Syngress Media | Inc Staff Syngress Media
1 Too many errors
I read this book and passed the test on the first try, but half of the questions on the test weren't even covered in this book. That along with the ridiculous amount of grammatical errors in this book made it the last one from this publisher that I will buy.
Bottom line: You can pass the test with this book if you know all the information in it, but your passing score will be barely passing.
2 Very underrated.
I bought this book as extra material simply because the Cisco Press CCNP prep titles had been consistently disappointing and I wanted to try something more. Well, I'm sorry I didn't check out Syngress Media titles from the beginning of my CCNP journey, if this book is any indication of their quality. It is excellent. Yes, a couple of chapters are a bit of a wash (particularly later in the book), and there are errors here and there, but no more so than the official Cisco Press course material that is so frequently lauded (and that is some of the driest, most poorly organized study material anyone could torture themselves with to begin with).
This book was a great read, with good insight and explanations, and was for the most part accurate and an excellent study guide. Far better than Sybex's Lammle titles and better than the official BCRAN Cisco Press book.
3 some good chapters, some not so good
Here are some of the chapters that I already gone through: Chapter 1 Remarks - a "just sufficient" introduction to different types of WAN link and protocols for people with CCNA and ACRC background. Chapter 2 - they are talking about various types of remote access routers - but they do not show you any diagram. So to clear the confusion I have to go and download those model from Cisco site. Chapter 3. The author get us `feet wet' by giving a nuts and bolts lecture on synchronous and asynchronous communication, PCM, TDM, DS0 and all that, and launch into chat script and group async interface config. But at the end I still wonder what my router can do with all these configuration. Bad, Bad. Chapter 4. Things that are unclear in chapter 3 become clearer after reading chapter 4 - may be they should merge and topics re-arranged. Many chapter 3 topics are repeated in chapter 4 - coordination break down? Chapter 5. The going gets a bit tough starting chapter 5 - when we go real deep into PPP. CHAP PAP is given good coverage with example scenario, but compression is presented with careless offhand manner - though probably sufficient for exam. Callback is a bit cloudy - many commands discussed does not fit in the callback example - so I don't know how to use them. And then the multilink is well explained in a way that layman can understand - but it looks incomplete. Where is the interface and line command for Multichassis Multilink PPP? How to use autoselect? chapter 7 and 9 are useful, practical topics on configuring and verifying DDR, chapter 8 goes tremendously deep into ISDN specification that I have difficulty understanding them after repeated attempts. Chapter 11. The author's presentation of x.25 and frame-relay is overwhelmingly academic and too rigorous - someone should check if it is relevant to certification objective. The whole chapter does not have the usual goodies like "ExamWatch", "From the classroom", "Question and Answer" that appears in all other chapters. After my N attempts to struggle through this chapter without success - I am now falling back on Syngress ACRC and the infamous Andrew Bruce Caslow's Cisco Certification for Frame Relay, and perhaps some other source for X.25. Chapter 13. Suprisingly, after some hard reading, I find that I can understand NAT - quite well explained. Chapter 14. They are talking about AAA, Radius, etc. very lost. Sadden. Details appear to be there, but just couldn't make good sense of it. The patient, one step by one step approach in chapter 13 on NAT did not carry over to this chapter, and I find my mind working overdrive to fill in the missing link. Overall, I think this is one strange book that give you most of the information you need to pass the exam - but along the way, get you so confused that you might never pass the exam without the help of other books.
4 Remote Access study Guide.
Excellent reference material to reinforce my preparation for the BCRAN test. I usually used several books for my review. I have no complaint for ... I paid way back in Dec. 2000.
5 Absolute Nightmare
I am nearly completed reading this atrocious book and as frustrated as I am, I need to continue since exam date is hovering ever so close. While some chapters do a fantastic job of explaining the tediously technical, other chapters appear to be cut and pasted from Cisco's own CCO. I could have done just as well and saved myself some money but I purchased a book hoping to find clarification of difficult topics. Want to know more about ISDN, Frame Relay and X.25? Go elsewhere! Labs without explanation, errors galore, even questions that editors forgot to review! Save your money!
6 ***WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***WARNING***
Buy this book at your peril! I just finished reading it from cover-to-cover and was cursing at every error I came across. Some of the errors are damn dangerous too - not only for exam purposes but also on the job. This book has a "hurriedly written" sense: chapters overlap considerably making you wonder if the squillions of authors who worked on it collaborated in any way and there are many grammatical errors and scary technical errors. This is the last non-Cisco Press book I ever buy for study purposes. It's interesting to note that the equivalent Cisco Press book is only half the size of this door-stopper. I'm so angry I'm going to ask Syngress for my money back. You have been warned.
7 Comprehensive Guide for Remote Access
I just passed my exam after studying primarily with this book. Like all of the CCNP exams, you can't expect to pass by just reading a book, you have to have real experience. But, as far as study guides go, this one really helped me prepare for the exam. All of the obectives were covered, and the exercises and questions help you think of the content in the right way to get ready for the exam.
