Mobile IP Technology and Applications
Reviewer Name: Peter Looges, Chief Engineer
Good book, strong coverage of Mobile IP. I definitely recommend this book to someone who is interested in Mobile IP basics, or who is planning to deploy a Mobile IP solution. The authors build from the basics quite well. The first couple chapters effectively present the basics of Mobile IP. As should be expected, a basic routing knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader. This is certainly appropriate for a topic such as mobile IP. The background on wireless technologies provides enough detail to support the subsequent discussion, but does not become a pure tutorial on wireless infrastructure. The illustrations and examples are straightforward, and add value to the discussion.
The organization of the chapters allows the experienced reader to skip forward to an appropriate chapter. The discussion on the lab configuration is particularly helpful. It saves much of the time we often spend defining the lab environment to be practical and yet reflect enough of the real world to be useful. The evolution to larger, real world-class environments is certainly of value. The insight to actual deployment of a solution helps to bring lab data into context. The examples and considerations in the latter part of the book, chapters 5-8, address many of the issues actual deployments may encounter. The ability to address as many of these issues during planning, instead of discovering them during the initial deployment certainly can make enabling a mobile solution less challenging.
Chapter 9 was of specific interest because we have a pending migration to IPv6. Any amount of insight into IPv6 world is of value.
On the negative side, the title is slightly misleading; the "Applications" referred to in the title is the application of mobile IP, vice applications that run over mobile IP. The subtitle is to the point -- "Real-world solutions for Mobile IP configuration and management."
Mobile IP Technology and Applications
Reviewer Name: Glenn Bradley, Senior Network Engineer
Reviewer Certification: CCDA, CCNA, CCNP
The authors have given us a text that serves as an excellent introduction to Mobile IP technologies. Using real-world scenarios limited enough in scope, they convey how Mobile IP is currently being used and hint at the size of an offering it is destined to become.
I would have liked to see a little more focus on the trend of Mobile IP in the "contained" workplace. However, the examples of PDAs, laptops, fleet service applications, etc. are well laid out, easy to understand and presented in an order that leads the reader from an introductory approach through some reasonably high level discussion.
Like most recent Cisco Press books I have been looking at there is a minimum of page-flipping, back and forth to get from the text to the figures and tables. This may not seem like a monumental accomplishment but if you go through as many books as I do,; the little things can become quite annoying. I should also mention here that another of my peeves, poor editing, is NOT present. Good solid references, annotations, etc.
If you are planning on getting into the Mobile IP world, or already have and feel you’ve missed something, I would highly recommend this book. It is actually an enjoyable read (for those of us who enjoy technical books), and I believe you'll find yourself breezing through so keep a highlighter or some Post-it® notess nearby to mark the high points.
In summary: a well written, readable text beneficial for entry level "inquiring minds," but thorough enough to serve as a reference for folks who are already deploying this technology.