By Dale Farris, Secretary
Golden Triangle PC Club
April 2005

From Syngress Publishing comes these 2 electronic collections of various of Syngress's Cisco network management, design, and engineering reference titles.

For the reasonable price of $59.95, you get 7 different titles in the Ultimate Cisco CD item that provide an essential reference collection of titles on Cisco networking that in print would cost you over $400. For $99.95, you get 5 titles in the Ultimate Cisco CD 2004 item that adds still more to this impressive approach to accessing this information.

Of course, you can still purchase the individual titles included in these 2 collections, but Syngress has wisely realized the interest in having access via CD ROM to all the information in all the titles. Syngress has conveniently merged these titles on the single CD ROM discs, making it simple and easy to search out data in any of the included titles.

Each book has been entirely converted into a PDF file that includes all the figures, tables, screenshots, indexes, appendixes, etc., found in the paper version of the different titles. Now, instead of finding the extensive shelf space for these titles, you can just place the 2 discs among all your other software media.

Titles in the Ultimate Cisco CD Collection

Managing Cisco Network Security (List price: $59.95)

By Florent Parent
608 pages

As more and more companies take their critical applications and business functions online, they need to know that their networks, systems, and data are protected. Cisco Systems, the world's largest internetworking vendor, has developed hardware and software solutions that provide security by tracking access by customers and business partners and prohibiting access by unauthorized outsiders. Configuring Cisco IP Security covers the full range of Cisco Secure hardware and software solutions, including PIX Firewall, Intrusion Detection System, and Authentication Agent, to help engineers and administrators protect their ISPs, corporate networks, and e-commerce sites. The book's user-friendly format includes a technology overview, a "fast-track" summary, easy-to-read chapters written by subject-matter experts, and dozens of helpful illustrations, screen shots, and captions.

Building Cisco Networks for Windows 2000 (List Price: $59.95)

By Melissa Craft (Editor), Elliot Lewis, et. al.
566 pages

The release of Windows 2000 Server represents a major advance in the integration of Microsoft's and Cisco's network technologies. Windows 2000 provides an LDAP-compliant directory service called Active Directory. It is accessible over any TCP/IP based internetwork, including the Internet. As such, the Active Directory is the foundation of this book. Coverage also includes: Quality of Service (QoS). Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Telephony applications for Cisco’s IOS and Microsoft’s Windows 2000 IP Routing Streaming data This book is unique in that it explores the technologies of Cisco and Microsoft both separately and together. If you have a network that uses either Cisco equipment or Microsoft Windows 2000, you will find the book useful. If you have a network that uses both Cisco equipment and Microsoft Windows 2000, you will find the book invaluable.

Configuring Cisco AVVID (List Price: $59.95)

By Wayne Lawson
608 pages

AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data) is a network architecture made up of hardware and software that transmits a company’s data such as e-mail, web traffic, file transfers, voice traffic, and video traffic over the same physical computer network. Imagine taking the three networks your company currently has and combining them into a single or converged infrastructure? Wouldn’t that make managing, budgeting, and staffing easier? Configuring Cisco AVVID will introduce you to the new AVVID components from Cisco that can save hard dollars and increase a company's overall performance.

Configuring Cisco AVVID will give IT professionals, ISPs, and engineers the first insight into how each piece of hardware and each software application function independently, as well as how they interoperate, forming a completely converged solution. It covers the hardware and software components of AVVID, including Cisco Router, Cisco Catalyst Switch, Cisco IP Telephones, Cisco Call Manager Server (MCS 7800), Analog and Digital Gateways, Voice Trunks, Voice Modules, Call Manager 3.0, Soft Phone, Web Attendant, and Active Voice.

Administering Cisco QOS for IP Networks (List Price: $59.95)

By Mike Flannagan
608 pages

Administering Cisco QoS for IP Networks discusses IP Quality of Service (QoS) and how it applies to Enterprise and Internet Service Provider (ISP) environments. It reviews routing protocols and quality of service mechanisms available today on Cisco network devices and it will provide you with examples and exercises for a hands-on experience designed to give you the background to implement these capabilities in your network.

Building Cisco Remote Access Networks (List Price: $49.95)

By Wayne Lawson
608 pages

Building Cisco Remote Access Networks is a Cisco authorized self-paced learning tool. It teaches you how to design, configure, and maintain a remote access network using Cisco products. This book helps you enable and enhance the on-demand connectivity of a small office, home office, or telecommuter site to a central site. It is divided into six main areas: introduction to remote access networks, identifying Cisco solutions to remote access needs, enabling on-demand connections to the Central site, enhancing on-demand connectivity, enabling permanent connections to the Central site, and scaling remote access networks.

