Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animal on the cover of Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, Second Edition is a donkey, Equus asinus, also known as a domesticated ass. Today's donkeys are probably descendants of the African wild ass, and they were domesticated by the Egyptians around 4,000 B.C. They're about four feet tall, and they're known for long ears, a short mane that looks a bit like a push broom, and the braying noise they make. The big ears and braying enabled wild asses to keep in touch across the far distances that often separated them as they searched for sparse food sources in the African desert. Donkeys are relatives of the horse; although they are considerably smaller in stature than their cousins, they live longer, up to 25 or 30 years. They run as fast as 30 miles per hour.

Jamie Peppard was the production editor and proofreader for Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, Second Edition. Lydia Onofrei and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Abby Fox provided production assistance. Ellen Troutman Zaig wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Keith Fahlgren from Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. This colophon was written by Leanne Soylemez.