Troubleshooting Cisco routers

Cisco Router Troubleshooting Handbook is a handy reference for network administrators and engineers dedicated to setting and maintaining a well-tuned network. The book lists out the tools and techniques needed to troubleshoot Cisco routers including cables and connectors, IP addressing, Ethernet connections, routing protocols, and Frame Relay, as well as Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System).

The book is divided into three sections. Part I - Troubleshooting Tools and Philosophy (chapters 1-3), where the writer delves into common router misconfiguration problems related to Ethernet Encapsulation, autonomous system number mismatch and area ID misconfigurations in OSPF (Open Shortest Path First). From there the author moves to Troubleshooting Philosophy and IOS troubleshooting tools like Ping and Telnet.

In Part II - Troubleshooting the Bottom Layers (chapters 4-6), the focus is on identifying problems related to Physical, Data Link, and Network Layers. Since the author uses real world examples, the system administrator can identify with common problems.

And the last part, Part III - Troubleshooting Routing Protocols (chapters 7-11) deals with routing protocols like IGRP/EIGRP, OSPF, RIP, and BGP. It gives an understanding of the unique characteristics of routing protocols. As there is no one best routing protocol for an environment this part of the book helps in analyzing the redistribution pitfalls between them. It also explains the peculiarities of their interactions in multiprotocol environments.

The book boasts of being unique in its approach of isolating, correcting, and avoiding problems. The reader can learn about the undesirable symptoms and their causes along with the processes to eliminate these.

This is a handbook that addresses real world problems and gives organized, detailed clear steps to troubleshoot these problems.

Title: Cisco Router Troubleshooting Handbook
Author: Peter Rybaczyk
Publisher: IDG Books India (P) Ltd
Price: Rs 229

The quick WAP reference

Consider this: In mid-2000 there were more than 400 million cell phone users worldwide. This number is expected to touch one billion by the end of 2002. In some European countries every third person owns a cell phone. Forty percent of US residents own cell phones. In Japan, service provider NTT DoCoMo has 31 million subscribers for its I-mode wireless Internet service (on mobile phones).

Industry analyst expect the number of cell phone users to double or triple in the next few years. There are a number of reasons to support that argument. Firstly, prices are falling every new months and governments are willing to cut duties on handsets to promote telecom usage. Another driver is the wealth of information available on the Internet. It's now possible to access this information on a mobile phone. The Wireless Application Protocol is the technology that makes this possible.

If you are curious about what WAP is all about, or want to know how your business could benefit from it, this Wiley Tech Brief book could be the right information source. It also makes for a handy reference and includes explanations for concepts that are usually taken for granted in technical books-like transports & protocols, the OSI Model, etc.

The attraction here is that you don't have to read the entire book to get WAP literate. For it presents everything upfront in the first chapter. Once you're past chapter one, you'll be familiar with all the concepts, terminology, acronyms, standards, protocols and the like.

In the rest of the book, you'll progress from the history of WAP to application development. Finally, the authors consider the future of WAP.

WAP phones which have small screens and limited graphics capability. So Web pages must be specially formatted for mobile phones and these must be written in the Wireless Markup Language (WML). The latter half of this book is a quick reference for WML syntax.

Title: The Wireless Application Protocol
Authors: Steve Mann, Scott Sbihli
Publisher: Wiley Computer Publishing
Price: Rs 275