Computer Networking: Internet Protocols in Action - Practical Guide for IT Professionals & Network Engineers | Home & Office Network Setup Solutions

As Associate Professor with several years of experience teaching Computer Networking to undergraduate and graduate students, i think practical exercises are crucial for students to really understand this field.Jeanna Matthews does a very good job introducing featured aspects of computer networks. The book follows a tipical top-down approach, which has proven to be the most reasonable option for practical networking (specially at the introductory level). Each chapter begins with a brief theoretic introduction (in the style of 'basic concepts about TCP', and then presents the rest of the practical topics in a 'learn by example practice' way.Another great point is the CD included with all the network traffic traces you need to follow each example. The book also includes a brief introduction to Ethereal (now renamed as Wireshark).Super-recommended to students and self-learning people that really want to understand TCP/IP in practice from the ground up. It is also useful as a guide for a lab-based computer networking course (introductory level), along with 'TCP/IP essentials' by Panwar (if you want to cover more advanced topics).