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Threetypesofnetworktopology
BusTopologyThistopologyconsistsofaBackbonecableconnectingallnodesonanetworkwithout
interveningconnectivitydevices.ThesinglecableiscalledBusandcansupportonlyonechannelfor
communicationasaresult,everynodesharesthebusstotalcapacity.OnaBusTopologynetwork,
devicessharetheresponsibilityforgettingdatafromonepointtoanother.Butonlytheintendedrecipient
actuallyreceivesandprocessesthetransmittedmessagewhileadevicewantstosendthebroadcast
messagetoallthedevicesthatconnectedtothesharedcable.
Attheendsofeachbusnetworkare50ohmresistorsknownasterminators.Theterminatorsstopsignals
aftertheyhavereachedtheendofthecable.Withouttheseterminators,signalsonabusnetworkwould
travelendlesslybetweenthetwoendsofthenetworkthisphenomenoniscalledsignalbounce,andnew
signalscouldnotgetthrough.
Ethernetbustopologyisactuallyeasytoinstallanddoesnotrequiremuchcablingandonlyamain
sharedcableisusedfornetworkcommunication.10BASE2and10BASETaretwopopulartypesofthe
EthernetcablesusedintheBustopology.Also,Busnetworkworkswithverylimiteddevices.
PerformanceissuesarelikelytooccurintheBustopologyifmorethan1215computersareaddedina
BusNetwork.Inaddition,iftheBackbonecablefailsthenallnetworkbecomesuselessand
communicationfailsamongallthedevices.

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RingTopologyInringnetwork,eachnodeisconnectedtothetwonearestnodessothattheentire
networkformsacircle.Inaringnetwork,allthecommunicationmessagesaretransmittedclockwisein
onedirection,aroundthering.Eachworkstationacceptsandrespondstopacketsaddressedtoit,andthen
forwardstheotherpacketstothenextworkstationinthenetwork.Eachworkstationjustactsasarepeater
forthetransmission,inotherwords,allworkstationsparticipateindeliverymakestheringtopologyan
activetopology.Aringtopologyhasnoendsandtransmitteddatastopsatitsdestination.Twistedpair
orfiberopticcablingiscommonlyusedasthephysicalmedium.
Anydamageofthecableofanycableordevicecanresultinthebreakdownofthewholenetwork.In
addition,justasinabustopology,themoreworkstationsthatmustparticipateindatatransmission,the
slowertheresponsetime.Duetotheseshortcomings,ringtopologynowhasbecomealmostobsolete.
FDDI,SONETorTokenRingTechnologycanbeusedtoimplementRingTechnology.Ringtopologies
canbefoundinoffice,schoolorsmallbuildings.

StarTopologyInthecomputernetworkingworldthemostcommonlyusedtopologyinlocalarea
networkingisthestartopology.Startopologiescanbeimplementedinhome,officesorevenina
building.Allthecomputersinthestartopologiesareconnectedtocentraldeviceslikehub,switchor
router.Thefunctionalityofallthesedevicesisdifferent.Computersinanetworkareusuallyconnected
withthehub,switchorrouterwiththeunshieldedtwistedpair(UTP)orShieldedTwistedpaircables.
Startopologynetworkscansupportamaximumofonly1024addressablenodesonalogicalnetwork.
Startopologyrequiresmorecablingthanringandbus.Italsorequiresmoreconfigurations.However,
becauseeachnodeisseparatelyconnectedtoacentralconnectivitydevice,theyaremorefaulttolerant.
Asinglemalfunctioningworkstationcannotdisableanentirestarnetwork.Afailureinthecentral
connectivitydevicecantakedownalocalareanetworkingsegment.Becausetheyincludeacentralized
connectionpoint,startopologycaneasilybemoved,isolatedorinterconnectedwithothernetworks
throughhubs,switchestoformmorecomplextopologies.MostEthernetnetworksarebasedonthestar
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