Building Cisco Remote Access Networks offers detailed and concise solutions for working with remote access networks. Configuration examples demonstrate management and troubleshooting techniques. Step-by-step configuration and troubleshooting lists walk you though remote access network set-up and management. In-depth discussions teach you how to maintain and scale a remote access network. Finally, chapter-ending questions help you assess your understanding of key concepts and start you down the path for attaining your CCNP certification.

Configuring Cisco Voice Over IP (List Price: $59.95)

By Keith O'Brien
608 pages

Increasing competition and worldwide deregulation are opening up new opportunities for Internet service providers (ISPs) to compete with traditional telephone companies such as AT&T and MCI. Killen and Associates have estimated that the worldwide voice-over-IP (VoIP) long distance services market will be worth $9.4 billion by 2002.

Network administrators will need to know about VoIP and will find coverage of the following topics in this book:

Configuring Foreign Exchange Station and Foreign Exchange Office
Reducing Router Latency and Jitter
T1 Voice Connections with 2600, 3600, 7200 and AS5300 Routers
Configuring RSVP Interpreting Analog Signals to Digital Signals
Using VNMs

Readers will also find case studies on VoIP troubleshooting techniques, as well as a preview of AVVID IP phones and Cisco Call Manager

Cisco AVVID and IP Telephony Design & Implementation (List Price: $69.95)

By Robert Padjen (Editor), Sean Thurston, Michael E. Flannagan, Martin Walshaw, Jeff Bankston
608 pages

Cisco AVVID Design and Implementation is a complete reference for network administrators and engineers responsible for a complicated AVVID network. This book covers history, protocols, hardware, servers, switches, bridges, and routers, and discusses implementation issues, realities of cost, requirements, and network limitations. Engineers will learn how to design and build a comprehensive Cisco AVVID network infrastructure. Second in a series, this book is designed as the next-step for readers who have read the well-received Configuring Cisco AVVID Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data.

Titles in the Ultimate Cisco CD 2004 Collection

Managing Cisco Network Security 2nd Edition (List price: $59.95)

By Sean Thurston
784 pages

Information security has become an extremely important topic over the past few years. In today's environment the number of touch points between an organization's information assets and the outside world has drastically increased. Millions of customers interact via Web sites, employees and partners connect via Virtual Private Networks, applications are outsourced to Application Service Providers (ASPs) and wireless LANs are regularly deployed. A critical strategy for reducing security risks is to practice defense-in-depth, and Cisco Systems has placed a high priority on security and offers a wide range of security products. Managing Cisco Network Security, Second Edition is important to anyone involved with Cisco networks, as it provides practical information on using a broad spectrum of Cisco's security products.

Learn the Key Steps to Take When a Breach Is Detected Review the five steps of identification and classification, containment, eradication, recovery, and follow-up.
Master the PIX Firewall Series of Products Learn about the Cisco PIX 535, Cisco PIX 525, Cisco PIX 515E, Cisco PIX, and Cisco PIX 501.
Place Access Lists Review the options you have in applying access lists and achieving the same affect on traffic flowing through the router.
Understand the Three Phases of Transparent Routing Review the guidelines for deploying Network Address Translation (NAT).
Understand the LocalDirector Security Features Secure Geographically Dispersed Server Farms Using DistributedDirector.
Find an Overview of the Different VPN Technologies Use a Cisco VPN Concentrator and IPSec to securely send information to and from both sides of the VPN.
Cover Cisco Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) Configure Cisco devices, including routers, access servers, firewalls, and VPN gateways to act as an AAA client.
Configure the Features of the Content Services Switch (CSS) Review the security features of CSS, including health checks for each new flow, Access Control Lists, and NAT.
 Perform Dynamic Intrusion Detection Use the Cisco Secure Network Intrusion Detection System to perform real-time intrusion detection.
Look Ahead to Cisco Wireless Security Review the four steps of Wireless Equivalency Privacy (WEP) authorization.
Register for Your 1 Year Upgrade The Syngress Solutions upgrade plan protects you from content obsolescence and provides monthly mailings, whitepapers, and more!

