CCNP Routing Study Guide (Exam 640-503) [With CDROM]

This book is excellent. I glad I returned my sybex book for this one. I have checked out the CiscoPress, Sybex versions. The Sybex version was good until it got to BGP. The CiscoPress version doesn't share enough real life experience, it's more like a reference guide. The McGrawHill version is well written, very detailed, easy flow, and I want to give credit to Mark Buchmann, and Paul Hogrell. They did a fantastic job. This book will not just make you pass the test, it will help you be a better Network Engineer.

The CCNP Building Scalable Cisco Networks Study Guide is the perfect book to use to pass your Routing 2.0 exam. The book doesn't read like a technical manual, yet there is plenty of technical information included. There are lots of funny side notes that keep you from drifting into space. I used this book as an addition to attending instructor-lead training.

My knowledge of switching techniques is greatly increased over the past several months and one reason is due to books like this one. The authors ability to detail complex topics and yet simplify the explanation is making is easier for every day.In this 620 plus page book, that can be used in a classroom environment, start the road to certification with an introduction to switching and layers 2, 3 and 4 and then is continues with switch block concepts, this is the first book I know of to cover this topic.The authors then explain VLAN and spanning tree protocols very well, they make every attempt to give you more than enough information. Also another first time topic is the Inter-Vlan.You then go into multi-layer switching, HSRP, multi-casting, Diagnostics and remote management. As with other books from Osborne there is practice questions, exercises, lab questions and a self-test all this coupled with an abundance of diagrams, figures, router screen shots and tables. Finally another Osborne standard is the cd, this one has over 200 questions and is put together with ExamSim and CertTrainer. The layout of this book is more that exam material it is material that can be used for later reference.

Every technician will tell you that hardware support is always tough when you so many parts to keep track of. Osborne's has taken the time to make sure that you are given a book that will not only train you in support of Cisco products but also be used in troubleshooting.The author's start off the book with support resources, things like tools, analyzers, network monitors are covered. Then you move on to troubleshooting methods. The author has put together an excellent breakdown of the problem-solving model. The best thing about the model is the fact that is can be used in all aspects of troubleshooting. The areas of troubleshooting that are covered in the book include Lans, WANS, troubleshooting tools, frame relay and ISDN.Another plus for the book is that there is also non-hardware troubleshooting covered in topics like Routing protocols of RIP, OSPF, IGRP, EIRGP and BGP. IP and AppleTalk as well as IOS Commands and are given coverage. For the first time I know there is coverage of VLANs with routing and switching troubleshooting covered. All this in 900 pages and coupled with the practice cd with over 200 questions and this might be one of the best values I have seen this year.

I picked this book up about a week ago for the new Support exam, and it's been a great help. It's a big book, and every page I've read thus far(almost all of them!) has had a ton of pertinent and useful information on them. Kudos to the authors on this one!