Network Topology

A Network topology is arrangement or mapping of different network elements. Network topologies can come in different styles of setups; they consist of the physical, signal, and logical topologies between the nodes. A node is a point is a network where part of it branches off or intersects such as a device like a computer. The node has to be able to receive, transmit, and send data and other signals along with being able to process the data itself and do something with the data. A node will either be an end point or a redistribution point for the data on the network and every node has to have a MAC Address or a Data-Link Control Address. When you look at a Signal and Logical topology there is a slight difference that you have to look for; thus making it hard to distinguish between the two. The difference between the two is that logical refers to the apparent path of the network and that signal refers to the actual path that the data is transferred through. Physical topology refers to the mapping of the physical connection between networks, it is the layout of the cable or wires that connect the nodes. Some networks such as a local area network (LAN) can consist of both a physical and logical interconnection between the endpoints or nodes. An important thing to help distinguish the two is that physical topology is a real interconnection and logical is a virtual interconnection between the nodes. How the Data flows and is mapped between nodes determines the classification of the physical topology. Some of the classification types include Ring, Star, Line, Mesh, Fully connected, and Tree. I will be touching the main points of the bus, star, and ring classification.

There are two types to the bus topology and those are Linear and Distributed Bus. A Linear bus is a network connection in which all endpoints have a common transmission which will have only two endpoints. This is also known as the Backbone or Trunk. All data that is transferred on the network goes through the common transmission and in which all nodes have access to this data simultaneously. Distributed bus is a network connection that has more than two endpoints on a common transmission which all nodes are sharing. The additional endpoints are created by adding branches to the main transmission medium. These endpoints are normally terminated by a program call a “terminator” when the connection is not being used. This is often confused with the tree topology but the difference between the two is that there is no central node in which the other nodes are connected