For The Bookshelf - March 2001

The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
For The Bookshelf
Major Keary

Syngress Press, the publishing arm of Global Knowledge (a leading certification provider), has recently introduced a Professional References series based on Global Knowledge course texts. Titles in the series are notable for their focus on quite narrow topics, which saves administrators from having to browse through more general texts for information.

IP Addressing and Subnetting Including IPv6

I have not seen any other text that is dedicated to this specific topic, which is usually a section or chapter (or even a mere mention) in a book covering TCP/IP in general. One might think that such a narrow focus would be dry, but this is a surprisingly easy book to read. As well as the FAQs common to the series this title includes exercises (with answers) for some of the chapters, which is a useful feature for anyone using it for a self-study program.

Subnetting, in the context of IP addresses, is best described thus: "Companies that want to connect their internal networks to the Internet can request an IP network number that represents their entire network. . A company that receives an IP network number can then assign each host on their network an ip address that includes the assigned network number plus a specific host address." [Sheldon: Encyclopedia of Networking, Osborne McGraw-Hill]

In a normal IP address both a network number and a host address are provided for, but subnetting requires a third part. To achieve that for a network a subnet mask is used to define "which bits in the host portion of the ip address can be used to define a subnet" [Sheldon]. This book is about that specific part of TCP/IP.

The introductory chapter is a very good overview of the topic and does not require any special technical knowledge. The main part of the book examines IP addressing and subnetting in detail, covering both small and very large systems. The book is particularly good for its emphasis on planning for subnetting; such systems do not lend themselves to after-the-event add-ons, but require managers and administrators to provide for existing and future subnet hosts.

Masking issues are probably better and more fully treated here than in any other text. Other topics covered are routing issues, network address translation, automatic assignment of ip addresses with bootp and dhcp objectives, multicast addressing, and IPv6 addressing. An appendix contains useful information on address assignment.

In spite of the technical nature of the subject this is a remarkably readable book and, for anyone with a real interest, it is the kind of thing that one can read on the train.

Wegner and Rockell:
IP Addressing and Subnetting including IPv6
ISBN 1-928994-01-6
Published by Syngress, 487 pp.,
RRP $137.50 inc. GST

Using networks for voice communication originated in the experimental work of amateurs. They were technically competent, but developed the necessary tools and techniques without the help of corporate R&D resources. Once the viability of voice over net was demonstrated corporate interest was awakened. There is now a body of professional literature on using data networks to concurrently carry telephony.

It is one thing to present the technology for engineers; configuration issues are another matter. Cisco has been a leader in the field, and it is the configuration aspects of their solutions that this text describes. Two chapters are given to an introduction to Cisco's Voice Solutions and telephony. One might have expected the order to be reversed, but the philosophy seems to be one of first explaining 'why voice over IP' and its advantages, and then to explain the technology that underpins analog and digital telephony.

As with other titles in the Syngress Professional Reference series, the introductory part does not assume any special technical background. It sets out to provide the reader with the knowledge necessary to comprehend what follows. In this instance the book deals with voice protocols; basic voice-over-IP configuration; H.323 configuration (gateways and gatekeepers); and architecture for voice, video, and integrated data (AVVID).

Two extensive appendices deal with IPv6 addressing and headers. Voice-over-networks (VON) relies on packet technology, and the most significant standard that supports VON is the ITU's H.323; in fact it is one of a group of standards covering audio, video, and voice. The chapter on voice protocols describes the H.323 family in detail, and the following chapter addresses configuration issues.

This is a practical text designed to bring network administrators and managers up-to-speed on telephony over data networks, and to provide real-world information about configuration issues. As the title suggests, it is in the context of Cisco solutions. A comprehensive guide that should be part of the reference resources of any network administrator or manager using Cisco products.

Elliot Lewis: Configuring Cisco Voice over IP
ISBN 1-928994-03-2
Published by Syngress, 512 pp.,
RRP $137.50 inc. GST

Syngress Media's support for Linux in this Professional Reference series is consistent with their impressive RHCE study guides. In this title the focus is on providing database administrators with a guide to the installation and configuration of leading databases that have been ported to Linux. Those covered are Oracle, Informix, Sybase, Progress, DB2, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.

The Red Hat distribution is used as an example for discussion of Linux installation and configuration, but the information is equally applicable to other distributions.

The PHP scripting language is used for a detailed example application. Because most database administrators will be concerned with just one database application at a given point in time, the book has been designed so that readers do not have to sift from cover to cover for information. Each database is treated in a stand-alone chapter that follows a general format including a brief introduction to the application, installation, configuration, and other issues such as testing and troubleshooting.

It is not a case of one-size-fits-all, because each of the applications described has its own characteristics, and there are important URLs and other addresses for the open source applications.

The final chapter discusses "a complete build-up of a Web-based application from start to finish-that of the popular 'shopping cart' storefront application". A listing of the PHP script and a dump file for the application are provided. Apart from the book's value as a reference for each of the several significant database applications, it is also an excellent resource for comparison.