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July 2015, 272 pp. ISBN: 978-1-59327-554-9 https://www.nostarch.com/gns3 Recently, I received a review copy of “The Book of GNS3” by Jason C. Neumann from No Starch Press. After having read through it, and testing out as much of the content as possible, I’m ready to present my review. But before we get to the book itself, let’s answer a question some readers will probably have. What is GNS3? GNS3 stands for Graphical Network Simulator-3, and is a tool to simulate networks (including virtualized and physical hardware). It is commonly used for testing networks before deployment, or for certification exams. About the Book The book itself goes into detail as to what hardware/software the program can handle, as well as why you may want to use it. It’s geared largely towards networking engineers, or students studying networking in some fashion. However, if you’re interested in dabbling, or want to study up on GNS3 for work on your own time, this book will probably fulfill that need. While the book offers a decent index, I have a hard time seeing it fulfill the role of a quick-and-easy reference book. So if you don’t want to follow along step-by-step, or are looking more for a cookbook-style book, you may want to look for alternatives. However, this is not a point against the book - it doesn’t market itself as a cookbook, but as a guide to GNS3. Which it very much is.
Style Jason C. Neumann manages to write in a way that, while filled with information, is still easy to understand, and often amusing. The book also contains a large number of screenshots, which help the reader to follow the steps accurately. They are often placed in such a way that no paragraph is cut off before/after the image, which helps the flow of text. If you don’t feel you need the images, skipping over them should be a simple enough matter, without abrupt line breaks in paragraphs or sentences. The formatting used for commands and text ensure they are easily read, and all characters can be identified without issue. Additionally, any changes to files, or important segments, are marked in bold. Combined with the screenshots, the formatting is often enough to head off or solve any issues you may run into. Not only this, but the author sticks to his formatting system in the actual prose of the book as well. This means any buttons, menu items or other important words, are also marked in bold. So if you’re skimming through a page trying to find where you went wrong, or where that menu item disappeared to, you’ll be able to easily catch it on the page.
Information The book is OS-agnostic - it covers installing GNS3 in Ubuntu, Windows and Mac OS X, as well as compiling it from source. It covers all operating systems wherever there may be differences, and since large parts of the book focus on virtualized hardware, it doesn’t feel like you’re skipping paragraph after paragraph if you’re using Linux instead of Windows. The book covers everything from installing and setting up GNS3, to physical and virtualized hardware, and on to some projects “for a rainy day”. The author focuses mainly on Cisco and Juniper devices, but as they appear to be the most common choices, it seems like a good decision.
Wrap-Up While this book is by no means an exhaustive list of everything that is possible with GNS3, it is an excellent introduction, or a supporting book for anyone involved in a certification exam/school course where GNS3 and Cisco/Juniper devices are the focus. If you’re looking for a cookbook or dry reference book for quick and easy answers to questions, you will most likely need to keep looking (although I do recommend keeping it on the list, just in case). If you’re trying to expand your horizons on your own (for work or for yourself), this book should be able to guide you through GNS3 and give you enough information to do so. However, you may need to do a bit of googling, or experiment with GNS3 on your own, depending on your current skill level and end goals. I should also note that this is not a Cisco networking certification study guide, simply a book that covers some aspects that may arise in the exam. So if your goal is a certification, you will need to combine this book with the other aspects of your particular exam. While this book isn’t an exhaustive resource, and won’t suit everyone’s needs, it does achieve exactly what it sets out to be: an introductory guide to GNS3.