- Email: [email protected]
Computer Networks: A Systems Approach
1116
Book Reviews / Computer Communications 24 (2001) 1115±1117
R. Oppliger* eSECURITY Technologies (www.esecurity.ch), Thunstrasse 57b, CH-3074 Muri, Switzerland E-mail address: [email protected] 29 August 2000 * Tel.: 144-79-654-8437. 0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S01 40- 3664(00)0033 0-3
Digital Mobile Communications and the TETRA System. J. Dunlop; Wiley, 1999. 430 pages. ISBN 0471987921 1 It is not an easy task to write a book on Digital Mobile Communications and the TETRA System when a large number of books in the topic have already been published. The authors have written a very timely book on Digital Mobile Communications and the TETRA System which can be used by people working in the area of Wireless Communications. Moreover, the authors have written to speci®cally explain the capabilities of the TETRA speci®cations and to give some insight into the wide range of services which digital technology can support in private mobile radio networks. The book would be suitable for understanding the concepts of mobile communication systems and the nonTETRA specialist may be ®nd this test a useful introduction to digital mobile communications systems. The book would be very suitable for graduate students in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering. It will also be invaluable as a reference book for practicing engineers. More examples throughout the chapters would certainly make it very attractive as a textbook. I have noticed the following errors in the book: there are some items omitted from the Contents (conclusions (Chapter 3, Chapter 4), Introduction (Chapter 2, Chapter 6). In the list of Abbreviations, ªiDENº, ªkHZº, and ªSS-Cº may be wrong. Finally, the font size is not same, especially within ®gures (i.e. Figs. 1.4, 1.8, 1.15, 1.18, 1.48, 2.2, 2.11, 6.31,¼etc.). D.C. Lee* Department of Computer Science, Howon University, 722 Wolha-Ri Impi, KunSan, ChonBuk South Korea E-mail address: [email protected] 1 This article was previously published in Computer Communications Volume 24, issue 10 (2001). * Tel: 182-654-450-7523; fax: 182-654-450-7525.
0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. PII: S01 40- 3664(01)0034 0-1
Computer Networks: A Systems Approach Larry L. Peterson and Bruce S. Davie; Morgan Kaufmann 2000. 700 pages. ISBN 1558605770 Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, written by Larry L. Peterson and Bruce S. Davie gives a comprehensive overview on the basic principles on which today's networks are designed. It does not limit itself to the introduction of packet-based basic networking technologies like Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Protocol (IP) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Furthermore this book allows the reader to become familiar with network design requirements, applications and Ð increasingly important in the networks of today Ð the issue of network security. Anyhow, the main part of the book is dedicated to technologies like TCP (UDP)/IP and ATM. In this context the authors comprehensively explain how networks work today. Especially, the section on congestion control and resource allocation is an especially important contribution to increase the reader's knowledge on the sophisticated mechanisms networks have to provide at present and in the future to cope with the increasing demands in terms of quality of service. Personally, I particularly liked the `Open issue' paragraphs belonging to each section, as this encourages the reader to consider critically the various current development directions in the networking world. In addition, each section is completed by a `Further reading' section (including some URLs) which serves as a good starting point for somebody who wants get more background information. Moreover, a lot of examples followed by exercises of various types, i.e. codings and calculations, complete the overall good impression of the book. It is a pity that I could not ®nd a link to a location where the reader could ®nd the corresponding solutions. This would allow the reader to check his or her own results. I feel that the book suits the audience (students and industry professionals) as claimed in the beginning of the book. I found that the book is easy to read and de®nitely is good value for money. I have some detailed remarks on the book, should a second edition be forthcoming. These are as follows: Sections 3.1.2 `Virtual Circuit Switching' and 3.3.3 `Virtual Path'. In this section the authors describe how VC switching is done in principle. I suggest that the authors add a remark making it clear that in the case of VC switching with ATM the VPI 1 VCI is used for the switching process. Furthermore, I suggest for Section 3.3.3 that the title is changed to `Virtual Path/Virtual Circuits' and explain that Virtual Path Switching means taking only VPI as input parameter for the switching decision (transparent VCI) and that Virtual Circuit Switching means taking VPI 1 VCI as input parameters for the switching decision.
