Computer Networking Topologies
By Stephen Bucaro
The physical arrangement of the cables, computers and components is referred to as the
networks topology. There are five basic topologies, bus, star, ring, mesh, and wireless.
Bus Topology
A bus topology consists of a cable that connects all the computers in the network in
a single line. Computers communicate by attaching the address of the computer meant
to receive it to the data and putting it on the cable. The data, an electronic signal,
travels to the ends of the cable. A component called a terminator is connected to
each end of the cable to absorb the signal and prevent it from bouncing back.
If the cable is disconnected or physically broken, this would result in cable ends that
do not have a terminator. Signals would bounce, causing the network communications to fail.
Ring Topology
In a ring topology, all the computers in the network are connected in a closed loop.
The data signal travels around the loop in one direction, passing through each computer.
Whereas bus topology is passive, in a ring topology each computer boosts the signal
before sending it on to the next computer. Because the signal must pass through each
computer, the failure of one computer can cause the network to fail.
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