This book explains the structure of modern networks from Ethernet to the Internet. It explains how the Internet is built up. It does this very well and tries to make you understand what the essence of it is. Reasons and design issues are well explained. There is never unnecessary use of abbreviations, but keywords and new technologies are well explained.

The book works from the lower level architectures and protocols up to the application level. You have to read a lot of pages, but after you have read this book, you will be able to place network protocol issues into perspective. You will be able to understand how the protocols on various levels relate to each other, for example address resolution.

The book starts with the OSI and Internet architecture. It explains how nodes can be connected by links and discusses the various ways to transmit bits on a wire. It explains Ethernet, token rings and wireless networks. Switching and forwarding are explained together with the IP protocol. Protocols like ATM are also explained. It continues with the end-to-end protocols like TCP and UDP. After the basics, important issues like congestion control and resource allocation on networks are covered. The final chapters cover network security and some application level protocols like DNS and SMTP. This book gives a good grounding to start exploring more detailed and practical issues.