Book Reviews / Computer Communications 24 (2001) 1115±1117
In Section 3.3 some words related to ATM layer maintenance concepts would complete the introduction of the ATM cell switching principle. C. Waitzman Mittlestrasse 8, 70806 Kornwestheim, Germany 0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0140-366 4(00)00345-5
Illustrated TCP/IP Matthew Naugle; Wiley, New York, 1998 Whether intentional or unintentional, the title of this book is very similar to another bestseller on TCP/IP by W.R. Stevens. Of course, the approach of ªillustratingº the TCP/IP protocol suite is different in this book. The main approach to writing this book, as spelled out under ªHow to Use This Book,º is to provide key points and graphical illustrations on the topics. The book is indeed structured and written exactly according to this approach. Therefore, it can best serve as a quick reference on topics interesting to readers. The intended audience, I believe, would be working professionals who often do not have time to read the original RFCs. This book covers a wide range of topics on TCP/IP protocols, covering the standard protocols plus the latest IPv6, RTP, RTCP, SDP (but not the RTSP and SIP). However, a set of important security protocols technologies, such as IPSec, SSL (called TLS in IETF), Firewalls, PKI and VPN are missing in the book. In my opinion, these are very important topics in light of the increasing commercial
1117
activities on the Internet. Moreover, a detailed table of chapters, instead of a table of sections, would be very helpful to have a quick view of the coverage. The book is generally easy to read and to follow. The examples are simple enough. The boxed information is very helpful for quickly picking up information on topics. Because of the large number of topics covered in this book, the treatment of each topic cannot be too detailed. For example, TCP is a very complex transport protocol; the coverage on this topic is de®nitely not enough. Moreover, the organization of the book is sometimes very confusing. Apparently, part one concentrates mainly on IP. Part two covers ARP and other more in-depth material on IP: CIDR, intra-domain routing protocols (BGP was not covered though), but not on TCP. But part two is entitled ªThe Protocol Suite of TCP/IP.º In parts 3 and 5, IP layer materials Ð IPv6 and IP multicast routing Ð are covered. ICMP, a protocol generally classi®ed as part of the IP layer because of its service, is however covered in part 4 (Beyond the IP Layer). Overall, this book is another reasonable addition on TCP/ IP. A reader, who does not have prior knowledge on this subject and would like to quickly amass the needed knowledge within a couple of days, will certainly bene®t from reading this book.
R. Chang Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Computing, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China 0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0140 -3 664(00)00346 -7
Book Reviews / Computer Communications 24 (2001) 1115±1117
R. Oppliger* eSECURITY Technologies (www.esecurity.ch), Thunstrasse 57b, CH-3074 Muri, Switzerland E-mail address: [email protected] 29 August 2000 * Tel.: 144-79-654-8437. 0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S01 40- 3664(00)0033 0-3
Digital Mobile Communications and the TETRA System. J. Dunlop; Wiley, 1999. 430 pages. ISBN 0471987921 1 It is not an easy task to write a book on Digital Mobile Communications and the TETRA System when a large number of books in the topic have already been published. The authors have written a very timely book on Digital Mobile Communications and the TETRA System which can be used by people working in the area of Wireless Communications. Moreover, the authors have written to speci®cally explain the capabilities of the TETRA speci®cations and to give some insight into the wide range of services which digital technology can support in private mobile radio networks. The book would be suitable for understanding the concepts of mobile communication systems and the nonTETRA specialist may be ®nd this test a useful introduction to digital mobile communications systems. The book would be very suitable for graduate students in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering. It will also be invaluable as a reference book for practicing engineers. More examples throughout the chapters would certainly make it very attractive as a textbook. I have noticed the following errors in the book: there are some items omitted from the Contents (conclusions (Chapter 3, Chapter 4), Introduction (Chapter 2, Chapter 6). In the list of Abbreviations, ªiDENº, ªkHZº, and ªSS-Cº may be wrong. Finally, the font size is not same, especially within ®gures (i.e. Figs. 1.4, 1.8, 1.15, 1.18, 1.48, 2.2, 2.11, 6.31,¼etc.). D.C. Lee* Department of Computer Science, Howon University, 722 Wolha-Ri Impi, KunSan, ChonBuk South Korea E-mail address: [email protected] 1 This article was previously published in Computer Communications Volume 24, issue 10 (2001). * Tel: 182-654-450-7523; fax: 182-654-450-7525.
