Rating: 

It has something for everyone; for the junior admins just starting out, to intermediate and advanced who can use a no no-nonsense reference. (as well as a reference point to defend your designs)

It's literally a brain dump of useful information that only real world experience can teach. For the more advanced folk out there, you will find plenty of information to sink your teeth into. There are tidbits of information that we all were not sure on or thought was true, but never found in writing in the official Cisco press books.

The best example I can think of in there, is a crucial difference of CSS and CSM. ... Now I have the official Cisco press book (designing content switching solutions); but no where did it tell me that a CSM uses the bus which in turn will cause my 6500's sup720-3b to drop down from using the cross-bar to using the bus, effectively negating the coveted 720gig forwarding rate. (the closest thing they have to referencing it is a picture on page 54 of the CSM, with a line pointing to the connector saying "shared bus connectivity". A far cry from saying this is what is going to happen to your 6500)

It's little things like that which makes this book just as invaluable as the IOS Cookbook and the hacking exposed series.

Junior level admins will find the first chapters enlightening (he explains spanning tree better then I ever could). The chapter on telco is great and goes into enough detail for everyone.

This book is a must have.

Highly Recommended...