8 Quite good
I have spent more than 4 months with this book but is not even half ready for the exam. Like other Syngress's Cisco certification title, this book is a solid, systematic work that will help tremendously towards the exam, but I suspect that having more than one authors rushing for the dateline spoils the work a little bit. For example, the chapter 3 author talks at length on chat-script, then the chapter 4 author repeat some of the chat-script discussion. Such lack of coordination, I believe, is the reason why I have to cross check many topics in chapter 3,4,5 to gain a better understanding of each - which probably add 100 hours or so to my study time. Then, in chapter 7 and 9 ISDN, DDR is given good treatment - but in between there is a damn tough chapter on ISDN that appears to be more for people working for telco than LAN/WAN guy - I seriously doubt if chapter 8 is mean for the 640-505 exam. Later chapters on NAT, TACAS, RADIUS, Compression, all exhibit sign that the authors has very solid knowledge on the topic - but just not have enough time to write clearer. The result is a book with some brilliant teaching mix with intermittent patches of dull and tough "cut and paste" style lifeless writing. The result is you and I probably have to spend twice the time to understand their writing. Also I think it is true that VoIP is an exam objective but is not covered in this book. Well, I have not much choice really since this part of the world still have no seen any other title that is meant for CCNP 2.0 exam, so I have to stick to this for another couple of months. Not bad - but can be much better. I will definitely be looking for a second source that hopefully will still be useful after the exam - Bill Burton's work is tempting but does not met exam objective, Mcgraw-Hill's II Thomas M.Thomas probably won't be considered, Sybex's Lammle probably won't last more than 10 minutes of scrutiny in the bookshop - hopefully Exam Cram or Prep has some better stuff to show - they seldom, but recently Richard Deal and Sean Odon all have written good book on Switching.
9 Decent coverage; better than most
Not the best computer book in the world, but well written and true to exam objectives.
10 Good Exam Prep
Like some of the other reviewers, i was a little apprehensive in buying this, but I figured why not- the more info. the better. I spen a solid week going over this book from cover to cover. I just got home from the Remote Access exam, and am happy to say i passed it with little difficulty. While this book is not perfect (few seldom are) it is extremely useable- and an asset in prepping for this CCNP exam.
11 This book appears to be a re-titled 640-405 guide
I purchased this book as an addition to the old BCRAN book I already owned from Cisco - but I shouldn't have wasted my money. The content is exactly the same as the Cisco Press book - sometimes even word-for-word. The book has many editorial errors and the chapter on the 700 sreies router that previous reviewers rave about is not even an exam objective. It is clear that Syngress wanted to be first on the new Cisco Exam bandwagon and have done so by just re-covering an old book. If you already have study guides for the old RAS exam then this won't offer you anything more. Essentially a waste of my time.
12 Just what you need for the CCNP Remote Access Exam.
After reading some of the other reviews, I was somewhat sceptical about the accuracy of this book. Because of the time I spent with this book, I was fully prepared to pass my 640-505. If your purpose is to pass the Remote Access exam for the CCNP, I highly suggest reading this book (and possibly none other). However, if you are looking for on-the-job application for building production remote access networks, some of the important points are glossed over.
13 The test questions on the CD are terrible!!!!!
I feel obligated to warn anyone preparing to buy this book. I have read a bit in the book and it seems to be very good and quite in depth, but the test questions on the CD are the worst. I can't believe that someone would put out a product with as many typos and gramatical errors and just plain wrong questions and answers. These questions are so bad it leaves you wondering if the mailboy made them. I am confident they didn't even have anyone technical edit the test. There are much better deals out there!!
14 The good, bad, and the summary.
The good: lots of good information on complex topics. I've read this book cover to cover and feel ALMOST ready to take the exam. The 2 minute drills offer a good review of each chapter, and the 20 questions after each chapter are also excellent. The bad: The editor of this book should be shot! There are many, many errors all over this book. Some errors are so bad its funny. Example: Chapter 13 is titled - Intro to troubleshooting Remote Access Networks. Yet this chapter has nothing to do with it. Chapter 13 is all about Network Address Translation! Also the diagrams and schematics are all misslabeled with wrong router numbers, ip addresses, ect... Also, some of the material on the actual Cisco Remote Access test is not covered in the book. Example: On Cisco's web site, Voice over IP is stated as one of the areas covered in the Remote Access exam -- but it is nowhere to be found in the book. The Summary: I gave this book 4 stars because it is a valuable resource, and I did learn a lot from the 35+ hours I spent reading it. The writing style is a bit dry, and there are quite a few errors. But over all, if you stick with it, you can learn a lot from this book.
15 Helped Me Pass
This book was really an asset as I prepared for this exam. I was a little concerned about 640-505 as this specific exam technology is my weakest point. the book covers all the key objectives, and does it in a way that makes sense. The Two minute drill feature at the end of each chapter helped me clarify key points, and made me go back to them in the chapter if I was still uncomfortable. The questions at the end of the chapter were helpful, and I really like the way they describe the answers. obviously it helps to know why a certain answer is right, but the descriptions of why the other choices were wrong was really valuable to me. There was an excellent chapter on the 700 Series router which is covered on the exam, but I hadn't used with any regularity before. The chapter does a good job detailing the router (features, applications, etc.) and then discusses configuration (PPP, dHCP Config, etc.). Good Section, and good book.
16 Excellent study material!
This book covers all of the objectives of the BCRAN test in great detail. The material is presented in a way that makes it easy to understand, Which is pretty hard to do given the complexity of the subject matter. I am looking forward to the other CCNP 2.0 Syngress releases.
17 Good for 2.0 exam
This book is 700+ pages of solid material for the new 2.0 level exams. Published in 2000, it is not for the older 1.0 exam (and there is a difference). This book is much better study material than the Cisco press book, but the Cisco book is one of those you can use on the job after the test.
The other 2.0 books are not available from this publisher yet, but when they are I will definitely buy them as well.
