The complete Cisco Vpn Configuration Guide

Very disappointed. I have a 950 page book that does not cover setting up an IOS router for remote access using PPTP or L2TP. WTF? Heck - that's why I bought this expensive book. If you have deep pockets and can buy whatever cisco gear you like then this book will likely introduce you to many possible VPN solutions. But there seems to be a bias in the book toward large enterprise solutions - with little or no consideration given to SOHO and small businesses. Many of us make do with the resources that we have available and can't just go out a buy stuff because the author thinks a remote access concentrator would be "best." I still can't believe that he doesn't cover configuring IOS for access by Windows PPTP or L2TP clients. I'm stunned. With this glaring omission I can't help but wonder about the completeness of the other content. Thumbs down.

Very good basic information about VPNs. In terms of specific product configurations this book is way out of date Microsoft has offered a few operating systems since Windows XP and Server 2003 and Cisco has long since discontinued support for the 3000 Series VPN concentrator.

This is an excellent guide and I recommend it to anyone interested in getting a better understanding of Cisco VPN configuration.

A thorough and complete review of VPN technologies, as implemented in Cisco infrastructure, Deal's `The Complete Cisco VPN Configuration Guide', is arranged as a twenty three chapter step by step technology review and one chapter of bonus case studies.The forty page Case study at the end of the book demonstrates the books material in a concise, simple and easy to follow way and its compactness will make it useful for an engineer who has general ideas about VPN , yet need to get a site running quickly. This chapter can be read without a full understanding of the remainder of the text, productively.The rest of the text is arranged into five parts, viz., VPNs, Concentrators, Clients, IOS routers and PIX firewall. The first part being a good attempt at VPN technology review. The presentation of the technologies in the part, of five chapters is generic enough to appeal to a wide audience of security professionals. The arrangement of the subject into chapter one on VPN overview, Chapter two on fundamental VPN technologies, Chapter three on IPSec, four on PPTP and L2TP and five on SSL VPN , is one of the better classification and treatments of VPN technologies I have seen lately.VPN concentrators are the core Cisco VPN infrastructure, and they get a fair treatment with ample configuration examples in the second part. Chapter 6, the first chapter in this section provides a broad treatment of the concentrator products available and the rest of section is devoted to concentrator configuration and troubleshooting.I am almost tempted to question why the author decided to devote a whole section of three chapters of more than one fifty pages, to VPN client software, but my experience with users and administrators alike, who have demonstrated some clumsiness with various VPN client solutions, refrained me. This indeed is a clear and concise guide that administrators can use a basis for developing an in-house user manual. It covers the Cisco VPN client software, the Microsoft VPN dialer software, the Cisco 3200 hardware client, but misses out on some alternative solutions. There was no talk of SSH VPN clients, such as putty, in this section as there were none on non-traditional, but evolving VPN solutions including secure remote desktop solutions.Cisco's integration of almost all its security technologies in IOS is demonstrated again in section four. This section discusses router capabilities and demonstrates them with some configuration examples. Another major Cisco Security technology, the PIX, which also serves as one the more popular Cisco VPN concentrator in deployment, is also given a fair treatment in this text.In all, this is a good text for newbie's and intermediate network or infrastructure professionals. A useful read for security professionals, and maybe a valuable resource for Cisco security certification aspirants. But don't loose your Cisco documentation manual, or your Cisco Technology handbooks yet.

Richard Deal's book, The Complete Cisco VPN Configuration Guide, sets out to provide a comprehensive reference for networking professionals designing, deploying, and managing VPN solutions. This book covers the foundational information as well as step by step guides to configuring VPN solutions on Cisco VPN Concentrators, software and hardware clients, Cisco IOS routers, and Cisco PIX and ASA appliances.The book is broken down into 6 parts: VPNs, Concentrators, Clients, IOS Routers, PIX Firewalls, and a Case Study. The VPN chapters provide the reader with an excellent foundation in VPNs. These chapters cover topics such as VPN types and topologies, technologies used to establish VPNs, as well as VPN implementations, such as IPsec, PPTP, L2TP, SSL. The next section focuses on the Cisco VPN Concentrators. Mr. Deal provides information on the Cisco 3000 series of VPN concentrators as well as the features of various software releases. The next few chapters focus on different deployment scenarios. These scenarios include remote access with IPsec, Remote access with PPTP, L2TP, and WebVPN (SSL), and site-to-site. The final chapters of the concentrator section cover management and troubleshooting. The next section covers software (Cisco and Microsoft) and hardware (Cisco) VPN clients. The fourth section focuses on Cisco IOS Routers. This section follows a similar layout to the concentrator section providing details about site-to-site and remote access VPN connections as well as a troubleshooting chapter at the end. It does highlight the differences in the configuration as well. As with the concentrators, Mr. Deal include specific product information. While helpful in dealing with existing equipment, it quickly will become obsolete as Cisco EOS/EOL equipment and software from these lists. It might have been more practical to provide URL references to Cisco's website. The fifth section covers VPN deployments with the Cisco PIX and ASA security appliances. Again, the layout is consistent with the IOS Router and Concentrator sections. The final section is a case study which brings together most of the concepts covered in the book.This book is an excellent reference on VPNs. It should be in every networking professional's personal library who designs, deploys, and manages a VPN solution. The diagrams are clear and easy to follow. The troubleshooting chapters of each section provide excellent tools as well as common mistakes to help the networking professional deploy their solution successfully. The case study provides an invaluable example of a real world deployment. While the book is not advertised to be an exam preparation or certification guide, it could easily be used as a supplement towards those studies.

Superb