The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference

The TCP/IP Guide is a huge reference book (1616 pages). Its size alone may intimidate those simply looking to obtain a basic understanding of networking protocols, which would be a shame as the book is very readable, well-laid out. Moreover, the introduction is very sound and helps to educate readers with a baseline of information by covering such topics as theoretical and real-world throughput, networking structures, and bits and bytes. Because of its size, it is virtually impossible to sit down and read the book from beginning to end. That said the book, from chapter to chapter, is very readable. However, with reference books, it is often more important to talk about structure, contents and format. The book is broken down into eighty-eight chapters grouped into three sections: TCP/IP Overview and Background Information TCP/IP Lower-Layer Core Protocols TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols Each chapter and section starts with a brief introduction laying out its contents and putting them in the context of the TCP/IP protocol. The book looks at the web, HTTP, SNMP, ICMP, SMTP, Email, DHCP, Mobile IP, FTP and TFTP. It includes an overview and comparison of TCP and UDP and discusses establishing connections, management and termination of TCP. IPv6 receives roughly sixty pages of discussion, ranging from a high-level overview to transition challenges, physical address mapping, auto-configuration, reassembly and routing. There is also a fine chapter explaining IPsec components and protocols. And one can find more than a hundred pages on DNS. Scattered throughout the book are more than three hundred figures to aid in the understanding of concepts. And the more than three hundred tables make for faster referencing and easy comparisons and contrasts. Key concepts are highlighted and set apart from the general text. One of the strengths of the book comes from the analogies and similes that Kozierok employs to explain technologies that can, at first glance, seem rather opaque. Useful analogies are the sign of a good teacher and someone who is actually interested in helping others learn and gain understanding. At first, I thought it might be more convenient if the book were in PDF format so that quick searches could be performed. But, I've found that with a glance at the index or the chapters, I can find things easily and reliably. This speaks, to an extent, of the book's structure. I find it irritating when a book of this size is not organized well and sends me searching throughout the book for the explanation I am seeking. Kozierok and his editors have skillfully avoided this trap and kept within a well-defined framework. If you get the idea that this book is rather exhaustive in its approach, you have started to get the picture. The tome is not a pocket guide. It weighs more than my laptop and you will tire of schlepping it around, between office and home. However, the information contained in the book is easily accessible, informative and co

I read and review IT related textbooks as part of my work as a VoIP trainer for TrainingCity. "The TCP/IP Guide" is an outstanding reference text and deserves to be in the reference library of every IT professional. I noticed an earlier review that claimed this text is not for the serious engineer. Well, I am a Professional Engineer with over 18 years experience in the field, and I found the TCP/IP Guide to contain all sorts of useful information in a format that was both comprehensive and enlightening. In MHO, this text is a great resource for both design engineers/ software developers, and enterprise IT staff. I was hoping the TCP/IP Guide would include additional information on topics such as RTP (Real Time Protocol). However, given the length of the text (1600 odd pages!), I can understand why some of these more exotic TCP/IP topics were excluded. Overall, this book is well worth the price.

For anyone that uses, administers, or just wants to learn more about networking, this book is PLATINUM. There is so much information continued within this text it's hard to sift through or even comprehensively describe every aspect of it. The author (Charles M. Kozierok) takes every bit of networking knowledge that he has and manages to put this all into a guide that will no doubt go through several revisions and become a de facto standard in any networking or electrical engineering class for many years to come. Discussing the past, present, and future of networking standards and protocols, the focus in this text is on the TCP/IP standard that is used by humans all over the planet every second of every day, but this is just a part of this amazing book and what makes it so usable and so interesting. The discussion and comparisons of networks in general and what makes them unique is worth the price of admission alone, as well as a great explanation of what data is and how it moves from place to place. The TCP/IP Guide is a name that doesn't scratch the surface regarding how much thought and work went into this opus work by the author. At over 1,500+ pages, this is a reference, an encyclopedia, and a teaching tool all wrapped up into one. This isn't the kind of text that anyone would just crack open and read in a weekend, but the most experienced of engineers WILL read this book cover to cover and find it an interesting journey to take. An amazing piece of work that will remain and thrive in networking circles for a long, long time to come. ***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

I'm blown away by this book. The coverage of the topics is outstanding in both it's breadth and depth. The tone is very readable. And the use of graphics, wow. This book is tremendous. It's going to instantly be "the TCP/IP reference". It blows the old classic, TCP/IP Illustrated, straight out of the water. This book is worth every single penny. No doubt. It's going to set a new bar for technical books. Wow.