CCNP Certification Library, 4th Edition, (Cisco Systems CCNP Self-Study)

First of all, the good points: By and large, these books are highly accurate and reasonably error-free, which is not at all surprising, since these are official course guides straight from Cisco's mouth. They get their facts across directly and succinctly, and are unlike most other certification books in that they're all deeply concerned with teaching you how to do your job properly. They're packed with on-the-job examples, and the experience shines through when it comes to teaching you the important bits, for not only do they show you the "how" and the "why," but quite often they also show you the "where"--how each technology and protocol fits into the larger picture.

The writing, unfortunately, is much the same from book to book--they're all extremely textbooky, as if each book was written by Joe Friday from Dragnet. There isn't a wasted sentence to be found here; every word counts, making the information-to-text ratio higher than almost any other certification book you're likely to find on the market. Skim a page of a topic that you think you already know, and you may miss two or three important smaller points that become quite important in later chapters. If you're used to chattier books like Sybex or Macmillan, the lack of handholding can be abrupt and startling.

The information density and real-world experience comes at a cost: Although the end goal of every test-taker is ultimately to put that experience to work on a live system, every CCNP wannabe has to get over the hurdle of taking the exam--and none of the books are true exam practice. Admittedly, each of them gives you tons of useful knowledge, but there are a lot of meanderings where they go into detail on something that never gets tested. Furthermore, they don't tell you that these are rarely-tested topics, so you may spend a lot of time struggling with some abstract concept that never comes up on the exam, and ignoring a subject that almost always is on the exam.

Moreover, the questions at the end of each chapter are essay-style, not multiple-choice. Cisco has made it quite clear what their teaching objectives are: If you know the material well enough, says Cisco, you don't need us to tell you what's on the exam--you'll know. As such, each book has to be read and thoroughly understood in its entirety in order to guarantee a passing score. This means that if you're willing to devote the time and effort, you'll pass without a hitch--exam slackers can look elsewhere.

The books themselves are remarkably consistent, and pleasantly free from the "two good books and a crappy one" syndrome so common in large, expensive boxed sets. Each book pulls its own weight, although the CCNP Routing Guide--even though it's the thickest and deals with some of the toughest concepts--is probably the weakest in the set, since some of the writing is obtuse even by Cisco's standards and may confuse those not intimately familiar with routing concepts. On the other hand, the CCNP Support guide is sterling by anyone's standards and is even a useful read for non-CCNP candidates, as it hands out real-world troubleshooting advice by the barrelful.

In short, this set isn't an easy read--not even close. It isn't for those who barely passed their CCNA or people who don't routinely work with networks. But it is astoundingly comprehensive and error-free by certification guide standards, and the effort you put into grinding through here will be richly rewarded by a high passing score and a good foundation of CCNP concepts that will set you up for an excellent job--and perhaps even your CCIE. Highly recommended. --William Steinmetz

--CCNP BSCI Exam Certification Guide, Third Edition, by Claire Gough
--CCNP BCMSN Exam Certification Guide, by David Hucaby
--CCNP BCRAN Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition, by Brian Morgan and Craig Dennis
--CCNP CIT Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition, by Amir S. Ranjbar

This set, covering diverse topics in significant detail, is an excellent CCNP preparation tool. The material in the books focuses on Cisco's published objectives for the CCNP exams, and covers them well. The longest and most unique book in this collection is the volume on routing (BSCI). It's structured to cover the objectives for the 642-801 exam using several tools common to all the books in the set-namely detailed but highly readable text, graphical, tabular, and router configuration examples, Q&A and "Do I Know This Already?" quizzes, and the bundled CDROM. The graphics are first-rate and illustrate key concepts clearly.

