Network topology is a physical and logical connection structure of network elements.
The physical topology refers to a structure in which links (or communication lines)
between various network nodes (or devices) and nodes are physically arranged and
connected. A logical topology refers to a structure in which nodes that actually
transfer and process data through a switch or router within a network are connected.
For example, in general, devices such as switches, routers, and user terminal
devices are referred to as nodes, and electrical communication lines are referred to
as links. In terms of form, there are mesh topology in which nodes on a network are
connected in a net shape, tree topology in which hierarchical relationships between
nodes are expressed in a tree form, and ring topology in which nodes are connected
in a circular shape. In addition, there are statology in which all nodes are directly
connected to the central node, bus topology in which all nodes share the default
transmission path, and linear topology, a configuration that is sequentially connected
in series based on point points. Linearity is also called a bus-type structure.
In addition, the mesh type has many connection paths between nodes, so data flow
is not concentrated on a specific node or link and data can be transferred at the
shortest distance, but it has a disadvantage in that path calculation between nodes is
complicated. On the other hand, ring-type, star-type, tree-type, and bus-type are
easy to calculate and manage paths between nodes, but their performance is limited
as data can be concentrated on specific nodes or links. In large-scale networks,
mesh-type structures with good performance are suitable, and in small-scale
networks, standardized connection structures such as ring-type, star-type, tree-type,
and bus-type are suitable.
