Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols

The best parts of Perlman's approach to her subject are the little thought experiments that explain why various aspects of internetworking behave the way they do. For example, Perlman talks about Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) discovery by presenting four different hypotheses for figuring out MTU. For each possible solution, she discusses strengths, weaknesses, and real-life considerations. She applies this method to dozens of other problems and phenomena, making Interconnections a very close approximation of learning by experiment. --David Wall

Topics covered: Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) reference model, bridges, switches, hubs, Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), and internetworking protocols.