What is Network Topology and its Types

Network Topology is the physical or logical description of how links and nodes are set up to relate to one another in a communication network.

Consider your network to be a city, and the topology to be the road map. There are several strategies to organize and manage a city, such as ensuring that avenues and boulevards provide for easy access between the busiest areas of town. Just like in network, there are various methods to configure a network, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and some are more beneficial in particular situations than others.

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Choosing the proper topology for a company’s operating model may boost performance while making it simpler to detect problems, fix mistakes, and distribute resources more efficiently throughout the network to guarantee optimal network health. Here are the basic types of Topology:

  • Point-to-Point – This is the most basic type of network topology. Two end devices are directly connected in this architecture.
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  • Bus – All computers connect through a single continuous coaxial cable. This cable is known as the backbone cable. Both ends of the backbone cable are terminated through the terminators.
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  • Ring – All computers form a circle. Each computer in the network is directly connected to two other computers. Data travels in a one-way direction from one computer to another. When data signals are sent from one computer to the next, the signals are regenerated by each computer. Because the signals are recreated on each passing computer, the signal quality remains consistent across the ring.
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  • Star – All computers are linked to a central networking device. As the centralized device, a networking switch or (in previous days) a Hub is typically utilized. To connect to the switch, each computer in the network has its own twisted pair connection.
  • Tree – Tree topology is a hybrid topology, it is basically a combination of bus topology and star topology.  A hierarchical layout that connects groups of nodes and creates parent-child relationships between root and normal nodes.
  • Mesh – is a complex and sophisticated network of point-to-point links in which the nodes are linked.
  • Hybrid – Any combination of two or more topologies.

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