Technology And Topology

Network topology is the study of arrangement or mapping of elements of networks. The arrangement is usually between physical and logical interconnections between nodes. Network topology is divided into two; physical topology and logical topology
Physical topology is a physical layout of devices on a network while logical topology is the mapping of the flow of data between the nodes in the network which determine the logical topology of the network.
Physical topology can be classified into several types. They are linear bus, star, star-wired, tree, FDDI and mesh.
Linear bus topology has a main run of cable with terminator at each end. All of the nodes are connected to the cable. It is easy to connect a computer or peripheral to a linear bus. In addition, it requires less cable length. But it did have problems too. if the cable breaks, than the whole cable is break and it can be difficult to troubleshoot too.

 

Ring network is where each system is connected to respective neighbor and form a ring. It does not require termination since the systems are connected together in a loop. there is no beginning and end point. This ring network can be seen in Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI). The advantages of this ring are easy to install, low costs, easy to add systems to networks, and great for small networks. But there are some disadvantages of this ring which are this is an out of date technology. if the cable broke, the whole network is down and it is difficult to troubleshoot

 

Star topology has node connected directly to central network hub. data is passes through the hub. The hub controls all functions of the network and it acts as repeater for the data flow. It usually used twisted pair cable but we can still use coaxial cable or fiber optic cable. Ethernet and

LocalTalk are usually used together with ring networks.  there are several advantages of using star topology. Star topology is easy to install, and easy to add new workstations, there will be no disruptions to the network when connecting or removing devices and it is easy to remove parts and detect faults. But star topology requires more cable length than a linear topology, if the hub or concentrator fails , nodes attach are disable. Other than that, star topology is much more expensive than linear bus topology.

 

Tree topolgy is the topology which combines characteristics of linear bus and star topology. tree topology provide point-to-point wiring for individual segments but the overall segments is limited by the type of cabling used. The entire segments will goes down if the backbone line breaks.

FDDI is normally implemented over fiber optic. There are dual redundancy built in by use of primary and secondary ring.