BGP - Recommend a Good Book

[Mohamad Qayoom]

Can anyone recommed a good book that explains BGP in depth?

The only I can find is Sam Halabi's "Internet Routing Architectures, 2nd Edition," but this book was published in 2000.

Thanks in advance.

Mohamad

[Edison Ortiz · Accepted solution]

..and it's still considered the bible. You don't need any other book, don't be concerned that was written in 2000.

__

Edison.

[marikakis · Accepted solution]

Yes, I agree. This is a great book. BGP has not changed that much since then. The core ideas are the same. I read this book in 5 days at work (I could not put it down). It can help you understand what routing in the Internet (and in general) means. After you read this, you might go after "BGP Design and Implementation" by Randy Zhang and Micah Bartell. Also consider "Cisco ISP Essentials" by Barry Raveendran Greene and Philip Smith for further reading, depending on your requirements.

[Harold Ritter · Accepted solution]

I concur with Maria and Edison. This book is still very current to learn the basics of BGP.

Regards

[Danilo Dy · Accepted solution]

thats a great book if you are looking for "in-depth BGP". I have that in my shelf plus "BGP - Beijnum (O'REILLY)" and "CCIE Professional Development: Cisco BGP-4 Command and Configuration Handbook - Parkhurst (Cisco Press)"

[marikakis]

Regarding the BGP configuration handbook: I ordered this recently out of curiosity and it has been delivered to me a couple of days ago. I do not normally read books that are equivalent to command references from cisco (since the documentation is more current and this handbook got published back in 2001), but sometimes the book title is misleading (as is the case of an MPLS book with a similar title). I obviously haven't read it yet. From a first look, I think its usefulness is somewhat limited compared to the Halabi book. BGP is not just knowing the command about how to do something. In most cases it is more about having a global understanding, which is natural since this is a global network we are talking about. I think it is better to obtain this understanding first. After you do this you can use handbooks and command references for particular scenarios, and it will actually be easier. If you just focus on the tree, you will miss the forest, and you will keep wondering in many cases about the "why's".

[milan.kulik · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Practical BGP by Russ White, Danny McPherson, Sangli Srihari published in 2004 in Addison Wesley is also a good one.

BGP chapter in "Routing TCP/IP vol 2" by Jeff Doyle can work for basics.

I also heard John Stewart's "BGP4: Inter-Domain Routing on the Internet" (Addison-Wesley 1998)was a short but very good book - but not read it myself.

BR,

Milan

[Mohamed Sobair]

Hi,

I thought Russ is EIGRP & Design expert but he is also in the BGP field...

Has any one ordered or read "BGP Design & implementation" Book? Does Cover Large Scale BGP and Design Scenarios?

Regards,

Mohamed

[marikakis]

Mohamed,

Yes, this book is quite advanced. I have not read all of it, but I am planning to complete it soon. Consider also the ISP Essentials I mentioned earlier. The word "essentials" doesn't mean there is not useful information in it. I think it fits your interests so far :-)

Kind Regards,

Maria

[Mohamed Sobair]

Maria,

It doesnt fit my interrest, and I don't need "ISP Essential" book.

I asked about that book cause i was planning for CCDE along with my Master degree as soon as i sort my issues out.

HTH

Mohamed

[marikakis]

Ok then, I must have misunderstood. Good luck with your goals!

[Mohamad Qayoom]

Thanks a lot.