0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. PII: S01 40- 3664(01)0034 0-1
Computer Networks: A Systems Approach Larry L. Peterson and Bruce S. Davie; Morgan Kaufmann 2000. 700 pages. ISBN 1558605770 Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, written by Larry L. Peterson and Bruce S. Davie gives a comprehensive overview on the basic principles on which today's networks are designed. It does not limit itself to the introduction of packet-based basic networking technologies like Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Protocol (IP) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Furthermore this book allows the reader to become familiar with network design requirements, applications and Ð increasingly important in the networks of today Ð the issue of network security. Anyhow, the main part of the book is dedicated to technologies like TCP (UDP)/IP and ATM. In this context the authors comprehensively explain how networks work today. Especially, the section on congestion control and resource allocation is an especially important contribution to increase the reader's knowledge on the sophisticated mechanisms networks have to provide at present and in the future to cope with the increasing demands in terms of quality of service. Personally, I particularly liked the `Open issue' paragraphs belonging to each section, as this encourages the reader to consider critically the various current development directions in the networking world. In addition, each section is completed by a `Further reading' section (including some URLs) which serves as a good starting point for somebody who wants get more background information. Moreover, a lot of examples followed by exercises of various types, i.e. codings and calculations, complete the overall good impression of the book. It is a pity that I could not ®nd a link to a location where the reader could ®nd the corresponding solutions. This would allow the reader to check his or her own results. I feel that the book suits the audience (students and industry professionals) as claimed in the beginning of the book. I found that the book is easy to read and de®nitely is good value for money. I have some detailed remarks on the book, should a second edition be forthcoming. These are as follows: Sections 3.1.2 `Virtual Circuit Switching' and 3.3.3 `Virtual Path'. In this section the authors describe how VC switching is done in principle. I suggest that the authors add a remark making it clear that in the case of VC switching with ATM the VPI 1 VCI is used for the switching process. Furthermore, I suggest for Section 3.3.3 that the title is changed to `Virtual Path/Virtual Circuits' and explain that Virtual Path Switching means taking only VPI as input parameter for the switching decision (transparent VCI) and that Virtual Circuit Switching means taking VPI 1 VCI as input parameters for the switching decision.
Book Reviews / Computer Communications 24 (2001) 1115±1117
In Section 3.3 some words related to ATM layer maintenance concepts would complete the introduction of the ATM cell switching principle. C. Waitzman Mittlestrasse 8, 70806 Kornwestheim, Germany 0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0140-366 4(00)00345-5
Illustrated TCP/IP Matthew Naugle; Wiley, New York, 1998 Whether intentional or unintentional, the title of this book is very similar to another bestseller on TCP/IP by W.R. Stevens. Of course, the approach of ªillustratingº the TCP/IP protocol suite is different in this book. The main approach to writing this book, as spelled out under ªHow to Use This Book,º is to provide key points and graphical illustrations on the topics. The book is indeed structured and written exactly according to this approach. Therefore, it can best serve as a quick reference on topics interesting to readers. The intended audience, I believe, would be working professionals who often do not have time to read the original RFCs. This book covers a wide range of topics on TCP/IP protocols, covering the standard protocols plus the latest IPv6, RTP, RTCP, SDP (but not the RTSP and SIP). However, a set of important security protocols technologies, such as IPSec, SSL (called TLS in IETF), Firewalls, PKI and VPN are missing in the book. In my opinion, these are very important topics in light of the increasing commercial
1117
activities on the Internet. Moreover, a detailed table of chapters, instead of a table of sections, would be very helpful to have a quick view of the coverage. The book is generally easy to read and to follow. The examples are simple enough. The boxed information is very helpful for quickly picking up information on topics. Because of the large number of topics covered in this book, the treatment of each topic cannot be too detailed. For example, TCP is a very complex transport protocol; the coverage on this topic is de®nitely not enough. Moreover, the organization of the book is sometimes very confusing. Apparently, part one concentrates mainly on IP. Part two covers ARP and other more in-depth material on IP: CIDR, intra-domain routing protocols (BGP was not covered though), but not on TCP. But part two is entitled ªThe Protocol Suite of TCP/IP.º In parts 3 and 5, IP layer materials Ð IPv6 and IP multicast routing Ð are covered. ICMP, a protocol generally classi®ed as part of the IP layer because of its service, is however covered in part 4 (Beyond the IP Layer). Overall, this book is another reasonable addition on TCP/ IP. A reader, who does not have prior knowledge on this subject and would like to quickly amass the needed knowledge within a couple of days, will certainly bene®t from reading this book.
R. Chang Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Computing, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China 0140-3664/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0140 -3 664(00)00346 -7