Ethernet - The Definitive Guide

ISBN  1-56592-660-9   Price  approximately £35  UK
Charles E. Spurgeon                20 Chapters 3 appendices and index in 459 pages
 

Chapter List

               xi    Preface
            1    The Evolution of the Ethernet
            2    The Ethernet System
            3    The Media Access Control Protocol
            4    Full-Duplex Ethernet
            5    Auto-Negotation
            6    Ethernet Media Fundamentals
            7    Twisted-Pair Media System (10 BASE-T)
            8    Fibre Optic Media System (10 BASE-T)
            9    Fast Ethernet Twisted Pair Media System (100 BASE-TX)
            10  Fast Ethernet Fibre Optic Media System (100 BASE-FX)
            11  Gigabit Ethernet Twisted Pair Media System (100 BASE-T)
            12  Gigabit Ethernet Fibre Optic Media System (100 BASE-X)
            13  Multi Segment Configuration Guidelines
            14  Structured Cabling
            15  Twisted Pair Cables and Connectors
            16  Fibre Optic Cables and Connectors
            17  Ethernet Repeater Hubs
            18  Ethernet Switching Hubs
            19  Ethernet Performance
           20  Troubleshooting

            Appendix A
                Resources
            Appendix B
                Thick and Thin Coaxial Media Systems
              Appendix C
                 AUI Equipment Installation and Configuration
           Glossary
            Index

Synopsis

        Ethernet is little understood but it is needed to run most of the world around us.  This particular O'Reilly volume is one of the better ones.   It sets out to explain the complexities of ethernet and it does that very well.

Review

Ethernet started out in 1973 when Bob Metcalfe at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre wrote a memo describing the ethernet network that he had invented.  This was for the Xerox Parc system which was a revolution in computing at a time when most machines were mainframes and the desktops that we take for granted now were just science fiction.  Well at least the palmtops were ?  Of course, in the 1990s ethernet became a part of our everyday life and something that no one in a developed and industrialised country can live without.  It is from this point of view that Ethernet - The Definitive Guide explains the ins and outs of all that is ethernet.

There is an easy to understand layout which becomes more evident as the reader progresses through the book.  There was an ancient Greek philosophers idea that to walk into a house you have to first walk in through the front door and then you are led through the rest of the house by the way that the architect designed it.   A progression of ideas leads you towards the next one.  The pictures and diagrams are easy to understand.  Obviously good design policy ?  Charles Spurgeon knows his spaghetti from his network stuff (or octopi  ?).  He is the senior network architect at the University of Texas at Austin.  He's worked on big systems for twenty years.  This is reassuring for someone like myself who has spent twenty years working on very big mechanical engineering projects that are on the edge of electrical engineering and also very much a part of it.

The first chapter goes into a bit of history.  Useful for those people who have only seen that Microsoft are the only software company around ?  Or perhaps too young to remember the original SCO Unix ?  Chapter two explains the basic ethernet system, the four basic elements of ethernet are explained.  Further on ethernet media systems are explained in some depth.  I still get the impression that other topics could have been included at this point but perhaps 500 pages is enough already without adding more ?  But, as I say there is enough to show the complexity of the system in easy to understand ideas.

On the electrical engineering side there are plenty of good examples of the layout of systems and what it is that should be done with cables and connectors to build systems that are fast and reliable.  I expected to find a sort of a flip explanation that had been written by a programmer who had spent most of his time filling in instant lottery draw cards.  This is not so.  The mechanical side of ethernet is covered thoroughly as well as all other aspects of ethernet.

After chapter thirteen there is the bit that I like which is all about the hardware and how to plug it together.  The part where you actually get your hands on it and play around.  Cabling and connectors are shown.  Fibre optic stuff is given an airing.  Repeater and switching hubs are the bit on the end which complete the whole thing and give an all round good feeling to the end of the day.  There is a very useful chapter twenty which goes into trouble shooting the problems that arise with complex networks.

In the present day we find that the networks and particularly the internet have become things that are not understood by most people.  This book is useful for either home users or businesses with a small network or for first year University students who want to know a bit more.  Kind of book that a University should have on the shelf.  If you get bored then read the colophon at the back ?  All O'Reilly books have them.  They try to breathe new life and personality into old and dry subjects.  Something that more of us should try to do.

This is a brilliant O'Reilly publication.  I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about ethernet :)

"The animal on the cover of Ethernet: The Definitive Guide is an octopus.  The octopus is a member of the class Cephalopoda, which also includes squid, cuttlefish, and nautili.   However, unlike other cephalopods, the octopus's shell is entirely absent.  Species of octopus vary in size from under an inch (the Californian Octopus micropyrus) to thirty feet in length (the North Pacific Octopus dofleini).  Like their squid cousins, the octopus can release a noxious ink when disturbed.  Octopi may vary in colour from pinkish to brown, but are able to change their pigment when threatened using special pigment cells called chromatosphores.  Octopi catch their prey - primarily crabs, lobsters, and other smaller creatures - with their suckered tentacles.  Many species are aided by a poison these sucker cups secrete; one Australian species' venom is so potent that it can be deadly to humans.   Octopi are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrate species.  They have both short and long term memory, and have shown trial and error learning skills, retaining the problem solving gained through experience.  Their sucker cups are very sensitive;  a sightless octopus can differentiate between various shapes and sizes of objects as well as a sighted one."
 

Review by Richard Ibbotson