Cisco Security Specialist's Guide to PIX Firewall (List price: $59.95)

By Vitaly Osipov
608 pages

The firewall has come to exemplify network security. While an overall security strategy requires a harmonious integration of people, process, and technologies to reduce risk, there's no doubt that firewalls can be a very valuable security tool. Cisco Systems' PIX firewalls have gained market leadership by demonstrating a mix of functionality, performance, and flexibility. The objective of this book is to help you gain a deeper knowledge of Cisco PIX Firewalls. Whether you have administrative responsibilities or are studying to pass an exam such as the Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced (CSPFA), this comprehensive guide will be of value to you.

This is the only book in the market that focuses on covering (and going well beyond) all of the objectives of the latest CSPFA 3.0 exam (9E0-111). Through the use of detailed examples, this book provides step-by-side instructions on how to configure, maintain, and troubleshoot PIX firewalls running software version 6.2 and PIX Device Manager (PDM) version 2.1. All the latest and greatest features of PIX firewall software version 6.2 are covered, including TurboACLs, object grouping, NTP, HTTP failover replication, command level authorization, downloadable ACLs, LAN-based failover, and PPPoE.

Review PIX Hardware Find coverage of the five supported models: the 501, the 506E, the 515E, the 525, and the 535.
Learn About TurboACLs TurboACLs are a new feature in PIX Firewall software version 6.2. that enable faster processing of traffic through the access list.
Review Advanced Configurations Get complete coverage of handling advanced protocols, filtering Web traffic, configuring intrusion detection, and DHCP functionality.
Configure Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting Develop and enforce policies on a per user basis with the use of user-level security.
Configure Remote Access Use Telnet, SSH, SNMP, or Cisco PDM to remotely manage the PIX.
Configure Virtual Private Networking See how the PIX Firewall supports both site-to-site and remote access VPNs using various protocols: IPsec, L2TP, and PPTP.
Connect Primary and Secondary PIX Firewalls To support high availability, the Cisco PIX Firewall provides the ability to deal with firewall failures. See how failover operation works on the PIX Firewall. Use PIX Device Manager
Use PIX Device Manager (PDM) to install, configure, and maintain the PIX Firewall. Troubleshoot PIX Firewalls
Troubleshoot hardware, cabling, connectivity, and IPsec, as well as capture traffic and monitor performance.

Cisco Voice Over IP, 2nd Edition (List price: $49.95)

By Eric Knipp
576 pages

Arming network administrators with a thorough understanding of Cisco’s current VoIP solutions and the means to put them to work, Configuring Cisco Voice Over IP, Second Edition demonstrates how to configure all of Cisco’s core VoIP products—among them Cisco CallManager software, Cisco 7910 series phones, and server-based IP PBXs. Now updated with coverage of Cisco’s AVVID enterprise solutions, this book continues to supply hands-on guidance on implementing QoS (Quality of Service) features to reduce network latency and jitter. It also provides case studies illustrating real-world VoIP configuration and troubleshooting strategies.

This Second Edition Updates a Major Best-Seller This book features new coverage of topics such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP).
Learn to Integrate With Legacy Systems VoIP networks are required to interconnect in with legacy systems such as the public switched telephone network.
Understand the Complexity of VoIP Protocols This book clearly explains VoIP protocol suites, considered to be the most difficult aspect of mastering VoIP
Decide What Equipment is Required to Deploy a VoIP Network You will find that several of Cisco’s smaller router offerings have been extended to support VoIP networks in this detailed overview of current Cisco VoIP-capable devices.
Find a Consistent Approach to Configuring Cisco Devices Whether you are configuring an analog telephone to connect to a 1700 series router or a 3600 series router, the required configuration commands are the same.
Master QoS Techniques This book provides actual configurations of ways to implement several techniques to maintain and improve voice quality. Investigate What Happens When a Voice Network Fails Underlying network failures tended to be one of the greatest issues regarding VoIP networks. Review Real World Case Studies Cases range from installing an analog handset in a router and replacing legacy tie-line connections between PBXs to deploying complex dial plans and wide-scale VoIP solutions.
Register for Your 1-Year Upgrade The Syngress Solutions upgrade plan protects you from content obsolescence and provides you monthly mailings, whitepapers, and more!

Building a Cisco Wireless LAN (List price: $69.95)

By Ron Fuller
528 pages

Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) technology is significantly more complex than cordless telephony; loss, coverage, and bandwidth requirements are much more stringent and the proliferation of wireless LANs in corporate environments has resulted in interesting security challenges. IEEE 802.11-based products offered by Cisco Systems have quickly become one of the foundational technologies fostering the untethering of data communications. Building a Cisco Wireless LAN will bring you up to speed fast with Cisco Wi-Fi technology.

