Network Topologies

     What are Network Topologies ? 

     Network Topologies are the arrangement of computers connected in a network

     Generally a network contains computers connected to share information .Here 

     how the computer share information from one system to another basically

     depends on how the computers are arranged in a network .

     In this article we will be learning about the types of  topologies in a network:

     1.Bus Topology:

                     

       In This Topology all the nodes are connected to the single common path .It 

       is very simple and easy to maintain.all the nodes are connected  in a  single 

      way which is  known as backbone cable.when a node wants to send a

      message to another node it is put over a network and the message passes

      to all the nodes in a network and finally the response is given back my the 

      node to which is actually sent. One of the most biggest diadvantage of

      Bus topology is that  here the security is nil as the message is being 

      recieved by all the nodes whether it is addressed or not and the second 

      disadvantage is that fault detection is very difficult in case there is any

      physical damage.

  

 2. Ring Topology :

 

  In this Topology the nodes are connected to one another in the form of a ring. The basic

  characteristics of this topology is that here the data flows in only one direction,ie

  Unidirectional. When a node sends to message it is retransmitted to another node

  in one direction only.Here one of the most common disadvantage of Ring Topology 

 is that failure of one network disturbs the whole network.

 

3. Star Topology:  

 

   In this type of topology all the nodes are connected to the central hub/switch

   in a network.whenever a node wants to sends a message to another node in 

   a network it sends it to the central hub/ switch and after that the messages

   are send to the respective nodes thereby maintaning security of the  data

   and information.It is also called as Point to point network. One of the 

   major diadvantage of this network is that  if the central device fails the

  whole networks shut downs.

 

4. Mesh Topology:

 

  In this type of topology every single in a network is connected to eac and every

  node in a network.Meah  has n(n-1)/2  physical channel to link n devices.

  There are multiple paths from one computer to another  computer.

  Internet is one of the best example of  Mesh Topology.It is mainly used

  fro wireless network.

 

 5. Tree Topology:

 

  In this type of topology the nodes are connected to one another in the form of

  hierarchy. It is basically a combination of bus and star topology.here the topmost

 node is called as the root node and rest all other nodes are known as descendants

 of root node.It works on the priciple of parent-child relationship .There is only

 one way path of communication of message from one node to another node. 

6. Hybrid Topology:

 

 Hybrid topology as the name suggests is a combination of all the topologies together

 as bus, ring, star and mesh.In this type of topology Basically this topology is a

 combination of  two or more  topologies such as Ring and Bus then to Tree

 topology. Here in this type type of topology the biggest advantage it is very much 

scalable and  Flexible as different topologies can be connected according to needs

and requirement.However it is very much complex to construct and costly.