords used in the ad. They are not likely looking for Novell experience / knowledge unless they mention it.
If they don't mention WANs or routers, network administration you likely don't need any Cisco IOS knowledge.
True, but that is kind of implied when you are interviewing for a Java programmer. You have to clearly spell out the specific skills you want.
When a job ad says they want networking skills, you should be able to deduce what sort of skills based on the job title (Network Administrator or Unix System Administrator), and the other keywords used in the ad. They are not likely looking for Novell experience / knowledge unless they mention it.
If they don't mention WANs or routers, network administration you likely don't need any Cisco IOS knowledge.
Well, it was for a QA Engineer position (not just testing) and tools development. And it turned out, the hiring manager had several Cisco certifications. He wanted someone with "networking skills" but he really wanted a Network Admin / QA Tools Developer. I know enough about networks to be dangerous, but not enough for what he was looking for. That was kind of what was driving my previous comments.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
One of the problems here is that people are dismissing the OSI model out of hand. I've read a lot of replies here stating that the OSI 'gibberish' made networking either too complex or too boring to understand.
What people don't understand is that the OSI model breaks networking down into intelligible parts...and that if you can't grasp what each of those layers do, then you probably shouldn't be running any network larger than a few dozen nodes. You certainly won't be capable of troubleshooting a large scale enterprise network to any reasonable degree.
When faced with any problem, you need to be able to isolate it to correct it. The OSI 7 layer model is one of the most fundamental ways to accomplish this.
Go to any of the big geek sites that have network forums...and most of the networking questions you will see are almost impossible to answer at first take, because people don't give the correct information. Why? Because they don't understand the difference between a physical layer problem and a network layer problem. They don't understand the difference between an IP address and a URL, nor how the two are correlated.
Any book that helps someone stop asking the 'simple' questions is fine...but don't pretend it's a solution or workaround to having to understand the OSI model. If you aren't clear on the difference between a frame and a packet, or what the strengths and limitations of each are in any given situation (think broadcast domain vs. collision domain), then you aren't a network technician, much less a network engineer. You *might* be a network administrator, but that's again a completely different thing. Taking care of user accounts and permissions doesn't mean you're engineering anything. It means your administering a namespace on a network operating system.
Meh...I don't have anything against people trying to learn...but it's like saying that just because you can drive a car that you're now a certified mechanic. It just isn't so....to be a certified mechanic, you have to demonstrate actual knowledge of certain fundamental prinicples, as well as apply them in a real world situation. If you don't understand the concept of internal combustion, I doubt you're going to be a competent auto mechanic, even though you can put gas in the car, change the oil and tires, etc.