What sets the BSCI book apart from the others in the set, and other Cisco Press books I've read, is the series of lab exercises at the end of each chapter. The BSCI labs provide comprehensive scenarios that take in all the concepts taught in each chapter, in step-by-step form. Answers are provided following each example so that you can check your work. This book is particularly well-suited to self-study. This level of detail and the inclusion of labs is key, since in my opinion, the CCNP routing exam (642-801) is the most difficult one in all of Cisco's Professional-level certifications. It's appropriate that the routing book, at 950 pages, contains about a third of the pages of the entire set!

The labs in the routing book cover concepts that Cisco hits hard on the exam questions and simulations, including OSPF, BGP and IS-IS. You'll need a fair amount of Cisco equipment to do the lab work, but it's obtainable on-line and is worth the investment if you want to do well on the exams and really understand the topics. For a book of this size, the routing text is remarkably consistent and error-free. Although I found a few minor errors here and there, the book is well-suited to self-study-in part because it is so accurate. The overall structure and content of this book make it the strongest learning tool I've seen for the BSCI exam.

Although the other three books in the set don't include this comprehensive level of configuration exercises, they do provide some scenario-based material to reinforce concepts.

All the texts are good for instructor-led training, or as a text for web-based training. Although the other three books are all significantly shorter than the routing text, they share many of the excellent traits that makes this set such a strong preparation tool for the CCNP certification exams. I tried to use Exam Cram 2 texts in addition to this Cisco Press set while preparing for the BSCI and BCMSN exams, and quickly found that the Cisco Press set offers by far the clearest, most easily digested, error-free and relevant information.

Each book in this set comes with a CD that contains a high-quality practice exam engine (sourced by Boson), as well as the PDF text of the book and some sample material from other Cisco Press titles. I found the CDs very useful-especially the test engines, since a key part of studying for certification exams that are as difficult as Cisco's CCNP exams is assessing what you've learned and how well you can apply it. The self-tests include questions of each type that appear on the exams, including basic simulation-type questions that are probably best called scenarios; they don't have the look and feel of an actual router or switch interface during configuration, as the exams do. They do, however, show you clearly whether you understand the command syntax and topics being covered. The practice test questions are harder and less forgiving, overall, than what's on the exams. I found that if I could make 75% or better on the sample tests, my scores were significantly better on the CCNP exams.

The weakest book in this set is the CIT text, which sticks strictly to Cisco's published objectives for the exam. As such, it's a bit simplistic and doesn't exercise your mind much when it comes to troubleshooting for results-it's oriented toward procedure rather than outcome. The author lets you know to expect this going in, and I appreciated his honesty. The three scenarios offered at the end of the book are rather weak; I was hoping for substantial troubleshooting exercises. But all of the topics on the CIT exam are fully covered in this book.

The BCMSN and BCRAN books are both excellent long-term references, along with the BSCI text, and cover not only the core topics of the exams but also a lot of information useful to networking people after the exams are distant memories. This trait is the core strength of this set. The layout, graphics, quality writing and editing, and extra learning tools make for an outstanding value. Overall, I can't recommend this set highly enough. The highly motivated learner will find everything in this set that's needed to pass the CCNP exams. That said, however, it is important to have either professional experience, a set of readily available routers and switches, or both, to make it over the CCNP hurdles.

These books have a prominent place on my bookshelf at work and at home. I have two sets because I think the books are that good. Anyone interested in networking at the geek level of detail will be well-served by this set.

CCNP Official Exam Certification Library

Fifth Edition

CCNP Certification Library is a comprehensive review and practice package for the four Cisco® CCNP® exams: BSCI, BCMSN, ISCW, and ONT. The four books contained in this package, CCNP BSCI Official Exam Certification Guide, Fourth Edition, CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, Fourth Edition, CCNP ISCW Official Exam Certification Guide, and CCNP ONT Official Exam Certification Guide, present complete reviews and ample opportunities to test your knowledge of CCNP exam topics. These authorized Cisco CCNP study guides are written by CCIE® certified individuals and certified Cisco instructors, bringing years of teaching and consulting experience together in an ideal test preparation format.

