What level of understanding do you wish to attain? Over what time frame? I would suggest buying all 8 books. Yes, 8 books - the comer books come in 3 volumes, and the Stevens books come in 3 volumes. All are excellent! Comer's books cover the theory in vol 1, then the nuts and bolts of each protocol in vol's 2 and 3. If you have some knowledge of C programming, or you ever wish to write applications in C for the TCP/IP suite, then all 3 volumes are essential. Steven's books cover the protocols from a more hands-on perspective. It's focus is primarily a systems approach, and assumes that you are using a UNIX system. It really gives you a great understanding of the behavior of the protocols to use them rather than just read about them. All 3 volumes are necessary to build a complete understanding of nearly the entire suite. Perlman's book does not cover TCP/IP per se, but rather the fundamental concepts of routing and bridging. There is by association some coverage of TCP/IP in there, but I would start with Comer or Stevens and then move in to internetworking concepts. Doyle's book gives outstanding coverage of IP routing protocols (as opposed to rout-ed protocols), and would serve as the final word in this series of reading. Well, almost... The next step might be Bassam Halabi's "Internet Routing Architectures" in order to gain an understanding of BGP, as Doyle's book does not cover exterior routing protocols. So, that's really 9 books. Give yourself 18 months to read them, that is a conservative pace. Too much money? Too much time? Consider the payback when you put that knowledge to work... SAVE MONEY - the Comer books should be available at your public library - certainly at the local University library. SAVE TIME - read the Comer series and the Steven's series concurrently. Likewise with Perlman and Doyle. Not a programmer, never want to be? Skip volumes 2 and 3 of Comer's series (this is a sacrifice of knowledge though...). Good Luck, and enjoy! Dale [=`) > > >If you are looking for books that focus strictly on the IP protocol suite >(IP, TCP/UDP, ARP, ICMP, etc), I would not suggest Radia Perlman's >"Interconnections" or Jeff Doyle's "Routing TCP/IP Volume 1". While >"Interconnections" is an excellent text that addresses a lot of topics >quite well, its coverage of TCP/IP is limited in comparison to the other >books. And Doyle's book, while great in its own right, has as its primary >focus IP routing protocols. Therefore, while there is some good >information on IP itself (and associated protocols like ARP), I believe the >title of the book, "Routing TCP/IP", states its focus quite well. > >That leaves the books by Stevens and Comer. Honestly, they are both >excellent books that cover the IP protocol suite very well. I think it's >really a toss up between the two books. My personal belief is that while >the Comer book is great, the Steven's book covers the IP suite in a bit >more detail . That said, if I were purchasing a TCP/IP book today, I might >go with the Comer text strictly because it has been updated >recently. Again, either way you go, I don't think you will be >disappointed. > >Just my $0.02 (US) > > >-Marcus > >At 06:05 PM 07/18/2000 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >>Hello group, >> >>I want to get a very good book on this particular subject..TCP/IP. I >>checked >>reviews on amazon.com for different books, can't decide which one I should >>get. They all seem very good. >> >>Douglas Comer book is..Internetworking with TCP/IP >>Stevesnts.....TCP/IP Illustrated Vol 1 >>Radia......Interconnections with ... >>and there is another one...Jeff Doyle...Routing with TCP/IP (I am waiting >>for >>the new edition of this book, not out yet) >> >> I have taken MCSE TCP/IP exam a year back but that was for Windows NT >>4.0. >>I want to learn it at advance level now, for Internetworking. >>I am finishing up my CCNP and will be going for CCIE soon. >> >>Any comments will be helpful. >>Thanks! ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ___________________________________ UPDATED Posting Guidelines: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/guide.html FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
