The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification is the top-tier certification in Cisco's Network Support program. This text provides information on Cisco routers and switches, WAN, and switching concepts and technologies. The CD includes a bonus exam and electronic flash cards.
In a world where most CCIE books are as dense and understandable as a phone book in a language you just started learning last week, the
CCIE Study Guide is a breath of fresh air--readable, clear, and admirably concise. Unfortunately, that readability comes at a price, and that price is a lack of depth.
But since you're going to be buying more than one book for this exam anyway, why not make it one you'll enjoy reading? And the Study Guide functions as a stellar overview, explaining the CCIE topics with deft aplomb and some of the best writing you're likely to see in this advanced arena, where technical wizardry is often valued higher than clarity.
The amazing thing about the Study Guide is the cleanness of the writing--getting the essentials of large unwieldy concepts across in a few sentences. Carefully thought-out diagrams spotlight various routing issues, which definitely help with visualisation. But still, the detail is fairly sparse, considering. The responses you'll get to various command lines are sometimes truncated for space, which may cause problems for those who are more used to sorting through pages of output to find the critical data. The sections on Ethernet frames have information, but they're not comprehensive. In short, there's a heck of a lot here, but the CCIE will require a bit more in almost every case you're likely to find.
There are 20 questions at the end of every chapter, and they're all right--but they're definitely a step down from what you can expect to see on the actual CCIE, and they're all simple multiple-choice questions. No scenario-style questions to be found here, buddy. The answers, sadly, are terse and don't always explain why the other options are wrong.
In short, backed with some Web research and a couple of other books, this could be the foundation for a real passing grade--but it's not quite enough. But if you've lost your way during all of the individual exams and need an overview--or want a refresher course that is technically accurate as far as it goes and is comparatively fun to read--then you won't regret it. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. --William Steinmetz