Find an Introduction to Wireless Local Area Networks Review network topologies, cabling, WLAN standards, and TCP/IP basics.

Communicate with Wireless LAN Technologies Review radio and microwave technologies and find coverage of the wireless technology used in Cisco Aironet products.

Learn about Cisco's Wireless LAN Product Line Find complete coverage of Cisco's Aironet 3X0 Series APs and Bridges, Aironet Wireless NICs, and Aironet Antennas server.

Perform a Wireless Site Survey Understand the benefits and limitations of wireless technology and consider attenuation, atmospheric absorption, refraction, harmonics, and more.

Set Up the Cisco Aironet Wireless Bridge Configure the bridge using the command-line interface.

Install and Configure the Cisco Aironet LAN Adapter Card See how the Cisco Aironet Client Utility (ACU) provides the interface to configure the Cisco Aironet 340 and 350 Client adapters.

Find Coverage of Cisco Aironet Accessories Read about antenna accessories, bridge and access point accessories, cabling, connectors, bulkhead extenders, and more.

Register for Your 1 Year Upgrade The Syngress Solutions upgrade plan protects you from content obsolescence and provides monthly mailings, whitepapers, and more!

Configuring IP v6 for Cisco IOS (List price: $69.95)

By Edgar Parenti
384 pages

IPv6 offers many advantages over IPv4 including larger address space, hierarchical addressing, security, and mobility. IPv6 will eventually replace IPv4 in next-generation carrier networks, and adaptation of IPv6 to next-generation wireless networks is already under way. Configuring IPv6 for Cisco IOS reviews the IPv6 architecture and features while focusing on the practical aspects of IPv6 implementation, which include addressing and routing. This book explores several approaches to IPv6 transitioning since IPv4 networks will continue to exist for some time, requiring efficient and stable IPv4 / IPv6 internetworking.

Review the Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS) See how to connect to the router, enter configuration commands, and use shortcuts.
Understand the Benefits of IPv6 Find comparisons of IPv4 to IPv6 and learn about increased addressing hierarchy support, simplified host addressing, improved scalability and security, better mobility, and more.
Analyze the IPv6 Headers Compare the IPv6 and IPv4 headers, see how authentication and encryption are incorporated into the IPv6 standard, and understand the Hop-by-Hop options.
Review the Basics of IPv6 Addressing Understand the different fields within the header: Version field, traffic class field, flow label, payload length, next header, and the rest.
Verify Addressing Configuration Review the available show commands that are specific to IPv6 and verify LAN and WAN addressing.
Learn New Routing Protocols See how routing protocol versions have been developed to support dynamic routing on IPv6 networks.
Monitor and Troubleshoot IPv6 Networks Use show and debug commands and analyze IPv6 traffic.
Review IPv6 Deployment Strategies Understand the various deployment methods and configure IPv6 over dedicated links.
Understand IPv6 Security See how the inclusion of IP Security extension headers in IPv6 provide cryptographic security services.
Register for Your 1 Year Upgrade The Syngress Solutions upgrade plan protects you from content obsolescence and provides monthly mailings, whitepapers, and more!

Target Readers

The targeted readers of these 2 Syngress Ultimate Cisco CDs include all computer network administrators, managers, and those responsible for maintaining Cisco equipment, along with those who may be programming Cisco routers or other Cisco devices. With Cisco network equipment now so common in most all computer networks, network administrators will want to give serious attention to this impressive collection of vital information about Cisco equipment. Because of the electronic collection of all these important titles, it is really very cost-effective to invest in the minimal costs of these 2 discs, especially when you compare the price to what you would pay if you individually purchased each included title.

In addition, any instructor teaching classes in Cisco Network Academies across the country will most definitely want to include these 2 CDs in their tool kit of resources.

Syngress Publishing

Syngress Publishing is an independent publisher of print and electronic reference materials for information technology professionals seeking skill enhancement and career advancement. Security specialists rely on Syngress books for outstanding coverage of security topics. Administrators find Syngress study guides to be reliable sources for all their certification needs.

Distributed throughout Europe, Asia, South America, and the U.S., Syngress titles have been translated into 20 languages. The company's pioneering customer support program, solutions@syngress.com, extends the value of every Syngress title with regular information updates and author-driven forums.

Syngress: The Definition of a Serious Security Library

Syngress Publishing titles are now also distributed by O'Reilly Media.

About O'Reilly Media

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