Data Network Design

It is obvious that previous reviews have been made twice to reduce average rating on purpose. However it doesn't change the reality that this is a very good book. It covers networkingtechnologies very well and it is a well written informative book.It made 3 editions after all. I warmly recommend this book. Itis a good reference to keep in your technical library.

As a network architect (12yrs), I have designed many large networks for major banks and Wall St firms. When it comes to technology design of networks, this book is the bible. (I own two copies, one for work and one for home, and I own two copies of the first edition, which was hardcover. The second edition is better, but the first I still refer to, sometimes just to review what has changed in the standards between ed. 1 and ed 2.If you need to honstly design networks and do capacity planning with real capacity calculations based on queuing theory, and you were never great with queuing theory, and don't know who Klinerock is (The father of queuing theory), this book gives you the key modling methods used for each type of network (Cell, Frame, voice (for convergence)), and shows you how to plug in the numbers to get the information you need to size a network properly.The first edition spends a lot of time on Frame Relay, and less time on ATM. The second edition spends a little less on Frame Relay and more on ATM. The SONET section is almost unchanged, but he found a way to make some changes that make it better. SONET is also pointed out as the NA standard, and that everyone else in the world uses SDH. When you are done with the chapter you know the difference, and why it is significant. It does a great job of pointing out that SONET is not a network, only a transport method, like pavement is not a transport vehical only a road by which transport vehicals can get people to their destinations.If you can only have one network design book on your desk, and you are tasked with the function of designing or understanding professional network designs, this is the book.While I realize there are a lot of people that design and build networks by empirical means, and they would get real uncomfortable if you asked them if they used a M/M/1, M/G/1, or M/D/1 model to base your capacity planning for QOS/COS on... It is in this book. (Oh yea... the proofs and theory aren't there so it won't give you bad flash-backs to college (:-)) But they do show the different types of models used (4), explain the key formulas, and use an example. You can use this to determine which model fits the network you need to build (from the core to the access... thats in there too!), and then plug in the numbers to the example to define your capacities. So you know your network can do the job, or if you have a weak spot, what the parameters of that weak spot are ahead of time to assure a CUA. (Cover your A**).I am sorry it is out of print. I lent a copy, and of course never got it back. Now I am down to one!

This was very comprehensive book covering how the X.25, packet switching, Frame Relay, SMDS, and ATM data technologies work. It also does a good job of explaining how the various protocols interoperate by encapsulating packets, cells, or frames of data into their own packet, cell or frame formats. Very readable. The book has lots of diagrams and is not too technical. I learned a lot from the book and would recommend it to anyone seeking an in-depth overview of data communications systems. This book did not really teach me how to design data networks, but I feel I have a much better understanding of how data networks function since reading this book. My only complaint with the book is the excessive use of acronyms. While the acronyms are listed in the back of the book in a table, their pervasive use in the text was annoying and made it harder to understand. A minor irritant, at worst. My best testament to the book is that I lost my original copy and was so dismayed by the prospect of not finishing it that I spent another $65 to buy a second copy!

This book has been the most accurate reference on Frame Relay I have found