WHAT IS NETWORK TOPOLOGY?

• The arrangement of the various elements(links, nodes, etc)
• The layout of the connections (links, nodes ,etc ) of a computer network.

TYPES OF TOPOLOG

•  Physical topology

 The actual layout the  computer nodes  in the  network.

•  Logical topology

A concept in networking  that defines architecture  of communication  mechanism for all nodes  in a network

TYPES OF NETWORK TOPOLOGY

BUS NETWORK TOPOLOGY

   In bus topology, there are central cable (the main wire) that connects all devices in the network. It is usually known as the backbone of the network. The cable connects one devices by using a T-connector that can be connected to the computer network adapter cards

ADVANTAGE OF BUS TOPOLOGY

• Bus network are not expensive and easy to install
• It is not difficult to connect a computer or device to the Bus
• It usually does not require a lot of cabling
• Failure of one device usually does not affect the rest of the bus network

DISADVANTAGE OF BUS TOPOLOGY

• The entire network may go down if the backbone is broken in the middle.
• Difficult to identify the actual 'broken point'
• Security is very low because all the computers receive the same signal from the source.  

STAR NETWORK TOPOLOGY

    In star topology, all the network components are connected to a central device called a 'hub'. The hub can be a router or a switch. All the network components are connected to the hub by a point-to-point connection.

ADVANTAGE OF STAR TOPOLOGY

• It is easy to identify/detect failures in the star network
• If one device fails, only that device is affected.
• Easy to add/remove nodes or devices from network with little or no disruption.

DISADVANTAGE OF STAR TOPOLOGY

• If the hub or switch FAILS, the entire network will be inoperable until the device is repaired
• Requires more cable than most of the other topology
• More expensive because of the cost of the hub

RING NETWORK TOPOLOGY

    In ring topology, all the nodes are connected to each other as in the bus topology but the end of the bus are connected together to form a closed ring formation. Every computer is connected to two other computers on either side of it, and this computer can communicate directly with the two adjacent neighbours.

ADVANTAGE OF RING TOPOLOGY

• Data packets are flowing in one direction at high speed around the ring.
• No network server is needed to control the connectivity  between the computer.
• All computers have equal access to the resources in the network.

DISADVANTAGE OF RING TOPOLOGY

• It is slower than star network because the data needs to pass through all the computers in between the source node and the destination node.
• The performance of the whole network will be affected if one of the nodes goes down.
• The network bandwidth (therefore the speed) is highly dependent on the types of wire/cable used.