Network Topologies
Bus network – Components such as computers, printers, servers, and a common cable called a bus make up the bus network. The common cable or bus connects all devices to the network. The bus network is inexpensive and easy to configure. All one as to do is plug or remove a device from the bus cable to reconfigure the network. This makes the bus network widely used in businesses. The disadvantage is that the entire network is dependant on the bus cable. If the cable went bad, the network goes down and it is hard to determine the cause of the problem. Think of the bus network like a power strip. It easy to plug and unplug devices in to the power strip but if the breaker on the strip kept tripping or the strip went bad it would be hard to determine the cause.
Ring network – The Ring network has the same components as the bus. It has computers, printers, servers, and cables. In the ring network, all the devices on the network are connected to two other devices completing a circle or ring. The ring network is more reliable than the bus or star because it is not dependant on just one component to keep the network up. If one of the devices on a ring network went bad the systems administrator could just change the flow of data so that it would go in the opposite direction until it reached its destination. This makes the ring network expensive and difficult to install.
Star network – The Star network has the same components as the bus and ring but it uses a hub to connect all devices on the network to the server. This makes it very easy to add and remove devices or reconfigure the network. Instead of reconfiguring the entire network all one has to do is reconfigure the hub. It also makes very easy to diagnose problems if one device on the network goes down it does not bring the entire network down but because like the bus network it is dependent on one component the hub to connect the network if the hub goes bad then the entire network goes...