CCNP BSCI Official Exam Certification Guide, Fourth Edition, helps you evaluate your ability to use advanced IP addressing and routing in implementing scalability for Cisco integrated services routers (ISRs) connected to LANs and WANs. This book covers all the topics on the CCNP BSCI exam 642-901. CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, Fourth Edition, covers all the topics on the CCNP BCMSN exam 642-812 and helps you understand how to implement scalable multilayer switched networks. CCNP ISCW Official Exam Certification Guide covers all the topics on the CCNP ISCW exam 642-825 and tests your ability to secure and expand the reach of an enterprise network to teleworkers and remote sites with a focus on securing remote access and VPN client configuration. CCNP ONT Official Exam Certification Guide covers all the topics on the CCNP ONT exam 642-845 and examines your ability to optimize and apply effective quality of service (QoS) techniques for converged networks.

Every chapter in each Cisco Press Official Exam Certification Guide focuses your study and tests your knowledge of the subject through specially designed assessment features. “Do I Know This Already?” quizzes assess your knowledge and help you decide how much time you need to spend on each section. The detailed Foundation Topics sections review the exam topics you will need to master. Each chapter includes a Foundation Summary section full of tables and concise reviews for quick reference. Challenging chapter-ending review questions and scenario-based exercises test your knowledge of the subject matter, reinforce key concepts, and ensure that you understand how all the technologies work together in a real-world environment. Finally, each book’s companion CD-ROM has a robust, customizable test engine that allows you to take practice exams that mimic the real testing environment. You can take a full sample exam, focus on particular topic areas, randomize answers for reusability, track your progress, examine your strengths and weaknesses, and refer to an electronic version of the book to review concepts.

CCNP Certification Library, Fifth Edition, is part of a recommended learning path from Cisco that can include simulation and hands-on training from authorized Cisco Learning Partners and self-study products from Cisco Press. To find out more about instructor-led, e-learning, and hands-on instruction offered by authorized Cisco Learning Partners, please visit http://www.cisco.com/go/authorizedtraining.

Coverage of all four CCNP exams enables you to identify and fill your knowledge gap before the exam date.

Prepare for the BSCI 642-901, BCMSN 642-812, ISCW 642-825, and ONT 642-845
CCNP BCSI Official Exam Certification Guide, Fourth Edition, coverage includes essential routing principles for designing and managing scalable network; EIGRP, OSPF, and IS-IS functions and operations; basic BGP configuration; multicast routing; Cisco IOS routing features, including redistribution, route filtering, and DHCP; and IPv6 addressing and the transition from IPv4 to IPv6
CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, Fourth Edition, coverage includes Spanning Tree Protocol concepts; virtual LAN (VLAN), VLAN trunking, and inter-VLAN routing; gateway redundancy technologies and protocols; wireless LAN topologies, components, connectivity, and standards; implementing a Cisco Unified Wireless Network; wireless client access; access layer voice concepts; and preventing and mitigating attacks against switched network security
CCNP ISCW Official Exam Certification Guide coverage includes the Cisco hierarchical network model as it pertains to the WAN; teleworker configuration and access with broadband technologies; Frame mode MPLS; IPsec VPN implementations; Cisco device hardening; Cisco IOS® Firewall features; and Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System(IPS) features
CCNP ONT Official Exam Certification Guide coverage includes implementing a voice-over-IP (VoIP) network; implementing QoS on converged networks; specific IP QoS mechanisms for implementing the DiffServ QoS model; AutoQoS; wireless security; and basic wireless management

4 Companion CD-ROMs

The four companion CD-ROMs contain test banks with a total of more than 800 practice questions, including simulation-based questions, and the full text in electronic format.

This volume is part of the Exam Certification Guide Series from Cisco Press®. Books in this series provide officially developed exam preparation materials that offer assessment, review, and practice to help Cisco Career Certification candidates identify weaknesses, concentrate their study efforts, and enhance their confidence as exam day nears.

