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CCSP Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced Exam Certification Guide (CCSP Self-Study) (2nd Edition) Review by anonymous
Incomplete and Replete with Errors
The previous reviewer's comment that it's better than nothing is pretty accurate. The book is not organized with the exam objectives in mind, and it appears to have undergone no quality control checks whatsoever. To call some of these mistakes typographical errors is graciously optimistic.
Even the accompanying practice exam was flawed. About 10 minutes into it I got a question whose "correct" answer logically contradicted the parameters of question itself. I'll never know how good or bad the remainder of the exam was, because I immediately uninstalled the program in disgust.
My biggest complaint, however, is that too much material covered on the exam is missing from the book. Sure, the book will get you throught he basics of setting up a PIX firewall, but topics such as the Firewall Services Module, the CiscoWorks Firewall Management Console, and the Auto Update Server are conspicuously absent. And these topics were prevalent on the exam.
With that said, I did pass the exam on the first attempt. But it was thanks to some of the other practice exams and source materials that I was able to make up for the deficiencies and errors in this book. Had I taken this book as gospel, I have no doubt that I would have failed.
I need these study guide books to get me through the CCSP certification, but I am certainly going to avoid anything else by these two authors if possible. Frankly, I'm not sure they understand how some of these technologies (e.g., VPN protocols) really work. They certainly haven't explained them well to me.