Cisco Switching Black Book

The problem, generally speaking, with books about Cisco Systems data-networking equipment is that they're organized around passing the Cisco certification exams, and that kind of organization differs from what working professionals need. Alternately, Cisco Switching Black Book gets right to the point, emphasizing practicality over theory, and how-to procedures over academic platitudes. If you want to know how to reconfigure ports on static virtual local area networks (VLANs) on a Catalyst 5000, the command to enter and the router's response are right there on a single page. The book also usually points out pitfalls--a quick warning such as "If you do A, don't forget to do B" calls immediate attention to problems other books might explain with multiple pages and diagrams.

That's not to say that this book is all recipes. There is background and explanatory material in the "In Depth" sections that follow the "Immediate Solutions" segments in which the snappy procedures appear. Some readers might like to see more frequent links between the procedures and the relevant background material (such as "For more information on what's happening here, refer to..."), but the omission is not a big deal. Those who read the material will find that it provides decent preparation for parts of the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam, despite its general-interest design. --David Wall

Topics covered: Configuration of local and wide area network (LAN and WAN) switching equipment sold by Cisco Systems; more specifically, switching as it applies to virtual local area networks (VLANs), IP multicasting, multilayer switching, and LightStream switches; Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP), Internetwork Operating System (IOS) variations among Cisco products, and troubleshooting. A brief but praiseworthy appendix offers some advice on freelance Cisco consulting.