Interconnections
by Radia Perlman · first published 1992
87% recommend13% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explains why bridging, routing and switching protocols were designed the way they are, with humor and historical context. Suits newcomers and working engineers wanting a broad foundation in networking.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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The book that I recommend for Networking, and that has been recommended to me by every fulltime NetEng I've ever asked, has been Interconnections. https://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Int... Yes, the material is a bit dated. Yes, it won't give you the ins and outs of what you need to know. What it will give you is the why…
on “Teach Yourself Computer Science” ↗https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Modern-Networking-SDN-Clo... https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Networking-Understanding-Cloud-... https://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Int... https://www.amazon.com/TCP-Guide-Comprehensive-Illustrated-P... After spending a lot of time trying to find resources to get up to speed on this networks domain for work, those…
on “Ostinato – A Network Traffic Generator and Analyzer” ↗It's charming to see budding network engineers (re)discover L2/L3 differentiation issues. See "Interconnections" by Radia Perlman for the robust review of that story. It's a must read.
on “The Blurring of Layer 2 and Layer 3” ↗Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols (2nd Edition) Radia Perlman http://www.amazon.com/dp/0201634481/ This book explains how conventions in data networking were established, how…
on “Why couldn't MAC addresses be used instead of IPv4|6 for networking?” ↗Radia Perlman also wrote a great (and fun!) book on networking: https://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Int...
on “Grace Hopper and Margaret Hamilton Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom” ↗…this in a way that can show non-technical people the stuff they take for granted. The mountains that move on a user’s behalf under every keystroke is humbling. One of my favorite books on this topic is Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Interconnections by Radia Perlman if you haven’t come across it.
on “Show HN: How did YOUR computer reach my server?” ↗Adding to the already good recommendations on this thread: - Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols (https://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Int...) It covers a broader range of topics than some of the other books mentioned…
on “Ask HN: Good book to learn modern networking?” ↗Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols 2nd Edition - Radia Perlman Every 2-3 years, particularly in the periods when I'm not actively in network engineering, I re-read this book from…
on “Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?” ↗…tier network engineers I work with who do a lot of work at Layer3 (Writing Mesh routing protocols) - say if they could have one, and only one book for the rest of their life, it would be Radia Perlman's "Interconnections, 2nd Edition." I'll attest that some chapters have captured my attention for months. :-)
on “Speed matters: how Ethernet went from 3Mbps to 100Gbps... and beyond” ↗…Core Protocols: The Definitive Guide - Hall (not a work of any particular genius, but this is stuff everyone should know, in my opinion) 4. Applied Cryptography - Schneier 5. Think Bayes - Downey 6. Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches and Internetworking Protocols - Perlman
on “Code Interview Reading List” ↗…significant new material. The reality, is that with very, very few exceptions, the textbooks that were recommended weren't that books that I wanted to hold onto for life. (Exception like Radia Perlman's Interconnections, Stewart's Calculus Series, did find a permanent home with me - maybe a dozen books- but they were exceptions. Most of the great books for life I purchased as a result of my own searches.) What I would…
on “Peter Atkins on writing textbooks” ↗…personalities at the table" Women Techies dream team version 0.001: Limor Fried, Jeri Ellsworth, Radia Perlman (noobs probably don't know who she is... hint... Spanning Tree Protocol and a epic 90s book titled "Interconnections"). "the table" needs techies like those three women, not some famous bean counters. I would much rather have my daughter look up to those three (or about a bazillion others) than, say, "Job Destroyer…
on “Why I won't speak at women-only events” ↗Radia Perlman's books ("Interconnections" about switches/routers and "Network Security") are great at explaining why with a sense of humour.
on “Ask HN: Best books or online courses to learn networking?” ↗Here are a couple recommendations. Interconnections - Radia Perlman. This is a good introduction to bridging and routing. Networking Algorithmics - George Varghese. This has a lot of interesting content about removing bottlenecks from network devices.…
on “Ask HN: Book Recommendation about Networking” ↗In addition, learning how various internet protocols (esp routing) are designed and historically evolved would be a good idea. Interconnections by radia perlman interconnections would be a start.
on “Ask HN: Recommended books and papers on distributed systems?” ↗