Network Topologies

Topology: " The physical arrangement of the devices/nodes".

Now let's discuss local area network topology why should we learn network topology and the reason for that is pretty simple it helps us understand about the different elements of the network and how and where the connects and besides that if you want to learn about networking for any reason, it is very important stuff because if you don't know something you can fix it it will help you decide what actions to take when you face trouble with network problems and troubleshooting network.

So network topology is of two types first is physical one which refers to the actual layout of cables wire and other peripherals think of it as you are in a room with bunch of network cables coming out of computer and connected into a hub or a switch or a router now this whole thing about how the network is arranged comes under physical topology the other one is logical topology it refers to a concept in networking which describes the architecture of the communication between network devices like how the data is transmitted how the nodes connected to each other and we are going to be more focused on physical topology now there are different types of physical topologies and each type of physical topology has its own cones and drones now let's discuss each of them one by one.

Star Topology

Fig 1: Star Topology

So first we have star topology now the star topology is the most common network topology and in this topology all nodes are connected individually to one central hub via coaxial or a fiber optic cable now this central node manages all the data transmission me which means any information sent to a device in this topology has to pass through the central node the advantages of a start apology are it is easy to manage your entire network from a single location it is easy to set up and modify adding more devices or removing is easy and as each device connected individually and independently to the node if one fails it doesn't affect the others and the disadvantages of star topology are it is more expensive than other topology because of the cost of cable and other equipments if the central hub goes down then the entire network fails heavy network traffic can sometimes lower the performance  and overall bandwidth depend on the hub's capacity and it comes costly.

Bus Topology

Fig 2: Bus Topology

Now we have bus topology now the bus topology also known as backbone topology and line topology because it uses a single cable running in a single direction from one end of the network to the other end which connects all the nodes and the data flow is also unidirectional and follows the route of the cable as the data flow in a single direction it can be reflected back to where it came from in order to avoid this a special terminator that works as a shock absorber is used to terminate the signal the advantages are it is widely used and cost effective for smaller networks more nodes can be added easily by joining additional cable to the line cable and the disadvantages are if the common cable is damaged whole network fails as the network increases performance decreases significantly and heavy network traffic or multiple simultaneous requests from multiple devices may develop collision in the network.

Ring Topology

Fig 3: Ring Topology

Next we have ring topology ring topology also known as token topology as the name suggests all devices are connected on a single circular coaxial or fiber optic cable to form a loop there are no terminated end unlike bus topology and the signal flows in the loop unidirectionally the data is sent across the loop until it reaches the destination node by using other devices on the ring to forward the data and this whole method called talking passing the advantages are only one device on the network is allowed to send data at a time which reduces the risk of collision as the data flow is unidirectional troubleshooting is also easy and it is easy to install and reconfigure and because of the structure it provides fast error checking the disadvantages are if one device fails entire network fields adding or removing devices can disrupt the network activity.

Mesh Topology

Fig 4: Mesh Topology

Now we have the mesh topology and this topology can be of two types full mesh or partial mesh and full match topology each devices connects to every other device on the network and develops p2p connection between all the nodes of the network and in partial mesh most of the device is connected likewise as full mesh topology but some of devices are connected with two or three devices the advantages of mesh topology are no traffic problems as nodes has alternative links and if any device fails entire network doesn't fail the disadvantages are installation is far complex than other topology it is costly due to the extra use of cables and requires larger space to run.

Hybrid Topology

The last one we have hybrid topology in hybrid topology two or more topologies are combined to form a complete network this topology is just a combination of other topologies and the advantages of hybrid topology are it is the combination of the benefits of different types of topology modification are easy it is extremely flexible and very reliable error detection and troubleshooting is easy it handles large volume of traffic as it is used for create large network the disadvantages of hybrid topology are designer for hybrid topology is very complex requires a lot of cables in installation process and the installation process is a difficult task.