Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols

by Radia Perlman

A text on networking theory and practice, providing information on general networking concepts, routing algorithms and protocols, addressing, and mechanics of bridges, routers, switches, and hubs. Describes all major network algorithms and protocols in use today, and explores engineering trade-offs that each different approach represents. Includes chapter homework problems and a glossary. This second edition is expanded to cover recent developments such as VLANs, Fast Ethernet, and AppleTalk. The author is a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, Inc., and holds some 50 patents. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Technology, Computer Science, Programming, Technical, Reference

560 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 1999

About the author

A software designer and network engineer, Radia Perlman earned a place in internet history for creating the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) that governs how information is sent between servers. Perlman earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from MIT while doing research for course credits through the university’s artificial intelligence laboratory. There, in 1976, she created TORTIS, a child-friendly version of the LOGO programming language, which children as young as three could use to control a robot. She wrote the algorithm for STP in less than a week, capping her work by writing a playful poem to describe her invention. Over the course of her career, working at Novell, Digital, Sun, Intel, and EMC, she continued to fine-tune and eventually replace STP with improved systems that would allow larger networks of computers to communicate more smoothly. She holds over 100 patents, and as of 2024 has written two books, Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches (1999) and Internetworking Protocols and Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World (2015), and co-written Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World (2022). As of 2024, she has won eleven awards, including induction to the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2016) and an honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology.

Reviews

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I try to avoid rating or writing reviews for technical books on goodreads, because I don't really feel they make sense within the implicit context of the site. However, I'll make an exception for books like this one, where a personal narrative subtly emerges from beneath the expected diagrams of packet layouts.

Not only is this a great book, but it's a book no other author could write; almost every chapter is full of Perlman's charming anecdotes that tell an often unspoken story of why things became as they are. My only complaint is that the final chapter could have become something more extensive, and something that the computing world needs more than just another book of packet diagrams.

[TK Keanini · Rating 5 out of 5]

You cannot call yourself a network engineer if you have not read this book. It is the classic text on data networking. Even as things have progressed, this gets you back to where it all began.

[Nick Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow, the best networking book aside from "Communications Networks" had eluded me...until now. Hot holy damn, "Interconnections" shakes my nerves and rattles my brains. Opening up to chapter 4, I had my entire world blown upon discovering source-routing brouters (I'd only known L2-transparent methodology) -- this coming from someone who's worked with IEEE 802.1Q bridges for the past eight years, and contributed patches to Linux's brctl. w00t! Kudos, Dr. Perlman -- "Interconnections" is the real dizzeal.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book.