Interconnections

What Hacker News says

1. ghshephardMay 2024
   Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols 2nd Edition - Radia Perlman

   Every 2-3 years, particularly in the periods when I'm not actively in network engineering, I re-read this book from start-finish - and it just completely centers my mindset with regards to pretty much every fundamental topic in Network Engineering. There almost didn't need to be a 2nd Edition - most of the major topics were covered in 1st edition - the only major difference is the use of lots of protocol examples. The core material itself is timeless.

   Here is just one gem from Chapter 5 - "Hubs, Switches, Virtual Lans and Fast Ethernet"

   "I originally resisted adopting the term switch. Unlike thing, switch sounds like a word you'd apply to a well-defined concept, so it makes people assume that there is a crisp definition that everyone else knows. I thought the world was already confusing enough with the terms bridge and router. Unfortunately, people coined the word switch assuming they were inventing a new concept, somehow different from a bridge or a router. And there were various independent product concepts named switch. As "switch" vendors expanded the capabilities of their products, the products wound up being functionally the same as bridges and routers, usually a hybrid or superset. One cynical (and ungrammatical) definition I use for switch is "a marketing term that means fast." Almost all products these days are some hybrid or superset of bridges and routers. So maybe it's right for the industry to settle on a new word, switch, as a more generic term for a box that moves data."

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2. aryJan 2024
   Adding to the already good recommendations on this thread:

   - Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols (https://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Int...)

   It covers a broader range of topics than some of the other books mentioned here and helps with an understanding of where existing tech comes from and why. Also it covers topics that you don't necessarily need to know if you're only operating in a cloud environment, but that help to understand what is going on in those far off data centers.

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3. r3trohack3rDec 2023
   This is absolutely amazing <3

   The narrative based traceroute in green is something I’ve never seen before. How many providers, like CDNs, did you take the time to map into a narrative?

   This feels targeted towards folks who kind of already understand computers. It be cool to repackage this in a way that can show non-technical people the stuff they take for granted. The mountains that move on a user’s behalf under every keystroke is humbling.

   One of my favorite books on this topic is Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Interconnections by Radia Perlman if you haven’t come across it.

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4. kvhdudeFeb 2021
   In addition, learning how various internet protocols (esp routing) are designed and historically evolved would be a good idea. Interconnections by radia perlman interconnections would be a start.
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5. tjalfiAug 2020
   Here are a couple recommendations.

   Interconnections - Radia Perlman. This is a good introduction to bridging and routing.

   Networking Algorithmics - George Varghese. This has a lot of interesting content about removing bottlenecks from network devices. I would appreciate recommendations for a newer book with similar content.

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6. yagibearAug 2018
   Radia Perlman's books ("Interconnections" about switches/routers and "Network Security") are great at explaining why with a sense of humour.
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