This guide addresses the challenges faced by service providers and the approaches they use to deliver reliable networks and networked application services. The book offers a systematic, inter-disciplinary approach and coverage of practical problems arising in real, operational deployments. Leading practitioners and researchers present their perspectives, and provide "best practices". Features: Introduces the challenges of building reliable networks and services; Examines network reliability modeling and network planning; Investigates inter-domain reliability and overlay networks; Explores the critical function of network configuration management; Discusses network measurement and performance monitoring; Covers network management systems; Presents an approach to the design of reliable network application software, and an overview of server capacity and performance engineering. This text is suitable for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course, and will be of value to researchers and practitioners.