Category: Cisco Press–Cisco Certification

Covers: BSCI exam 642-901, BCMSN exam 642-812, ISCW exam 642-825, and ONT exam 642-845

$179.99 USA / $224.99 CAN

But first, dear reader, note that the name of this book set: it is the Cisco CCNP Preparation Library, not the Cisco CCNP Certification Library (which is a separate set). If you're looking for something that will help you pass the exam easily, this isn't the place for you: the text in these books requires intense study, and it isn't always forgiving when it comes to learning tough concepts. If, however, you're looking to gain a solid understanding of how to build, maintain, and troubleshoot networks the Cisco way, this is an excellent place to start. And, when you're done, you'll have the nice bonus of being within a hair's breadth of passing anyway.

You'll start off with Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting, which teaches you the fundamentals: basic maintenance and problem-solving methodologies. Along the way, it also goes into some good ground-level detail on how the Cisco technologies work. This book is extremely good and probably the best written of the bunch, although technically speaking it's also the weakest: there are a couple of glaring technical errors, some occasional illustration glitches, and the section on switching is slightly confusing. But the topics all mesh nicely, it's packed with examples that will come in handy in the real world--and most importantly, it provides you with a skill set of troubleshooting skills that will come in handy when you're reading all of the other books.

Building Scalable Cisco Networks delves into detail on routing and switching, and makes up for some of the lingering confusion that you may still have after Internetwork Troubleshooting. Routing concepts are always a headache, requiring both visual and intellectual skills to properly process, but this book does a workman's job of walking you through the various routing protocols in easily digestible detail.

Building Cisco Remote Access Networks is technically accurate, but it's definitely the hardest slog in the entire set in that it's dense and oddly structured, and it lacks the solid flow that Internetwork Troubleshooting has. The information's all there, of course, but you'll have to ferret it out yourself, and if you're a beginner to dialups you may well find yourself wandering in the woods.

Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks is almost as good as the Internetworking Troubleshooting guide: it's thorough, thoughtful, and well written. The concepts are fairly heavyweight, of course, but upon diligent study you'll find them all coming clear.

Of course, this is a problem with all of the books. Most people will be buying them to pass an exam, but they're not written as exam-prep guides--even if some of them are official coursework. These books ladle out information in great heaping spoonfuls, but none of them tell you, for example, which of these topics are heavily tested and which are usually ignored. It could be easy to lose the signal among all of this noise--and it doesn't help that all of the end-of-chapter test questions are open-ended, essay-style quizzes as opposed to the multiple-choice monstrosities you'll find on the actual exams. This turns the nature of this set into an all-in-one exercise: either you slurp down enough information that you can successfully pass, or you don't get anything.

Some might say that's the very problem with certification exams, anyway: students cram to learn a simple set of answers and then forget everything when they're in the real world. That's not possible here, since the text lacks any sort of friendly chat--every sentence means something, and the lack of waster verbiage means that if you skim a paragraph you may miss something vital. You've got to read everything in the book.

But once you get through this sometimes-grueling set, you'll be well prepared for the real world and probably set up nicely to pass the exam too. Much like real tech work, this isn't always easy--but it does come with some nice rewards. Recommended. --William Steinmetz

The four book set is tailored made for the classroom and is listed as Cisco Official courseware. Covering the BCMSN, BCRAN, BCSN and CIT exams this sets of books also works to help in the study for the CCDP exams.

Once thing that impressed me the most is the fact that information is so detailed and written by CCIE's and CCSI's giving you the benefit of years of experience. The books had very few errors in the grammar department. The information does exceed what the objective call for and the author(s) knowledge is evident throughout the books.

