BKIMIPV6.RVW   980823

"Implementing IPv6", Mark A. Miller, 1998, 1-55851-579-8,
U$49.95/C$69.95
%A   Mark A. Miller mark@diginet.com
%C   115 West 18th Street, New York, NY   10011-4195
%D   1998
%G   1-55851-579-8
%I   MIS Press/M&T Books/Henry Holt
%O   U$49.95/C$69.95 212-886-9378 fax: 212-633-0748 www.mandt.com
%P   464 p.
%T   "Implementing IPv6"

Given the number of bad books that are almost automatically produced
about any new technology, I have been quite surprised at the high
quality of a good proportion of those texts covering version six of
the Internet Protocol, known in technical shorthand as IPv6.  However,
while all of these tomes have explained the need for, structure of,
and features of the new protocols, none have really dealt with the
rather serious business of porting new bitstreams into old network
clouds.  Unfortunately, while this one promises to, it doesn't either.

Chapter one provides some background on IPv4, some of the limitations
that led to a desire for IPv6, a bit of the development process, and
some mention of intentions to provide support.  Although the text is
clear, supporting figures are not: one indicates a number of
development steps and plans that, as far as I can determine, are never
mentioned in the book.  Chapter two outlines the IPv6 packet
structure.  The addressing scheme for IPv4, IPv6, and the IEEE
expansion of the Ethernet 48 bit addresses to EUI-64 is covered in
chapter three.

Chapter four looks at the Internet Control Message Protocol and
related structures and algorithms for routing and network operation. 
Configuration issues specific to local networks are handled in chapter
five.  Routing is again reviewed in chapter six, in greater detail. 
Upper layer protocols and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)
are briefly mentioned in chapter seven.

The introduction promised us that the implementation part of the book
would start no later than chapter eight, but instead we get more
details on the new MIBs (Management Information Bases) for SNMP
(Simple Network Management Protocol).  Chapter nine is entitled
transition strategies, but beyond detailing many plans that basically
boil down to "do-it-all-at-once" or "do-it-a-bit-at-a-time" it doesn't
provide much help.  The only really useful section comes with
appendices that give contact information for standards groups,
technology fora, and vendors.

This book does provide a clear explanation of the new suite of
protocols, but so have a good many other books in the past.  What it
singularly does not do is live up to the promise of the title and the
"Why This Book Is for You" foreword.  There simply isn't much there
for the poor network manager who needs to decide how and when to
migrate.  It is not at all clear why pages of screen dumps from
network protocol analyzers are supposed to make this decision any
easier.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKIMIPV6.RVW   980823