O'Reilly's BGP book (by Iljitsch Van Beijnum)

Anyone care to share their thought on this book? I'm still working on my CCNP, but I'd really like a good intro to BGP, and this seems like good book.

IRA seems a bit overkill before I've even passed ROUTE.

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Comments

jason_lunde

Its a great read...I picked it up after Colby recommended it. I thought of it though as a good supplicant to IRA though. IRA really lays the framework, and this book filled the gaps with real-world explanations (like how ISP's really use communities). Read IRA first, you really cant go wrong.

ColbyG

I love that book. I agree with Jason though, Internet Routing Architectures would be a better first read. Both books are great.

creamy_stew

Oh, it seems I had it backwards

I thought this was a lighter, faster read than Internet Routing Architectures, with a bit more real-life examples and less hardcore Tier1 stuff.

Are you saying that I wouldn't benefit from this until reading up more on BGP?

I'm the net tech for a company which has 2 BGP feeds (dunno if this is the correct term) from two different ISPs coming in to 2 different routers with iBGP running between them. Now, as far as I know BGP is best left alone if it works; especially if you don't know your stuff, but this becomes kinda a viscious cycle: I can't use this awesome equipment to learn because I'm too scared to mess something up.

edit: who -> which

ColbyG

I think IRA presents the big picture much better. The O'Reilly book has great info, but doesn't go as big or as deep, IIRC. It's been like a year since I've read either of them, so my memory may be a bit off.

creamy_stew

Ah, ok.

Thanks greatly! I almost didn't expect an answer - this part of the forums is not exactly high volume compared to the CCNP

Forsaken_GA

The O'Reily book has alot of good practical advice, but it assumes a basic level of knowledge with BGP. You're better off working through Halabi's book. When he gets into configuration examples, try and mirror what he's doing in a lab environment.... the book has mistakes, and when you can find them and fix them, it'll show you that you have some understanding of how BGP works.

Somnipotent

it's a great book. i've read it just to understand a little more on bgp mechanics. i work for a SP and we dable a lot with MPLS and BGP configs. i highly recommend it.

Ryan82

Would anyone recommend the Cisco BGP Design and Implementation book over the O'Reilly BGP book?