Area Network Storage Fundamentals must go on
This is a good looking, well designed book. Perhaps this is due to it being a Cisco Press product that follows their standard format. But I was surprised at the lack of content.
It reads as if it was written by a professional author, not someone who knows Storage Area Networks from hands-on knowledge. The technical editorial staff should pick up the slack, but it appears they dropped the ball with this book.
Some parts just don’t make sense, and the book doesn’t explain why, for example, all “loops” depicted are in a “star” configuration. The reader is left guessing: is the drawing in error? Can I trust any other drawings in the book? Does Ms. Gupta think that “loop” in a fibre-channel context means something different than loop means in English? Is there something about the hub that makes the physical star configuration into a virtual loop?
Here is a typical paragraph that should have been meatier:”Fiber-optic cabling is definitely more expensive than copper-based cabling systems. However, because all the advantages they offer, the implementation of fiber-optic cables amply justifies the slightly higher cost of implementation.”
Yet later in the same chapter: “Fiber-optic cables are extremely expensive in comparison to copper cables and require special skills to handle.”
Are the cables “slightly higher cost” or “extremely expensive”? There is no meat to back up either assertion. This is not an isolated example.
I get the feeling that the author was getting paid by the word and used a lot of adjectives and adverbs (plus a bushel of “therefore”s) just to stretch the subject. This hurts the credibility of the author, in my eyes.
The book is reasonably readable, in part because of all the fluffy language, but also because the author is organized and articulate. But it is more like digesting fast food than a fulfilling meal. Needs more meat, Meeta.
Storage Area Network Fundamentals