Network Topologies

Question 1

Point-to-Point

Answer 1

Simplest form of network topology that involves a direct connection between two devices. Example would be connecting one network in California to another network in Washington.

Question 2

Ring

Answer 2

a network configuration where each device is connected to two other devices, forming a circular data path. Ring topology is not common unless you use Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) which is used to conduct data transmissions on fiber optic lines in a local area network.

Question 3

Bus

Answer 3

All of the network devices are connected to a single central cable, called the bus or backbone. Data can be sent by any device, and data will be available to any device on that bus but only the intended recipient can process it. The drawback is as more devices are added to the bus, the performance of whole network decreases because of data collision.

Question 4

Star

Answer 4

One of the most common network layouts that is in use today. In this topology each node is connected to a centralized connection point which is usually a network switch.

Question 5

Hub-and-spoke

Answer 5

A variation of the start topology where the central node (hub) is connected to multiple nodes (spokes). Analogy for this one is if you want to send data from Sacramento to New York, the data will go to Nevada hub and then to Ohio hub and then to New York because we are operating under this hub-and-spoke model.

Question 6

Mesh

Answer 6

Features a point-to-point connection between every single device on the network to create a robust and redundant network.