Overall this is both a great set of book for the classroom and could with the certification library you have an unbeatable combination to work with. I do not see the price being an issue but with future release there should be some simulator included

But, if you cannot afford to spend that fortune or your company is such a cheap skate, bless you... this book set contains the exact contents, word-for-word, of each of the required course. Main difference is that it is more convenient than the 2-volume spring bound official text. Errata given by class instructors also apply to these books. Some certified training center might hand you a separate lab book which has a different setup than the one contained on these books. Although the actual lab setup and hardware used from Cisco CEC is different from these books, the actual lab scenarios and practices are somewhat similar with these books' content.

I have not used any other reviewer but these sets to attain my CCNP certification (I got rid of the spring-bound text given to me at certified training center, yup, sold it to ebay). I strongly advised to go through the lab scenarios/exercises, either on a piece of paper or actual hardware (don't bother with Sybex CCNP Virtual lab, it's a great disapointment). You can grab yourself some used routers/switches from ebay (some companies on the internet offer a timed lab practice for a fraction of the cost where you FTP on their site and allow you access on their hardware) or you can follow along and do the exercises on a piece of paper.

If you must pass your CCNP, you will, and these book set is all you need. I'll give it a 5-star as the errors you will find are not really major one...bv the lab exercises & exhaustive information are awesome! Superbly illustrated throughout. The Book set is not only highly useful for the exam, but would also come in super handy as a great reference tool for the job.

These books may be comprehensive (and that is very arguable), but they are very poor, difficult reads, and in my opinion, that doesn't make them an effective investment in either time or money. Now that I've finished them, I can definitively say I was disappointed overall. They're seriously overrated.

Prepare for the CCNP certification exams with Cisco authorized self-study materials. You'll learn how to:

CCNP Preparation Library is a comprehensive self-study preparation package for the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) exams, the professional-level Cisco Career Certification for network support. The four books contained in this package, CCNP Self-Study: Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI), Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks, Building Cisco Remote Access Networks, and Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting, are Cisco authorized self-study learning tools. They present complete foundation coverage of all the topics found on the CCNP exams. Whether you are interested in preparing for the CCNP exams or you are simply interested in gaining a better understanding of intermediate-level routing, switching, remote access, and support topics, you will find these top-rate self-study guides to be an invaluable resource.

CCNP Self-Study: Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI) teaches you how to design, configure, maintain, and scale routed networks that are growing in size and complexity. Updated to include over 100 pages of IS-IS protocol coverage, this book focuses on using Cisco routers connected in LANs and WANs typically found at medium-sized to large networks. Upon completion of this book you will be able to select and implement the appropriate Cisco IOS(r) services required to control traffic over LANs and WANs and connect your network to Internet service providers.

Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks teaches you how to build and manage campus networks using multilayer switching technologies over high-speed Ethernet. The book presents detailed information on how routing and switching technologies work together by defining Cisco recommended campus network design methodologies. You will receive an in-depth analysis of Layer 2 switching technologies, Layer 3 routing services provided in the campus network, and securing the switched campus network model.

Building Cisco Remote Access Networks teaches you how to design, configure, maintain, and scale a remote access network using Cisco products. This book helps you enable and enhance the on-demand connectivity of a branch office, small office, home office, or telecommuter site to a central site.

Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting teaches you how to perform fundamental hardware maintenance and troubleshooting on many different Cisco routers and switches. Divided into four sections-Troubleshooting Tools and Methodology, Routing and Routed Protocol Troubleshooting, Campus Switch and VLAN Troubleshooting, and WAN Troubleshooting-this book provides you with a systematic and logical approach to keep today's complex networks running smoothly.

CCNP Preparation Library is part of a recommended learning path from Cisco Systems that can include simulation and hands-on training from authorized Cisco Learning Partners and self-study products from Cisco Press.

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CCNP CERTIFICATION LIBRARY
CLARE HUCABY, DAVID MORGAN, BRIAN DENNIS, CRAIG GOUGH
Manufacturer: PEARSON PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N57QBS

Average customer rating:

Cisco CCNP Certification Library
Clare Gough
Manufacturer: Cisco Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUSUVY