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Routing First-Step Review by John Patty
More than expected.
The First-Step series are introductory books intended for those new to the topic and assumes no previous experience. Routing First-Step, by Bill Parkhurst guides the reader through the intricacies of routing by building upon situations experienced in everyday life. Throughout the book are useful illustrations, tables and configuration examples making it easier for the reader to understand the concepts presented. Each chapter ends with a series of review questions that reinforce the material read and gauge the readers understanding of the chapter. There is also a glossary provided to help the reader understand and become more familiar with industry terms.
The first chapter begins with comparing routing to events that occur in everyday. How the delivery of mail, driving from point A to point B and establishing a telephone call are synonymous with routing. In addition, the author has the foresight to begin laying the foundation for route summarization. Throughout the book, these everyday events are referenced to reinforce the concepts conveyed, making them easier to understand.
The next two chapters move into numbering systems and IP Addressing, discussing topics from converting between numbering systems to hierarchal IP Addressing schemes. For an entry level book the author went a bit overboard on the different numbering system conversions but it makes a good reference for those of us who do not remember the steps. The IP Addressing chapter is very useful, taking the binary numbering system already learned in the previous chapter and applying the concepts to hierarchical addressing, subnetting and summarization. Having a solid understanding of these concepts is necessary for anyone involved in designing an organizations IP Addressing scheme.
The book continues with the introduction of routing protocols, starting with the distance-vector routing protocols RIP v1/v2 and the Cisco proprietary IGRP/EIGRP. The next two chapters move on to the link-state protocols OSPF/IS-IS and then onto a chapter on BGP. The final chapter details the various protocols used with Multicast. The content of the chapters are much more in depth than I would have expected for this level of book (I would go so far as to say that the content rivals some of the CCNP Routing books I have read in the past). The examples and illustrations provided for each protocol will assist in building readers understanding of the information.
The author has done a wonderful job at taking a very complex subject, reducing it to its core components and presenting the material in an understandable format. When the reader completes this book, they will have a good understanding of the concepts of routing and routing protocols. I would recommend this book for those looking for an introduction to routing and IP addressing and although I would not recommend this book as the sole resource in preparing for Cisco Certification, it definitely would assist in one's efforts.