Author: Gary A. Donahue
Pages: 786
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
ISBN: 1449387861



Introduction

If you are interested in knowing everything that you can possibly know about networking, chances are you were already urged to read Gary Donahue's Network Warrior. Four years have passed since the first edition was published and found a place on the shelf of every serious network administrator, and this second edition has been modified somewhat to keep pace with newer technologies and to cover additional subjects.

About the author

Gary A. Donahue is a working consultant who has been in the computer industry for 25 years. Gary has worked as a programmer, mainframe administrator, Technical Assistance Center engineer, network administrator, network designer, and consultant. Gary has worked as the Director of Network Infrastructure for a national consulting company and has been the president of GAD Technologies.

Inside the book

If you plan to pick up this book, be advised that the author assumes that you have enough knowledge to pass the CCNA exam, and that he explains basic networking concepts very briefly.

The 40+ chapters spanning over 750 pages explain things like autonegotiation, VLANs, routing protocols, the various multilayer switches, frame relay, firewalls, QoS and network designing, and much, much more.

Consulting this book will sometimes make you feel like you're talking to your favorite teacher, as the author explains everything very clearly and sometimes even sneaks a joke or two to make the learning more fun.

Also, because he is a veteran of this industry and has likely experienced - or his colleagues have - every situation depicted in this book, he often gives good advice instead of just saying: "In this situation, you can do A, B, or C."

This is especially true of the last few chapters: Failures, GAD's (Gary A. Donahue's) Maxims, and Avoiding Frustrations, in which you will be presented with tried and tested answers to technical problems and those tied with people (management, most of all). Save yourself future grief and take his words to heart.

New in the second edition are the chapters on the Cisco Nessus devices, IPv6, VoIP, wireless, and Multiprotocol Label Switching, and the addition of Nexus NX-OS command to the CatOS ones from the first edition.

Final thoughts

Network Warrior is not a book for beginners and it's not the perfect book for those who don't or won't use Cisco equipment, but if you passed your CCNA exam, but you're still not sure you are able to deal with real-life network situations, it is the right book for you.

The sheer amount of information and detail contained in it will likely make it the book you'll most often consult on a day-to-day basis - and that's a lot of bang for not that much buck.