 | | |
| CCDA: Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide, 2nd Edition (640-861) | 
| Authors: Todd Lammle, Andy Barkl
Publisher: Sybex
Category: Book
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $9.74
You Save: $40.25 (81%)
Buy New/Used from $4.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  (86 reviews)
Sales Rank: 239591
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 7.5 x 1.5
ISBN: 0782142001
Dewey Decimal Number: 004.6
UPC: 025211442005
EAN: 9780782142006
ASIN: 0782142001
Publication Date: July 16, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Get ready for the new CCDA exam with the updated CCDA: Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide, 2nd Edition. Organized for optimal learning and retention, this book provides in-depth coverage of all exam objectives along with practical insights drawn from real-world experience. The accompanying CD includes hundreds of challenging review questions, electronic flashcards, and a searchable electronic version of the entire book. Cisco recently "refreshed" the CCDA exam, adding new questions and question formats to the pool, but leaving the previous set of exam objectives intact. The CCDA certification validates a foundation or apprentice knowledge of network design for the small office/home office (SOHO) market.
Amazon.com Review
Of the preparation guides available for the Cisco Certified Design Associate exam (640-441), CCDA: Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide comes out on top. Authors Todd Lammle and Donald Porter clearly explain what you need to know, both to pass the exam and to prove yourself a competent network technician once on the job. Some of the material that appears in these pages--a table listing various Cisco router product lines, their capabilities, and suitable applications for them, to cite one example--makes great reading, and will prove useful long after the exam is over. The authors' presentation style uses text to great effect, explaining potentially confusing topics with clear, fact-rich prose that rewards close attention from the reader. There are plenty of helpful conceptual diagrams (illustrating network segmentation with a bridge, for example) and flow charts (a good one illustrates packet-switching logic) as well. It's sometimes possible to forget that this is an exam preparation aid, but realistic problems and multiple-choice review questions bring readers back to the task at hand. Elaborate solutions to the problems and quick answers to the review questions appear in the back of this book (along with an excellent, extensive glossary), but the answer key would be more helpful if it included brief discussions explaining the reasoning behind the correct answers. --David Wall Topics covered: All proscribed elements of the CCDA exam (640-441), including the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) reference model, Ethernet, network topologies, network protocols, routing, bridging, switching, and the fundamentals of Cisco hardware and software products.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 81 more reviews...
Good overview, missing in some spots February 17, 2005
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book does a noble job of trying to deliver the goods. Each chapter begins with a short list of the exam objectives covered - the same objectives that come directly from Cisco's site.
Parts of the design methodology are lacking. For example, the book spends a good amount of time on the PDIOO life cycle, but is missing some interesting tweaks which Cisco adds (and tests you on). The design phase in particular really needs to be broken down further into the following steps:
1. Performing a network audit
2. Performing traffic analysis
3. Doing the actual design, which includes addressing, routing and routed protocols, etc.
4. Performing the pilot/prototye
5. Planning the implementation
6. Documenting everything, and creating the design document
You have to have all of this info to create the design document!
Other parts of the book seemed almost like a cut and paste of the Cisco exam guide, particularly the section on traditional voice technology.
Overall the book does a decent job with the material and assumes you already have a networking background. I would definitely only use this book as part of your preparation, not the sole source of it.
 How to Pass CCDA August 16, 2004
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, this book is a miss. It missed out on too many objectives. Lammle does a great job with CCNA, and he's a terrific writer, but this book came out with too little research and too little attention to current objectives. Plus, there's a lot of obsolete material in this book.
To pass CCDA, see the article by Andy Barkl (a coauthor of the Sybex book, interestingly) at www.tcpmag.com (click on Exam Reviews and then CCDA) and peruse it. Follow the links to the Cisco site, especially the CCDA objectives and the SAFE white paper. Then buy the Cisco Press Exam Certification Guide and CCDA/CCDP flash cards, and cram/practice/cram until you have it.
Problems with the Sybex CCDA and reasons it won't be worth your time follow.
The design methology on the test is not the one taught in this book. The book teaches PDIOO; the exam is all about techical and business goals and constraints.
The Enterprise Composite Network Model (ECNM) is not covered in anywhere enough detail. The design methodologies on the exam have to do with different areas of the ECNM.
The stuff in the book on IPX, Appletalk and Token Ring are all irrelevant.
The voice section and the IPv6 sections are just cursory explanations of topics you will be tested on in some detail.
The network management and security sections are also too high level.
One good thing about this book -- the VLSM section is a good intro and covers classless addressing in enough detail. Lammle is really good at teaching this type of stuff -- his tutorial on subnetting in CCNA is just a great way to learn.
He's a master teacher, and unfortunately just got this one out the door without properly matching it to the exam objectives. Barkl, like Lammle, is also an excellent writer, and (as I said above) his writeup on www.tcpmag.com is on-the-money as to what this exam entailed, but unfortunately this book (though lucid and smartly written) isn't as faithful to the exam objectives.
Maybe they'll rev the book, but until they do, you need to stick with Cisco Press on this.
 Waste of money and time July 23, 2004
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've used the CCNP Sybex book to pass CCNP easily, I've been a Cisco engineer for 9 years and I failed a CCDA with this book.
I questioned my sanity. But sure enough the book doesn't cover the material. In fact it missses out MOST of the exam topics.
Score less than the required 825 with this book.
It's not just the books fault though. The exam is a classic Cisco foul up with answers being ambiguous as hell. A bit like the original CCNA for those that failed that one. You are not alone.
I'm off to buy the 'top down' networking manual from Cisco Press as that's what they used to write the exam. that's why Cisco don't allow you to take the exam again for 3 days, so you can realise you had the wrong study guide.
Bitter - Yes
Twisted - maybe.
Not sufficient enough to pass the exam with June 17, 2004
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is garbage. It doesn't come close to fulfilling the exam objectives. The test prep software is a joke. VoIP and IPv6 are severely lacking as these two subjects constituted a good chunk of the exam. Too many pages written on subjects that weren't part of the exam (the trivial introductory stuff) and not enough pages devoted to the important stuff.This was my first certification. I posted a decent score but not enough to pass. VoIP and IPv6 hurt me. I'll never use a Sybex book as source again. The other user reviews were right; I should have listened. One more thing learned the hard way... I'm going to try the Teare book next.
Don't touch with a barge pole. I've flushed better. Bile. April 28, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
No stars earned here.
Over 50% of the book covers maybe 20 - 30% of the exam.
The thrust of analysis is covered by 30 - 50 pages of the book and maybe 50% of the exam; the rest of the book is introductory stuff which you'll need to understand but won't be questioned on and if it is new to you you are studying for the wrong exam - CCDA is not the start for someone new to networks. And containing the documentation in "Post Design Issues" (overly short) chapter is a basic sin my old Comp Sci professors would quite rightly have had the skin flogged off my back for.This book introduces (some of) the tools, stops short of suggesting what to do with them then goes on about non exam related stuff - Sybex, this one is more than just a technical exam. Am I bitter 'cos I got 80% and failed this exam on my first attempt? No, I'm bitter because I knew this book throughout and it left (for me) the main thrust of the exam unaddressed - had I used only this book I would have been lucky to get 40%. Sybex have been known to leave books an occasional bit short, but this one is in a league of its own. After reading DT's Cisco Press, managed a clear pass - I'm still considering giving some significant use to Todd Lammle et al and Sybex's email addresses as there are no innocent parties here. Oh dear.
|
|
|
Powered by: Dknc, inc. and Amazon.com | | 
For your safety and security, orders are processed through amazon.com
|
|
|
|
