Book Review: "CCNA Wireless: Official Exam Certification Guide"

Daniel Molinares


Up for review today is “CCNA Wireless: Official Exam Certification Guide” by Brandon James Carroll. This guide was written with the intent of helping those individuals who are looking to take the IUWNE 640-721 exam and become CCNA Wireless Certified. This book gives the reader a basic introduction into the world of Cisco Wireless Networking. The author touches on the concepts, standards, and terminology that the reader will encounter during examination and while working in the industry. This book is broken up into 4 parts consisting of 21 chapters and 3 appendices. Every chapter opens up with a “Do I Know This Already?” Quiz, which is designed to test your knowledge of the exam topics that are covered within the chapter. The book suggests if you score 80% or higher, you should consider moving on to the next chapter. Here’s a breakdown of the topics covered in the text.

Part I: Wireless LAN Fundamentals (Ch 1-9)
The book begins with an introduction to wireless network concepts. It covers a brief history of wireless networks which mentions how the technology made its debut into the market in the early 90’s, but in reality, conceptually the technology has been in existence since the 1800s. The author also discusses how bandwidth is achieved from wireless signals by sending data as electrical signals in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 Specification. The text continues and talks about modulation techniques such as:

• Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
• Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO)

The author dedicates the next chapter to discussing the standards bodies which are responsible for regulating how wireless networks operate. These standards bodies include the Federal Communications Commission, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the European Telecom Standards Institute, and the Wi-Fi Alliance. Each of the regulatory bodies is presented, and the text gives an explanation of how each of these regulatory bodies has designed standards which have contributed to the success of the technology. The third chapter directs the reader towards WLAN RF Principles. The chapter opens with a discussion of wavelength, frequency, and amplitude. It then continues with a discussion of Effective Isotopic Radiated Power (EIRP) and the Free Path Loss Model along with all the common causes of signal loss (Absorption, Reflection, and Scattering). Over the next few chapters the author introduces the reader into several topics which are all essential:

WLAN Technologies and Topologies
Wireless Personal Area Network, Wireless Local Area Network, Wireless Metropolitan Area Network, Wireless Wide Area Network
Ad hoc and Infrastructure Modes
Service Set Identifiers (SSID)

Antenna Communications
Types of Polarization
Antenna types

The 802.11 a/b/g/n Protocols
Request to Send (RTS)
Clear to Send (CTS)
DIFS and RIFS

Wireless Traffic Flow and AP Discovery
Wireless Frame Transmission
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
Frame Types: Beacons, Probe Requests/Response, Association Request/Response

Additional Wireless Technologies
Cordless Phones: Uses TDMA or FDMA
Bluetooth: Personal Area Technology
ZigBee: Commonly used for monitoring, building automation, and control devices
WiMax: Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, used as a last-mile access technology.

Delivering Packets from the Wireless to the Wired Network
Association Process
Using VLANs to add control
Configuring VLANs and Trunks

Overall the book covers a vast amount of material, but personally speaking, the author only scratches the surface when it comes to most topics found in the book. While reading the book I did come across the occasional grammatical and graphical errors but nothing too horrific. The author's writing style did come across as a bit too personal in certain sections. It almost reads as if he was conversing with you, which makes reading a bit odd at times (hard to follow along). To sum up, the material contained in the book is not enough to truly prepare the reader to pass the certification exam. You would need to refer to other books to gain an in-depth understanding of wireless networking. On the other hand, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn the basics and use it as a stepping stone in their Cisco Networking Career.

For more information on this title please visit the Cisco Press website.

Disclaimer: The Publisher provided a review copy of this title but in no way influenced the content of this review.