Topologies

Topologies by Allan Jackson

Overview Vocabulary
 * Topology refers to the shape of a network, or the network's layout. How different nodes in a network are connected to each other and how they communicate are determined by the network's topology. Topologies are either physical or logical.
 * Nodes-In networks, a processing location. A node can be a computer or some other device, such as a printer.

Physical vs. Logical
 * The physical layout of devices on a network. Every LAN has a topology, or the way that the devices on a network are arranged and how they communicate with each other. The way that the workstations are connected to the network through the actual cables that transmit data, the physical structure of the network, is called the physical topology. The logical topology is the way that the signals act on the network media, or the way that the data passes through the network from one device to the next.

Mesh Topology • Devices are connected with many redundant interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh topology every node has a connection to every other node in the network.

Star Topology
 * All devices are connected to a central hub.
 * Nodes communicate across the network
 * by passing data through the hub.

Bus Topology
 * All devices are connected to a central cable, called the bus or backbone.

Ring Topology in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it. Tree Topology
 * All devices are connected to one another
 * A hybrid topology. Groups of star-configured networks are connected to a linear bus backbone.