A network topology is the shape, or pattern, of the way nodes on the network are
connected to each other.
Please respond to the following in a post of150–200 words:
Compare/contrast the basic network topologies: point-to-point, bus, ring, star, and
mesh.
Select an industry and recommend which network topology best supports this
industry’s business needs.
oSupport your rationale with examples.
Bus topology is where the network uses a single line of communication for data
transmission.
Advantages to this are simplicity, ease of set up, minimal cost and minimal cables
required.
Disadvantages are with one line of transmission, it is easier for collisions to occur, if
an individual cable has a problem then the entire network is down, difficult identifying
problems, all devices signal the same error from the host so it is less efficient in
communicating errors.
Star topology one of the most commonly utilized topologies due to the simplicy and
efficiency of the network. It has a centralized nodes and all of the other nodes and all
of the other nodes have to connect to it. it is the most frequently used topology used
in offices today.
Advantages to this are eas of installation of wiring, ease of troubleshooting and
problem detection on network, failure of one device on the network does not causue
the entire network to fail, centralized management and monitoring occurs through a
centralized hub.
Disadvantages are there is a single point of failure, more cable is needed since you
have to connect each device to the central node, performance of the entire network
depends on the central node.
Ring topology is when the network is set up in a circle just like a ring. It is similar to
bus topology, but it is a closed loop. they are not used as much now.
Advantages are there are less packet collisions, higher transfers of data, token use
makes it perform better than in bus topology.
Disadvantages are that a single node can interrupt or break the entire network.
Mesh topology is composed of interconnected nodes on the network like a mesh.
They are mostly used in critical environments i.e. hosptials, banks where the
availability of data is most important.
Advantages of this is there is a more reliable and flexible fault tolerance, it is more
reliable than the other topologies due to the redundant links, if one node fails, it does
not interrupt the rest of the network, addition of devices does not affect the current
network.
Diasadvantages are they are more costly, and more complex. It is more costly.
My previous employer was a retail company and they would need to use the star
topology to connect the cash registers to the main server. They could also use this to
connect to the main offices to use the orders for the store and also the payroll.
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