It's been a long ride. Finally, though, it's finished and being published.
MPLS for Cisco Networks is here!
So what has changed and what's stayed the same?
The format is the same. We have one main topology, it grows and changes as we cover all the topics on both the official CCIE v5 blueprint, and also the INE expanded blueprint. There are smaller, sub-contained, topologies where appropriate. We now have a longer troubleshooting section, with one topology and seven different tickets.
The biggest difference is that we have an editor for this one. Beau emailed me, asking would I like him to edit the second volume (after he read the first one). At first I was a little unsure. The BGP volume was my baby, in a way, and would you let a complete stranger look after your baby? Well, its not like handing over my children, and his credentials looked good (ex-Teacher, Network engineer - so what more could I want!). I do not regret taking the chance and asking him to join me. Together we have created, in my opinion, an excellent book. He's been juggling parenthood, work and being a husband, with hours and hours (and hours) of correcting my grammar, making sentences shorter and more concise. If I gave a penny to my children for every time he's had to add a comma, they'd be rich by now! Seriously, I cannot say enough how he turned the book around. It's far more readable. My sentences do have a tendency to be a little long, it's all to do with how it comes out of my head as I am working through it. So when you are reading it, and you pause for breath in a paragraph, you can thank him! It's not just the grammar though, he's been through the topology with such dedication. It's been excellent to have another pair of eyes on it. He must be a glutton for punishment though, as he's agreed to do number 3 as well!
We have more pictures. This does influence the size (for Kindle), and has meant that printing costs (as well as the fact that its much longer) have increased. It is slightly more expensive than the BGP book, but still very reasonable. I am not out to make a fortune from these, I am doing it because I enjoy it.
We are still using GNS3. It's probably the most familiar to people, but IOU topologies will follow in due course.
In all, I am more pleased with this one than the BGP book. In hind-sight I think I rushed the BGP book. I never expected it to ever be as popular as it has been. When I published on Kindle (not even thinking at that stage it would appear in printed format), I said to my wife that if a couple of people enjoyed it, then it would be worth it. I am still very proud of it, nonetheless. It's a learning process, not just in the material, but in how to write. It will become a more honed process as I write more. I hope I have listened to all of the requests that have come in (apart from one, which, I think, was just asking me to write it exactly like an O'Reilly book - still not sure of that conversation, I was very confused).
I hope you enjoy it.
MPLS for Cisco Networks is here!
So what has changed and what's stayed the same?
The format is the same. We have one main topology, it grows and changes as we cover all the topics on both the official CCIE v5 blueprint, and also the INE expanded blueprint. There are smaller, sub-contained, topologies where appropriate. We now have a longer troubleshooting section, with one topology and seven different tickets.
The biggest difference is that we have an editor for this one. Beau emailed me, asking would I like him to edit the second volume (after he read the first one). At first I was a little unsure. The BGP volume was my baby, in a way, and would you let a complete stranger look after your baby? Well, its not like handing over my children, and his credentials looked good (ex-Teacher, Network engineer - so what more could I want!). I do not regret taking the chance and asking him to join me. Together we have created, in my opinion, an excellent book. He's been juggling parenthood, work and being a husband, with hours and hours (and hours) of correcting my grammar, making sentences shorter and more concise. If I gave a penny to my children for every time he's had to add a comma, they'd be rich by now! Seriously, I cannot say enough how he turned the book around. It's far more readable. My sentences do have a tendency to be a little long, it's all to do with how it comes out of my head as I am working through it. So when you are reading it, and you pause for breath in a paragraph, you can thank him! It's not just the grammar though, he's been through the topology with such dedication. It's been excellent to have another pair of eyes on it. He must be a glutton for punishment though, as he's agreed to do number 3 as well!
We have more pictures. This does influence the size (for Kindle), and has meant that printing costs (as well as the fact that its much longer) have increased. It is slightly more expensive than the BGP book, but still very reasonable. I am not out to make a fortune from these, I am doing it because I enjoy it.
We are still using GNS3. It's probably the most familiar to people, but IOU topologies will follow in due course.
In all, I am more pleased with this one than the BGP book. In hind-sight I think I rushed the BGP book. I never expected it to ever be as popular as it has been. When I published on Kindle (not even thinking at that stage it would appear in printed format), I said to my wife that if a couple of people enjoyed it, then it would be worth it. I am still very proud of it, nonetheless. It's a learning process, not just in the material, but in how to write. It will become a more honed process as I write more. I hope I have listened to all of the requests that have come in (apart from one, which, I think, was just asking me to write it exactly like an O'Reilly book - still not sure of that conversation, I was very confused).
I hope you enjoy it.
