I picked up William Parkhurst's book Cisco OSPF Command and Configuration Handbook for the sole reason that I own and have used with great success his BGP book of similar title. BGP has been my most successful section in the CCIE lab twice now, with my most recent result being perfect, due entirely, IMHO, to my thorough study of the BGP book. I believe I have a pretty good understanding of the fundamentals of OSPF, but the biggest room in the world being the room for improvement, I thought I might find some merit in the OSPF book as well.
So far I have not been disappointed. I have gone through several of the chapters now, and I am finding the format, the methodology, and the examples extremely conducive to my learning process. Some people can read RFC's and actually understand them. I struggle. Some people can read the CCO configuration guides and comprehend. After a couple of years, I still have mixed results. Parkhurst himself says in the introductions to both books that documentation is the one thing in common among all who experience frustration during the learning process - specifically amount, clarity, and completeness. His books are his way of addressing those shortcomings. Now it can't be easy writing this kind of a book. It is the result of a lot of boring setup and example creation, along with innumerable screen shots of actual router output. The work had to have been a grind after a while. Every command is listed, along with each switch to that command. An explanation of the command is given, followed by a stated purpose for the command. Then lab configuration examples are given, booth before the execution of the command, and after, so that you can see the result. If you are following along in your home lab you can compare your result to the book result. the book is divided into chapters, each containing all the commands related to a particular aspect of OSPF. For example, there are chapters on process configuration, area commands, route filtering, timers, interface commands, and summarization, to name a few. some chapters are obviously shorter or longer than others. examples abound. many examples can be worked with only two routers. no example I have seen as yet requires more than four routers, although YMMV depending upon the numbers of interfaces of particular types. I've even found a couple of interesting things as a result of using the book that I am unable to confirm or deny as a result of reading the documentation. I plan on providing a documented example maybe this weekend, when I turn things back on again. it revolves around authentication. the only disappointment I have so far is the coverage of OSPF over frame relay. The basics are covered quite well. It does not appear to go into the many variations that are possible. I will be spending some router time with this section over the weekend as well. Howard attempted to get a discussion going earlier this week about practice lab design assumptions, something that has so far drawn little attention ( as opposed to the CCIE versus college degree thread that just won't die ) I'd kinda like to see a discussion of book writing / training material writing design as well. I personally believe the Parkhurst method, while maybe not the be all and end all of study materials, packs a lot more into it's pages than most others I have read. I wish there were more like the two Parkhurst books. Chuck -- TANSTAAFL "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=60093&t=60093 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
