Network Topologies

LAN topologies
WAN topologies
LAN topologies
 Physical
Describes the geometric arrangement of
components that make up the LAN
 Logical
Describes the possible connections between
pairs of networked end-points that can
communicate

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LAN Topologies(Physical)
1) Bus
2) Star
3) Ring
4) Switched
5) Daisy chains
6) Hierarchies

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Bus topology
 All networked nodes are interconnected,
peer to peer, using a single, open-ended
cable
 Both ends of the bus must be terminated
with a terminating resistor to prevent
signal bounce

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Bus topology

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Advantages of Bus topology
1) Easy to implement and extend
2) Well suited for temporary networks
that must be set up in a hurry
3) Typically the least cheapest topology to
implement
4) Failure of one station does not affect
others

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Disadvantages of Bus topology
1) Difficult to administer/troubleshoot
2) Limited cable length and number of
stations
3) A cable break can disable the entire
network; no redundancy
4) Maintenance costs may be higher in the
long run
5) Performance degrades as additional
computers are added
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Ring topology
 started out as a simple peer-to-peer LAN
topology
 Each networked workstation had two
connections: one to each of its nearest
neighbors
 Data was transmitted unidirectionally
around the ring
 Sending and receiving of data takes place
by the help of TOKEN
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Token Passing
 Token contains a piece of information
which along with data is sent by the
source computer
 This token then passes to next node,
which checks if the signal is intended to it
If yes, it receives it and passes the empty to
into the network
otherwise passes token along with the data
to next node

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Ring topology

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 Advantages of Ring topology
1) This type of network topology is very
organized
2) Performance is better than that of Bus
topology
3) No need for network server to control the
connectivity between workstations
4) Additional components do not affect the
performance of network
5) Each computer has equal access to
resources
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Disadvantages of Ring topology
1) Each packet of data must pass through
all the computers between source and
destination, slower than star topology
2) If one workstation or port goes down,
the entire network gets affected
3) Network is highly dependent on the
wire which connects different
components

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Star topology
 Have connections to networked devices
that “radiate” out form a common point
 Each networked device in star topology
can access the media independently
 Have become the dominant topology type
in contemporary LANs
 Stars have made buses and rings obsolete
in LAN topologies

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Star topology

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Advantages of star topology
1) Compared to Bus topology it gives far
much better performance
2) Easy to connect new nodes or devices
3) Centralized management. It helps in
monitoring the network
4) Failure of one node or link doesn’t affect
the rest of network

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Disadvantages of star topology

1) If central device fails whole network

goes down
2) The use of hub, a router or a switch as
central device increases the overall cost
of the network
3) Performance and as well number of
nodes which can be added in such
topology is depended on capacity of
central device
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 Switched topology
 A switch is a multiport, Data Link Layer device
 A switch “learns” Media Access Control addresses
and stores them in an internal lookup table
 Temporary, switched paths are created between
the frame’s originator and its intended recipient,
and the frames are forwarded along the
temporary path
 Switched topology features multiple connections
to a switching hub/Switch
 Each port, and the device to which it connects, has
its own dedicated bandwidth

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Switched topology

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Advantages/Disadvantages of a
Switched topology
 Advantage:
Can improve LAN performance:
increase the aggregate bandwidth available
throughout the network
reducing the number of devices forced to
share each segment of bandwidth
 Disadvantage:
Large switched implementations do not
isolate broadcasts

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Daisy chains
 Developed by serially interconnecting all
the hubs of a network
 This simple approach uses ports on
existing hubs for interconnecting the hubs
 Daisy chains are easily built and don’t
require any special administrative skills
 Daisy chains were, historically, the
interconnection method of choice for
emerging, first-generation LANs
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Daisy chains

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Disadvantage of Daisy chain
 Increases the number of connections, and
therefore the number of devices, on a
LAN. Too many devices competing for the
same amount of bandwidth can create
collisions and quickly incapacitate a LAN

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 Hierarchies
 Hierarchical topologies consist of more than
one layer of hubs. Each layer serves a
different network function
 The bottom tier is reserved for user station
and server connectivity. Higher-level tiers
provide aggregation of the user-level tier
 A hierarchical arrangement is best suited for
medium-to-large-sized LANs that must be
concerned with scalability of the network
and with traffic aggregation
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Hierarchical rings
 Ring networks can be scaled up by
interconnecting multiple rings in a
hierarchical fashion
 User station and server connectivity can be
provided by as many limited size rings as are
necessary to provide the required level of
performance
 A second-tier ring, either Token Ring or
FDDI, can be used to interconnect all the
user level rings and to provide aggregated
access to the Wide Area Network (WAN)
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Hierarchical rings

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Hierarchical stars
 Star topologies, can be implemented in
hierarchical arrangements of multiple
stars
 Hierarchical stars can be implemented as
a single collision domain or segmented
into multiple collision domains using
switches, routers or bridges

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Hierarchical stars

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Hierarchical combinations
 Overall network performance can be
enhanced by not force-fitting all the
functional requirements of the LAN into a
single solution
 Today’s high-end switching hubs enable
you to mix multiple technologies

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Hierarchical combinations

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WAN Topologies
 The topology of a WAN describes the
way the transmission facilities are
arranged relative to the locations that
they interconnect
 Numerous topologies are possible, each
one offering a different mix of cost,
performance and scalability

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WAN Topologies
1) Peer-to-peer WANs
2) Ring WANs
3) Star WANs
4) Full-mesh WANs
5) Partial-mesh WANs
6) Two-tiered
7) Three-tiered
8) Hybrids

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Peer-to-peer topology
 A peer-to-peer WAN can be developed
using leased private lines or any other
transmission facility
 This WAN topology is a relatively simple
way of interconnecting a small number of
sites
 Represents the least-cost solution for
WANs that contain a small number of
internetworked locations
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Peer-to-peer

User Location A

T1
T1

User Location B
User Location C

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Advantage/Disadvantage of Peer-to-
peer
 Advantage:
It is inexpensive relative to other options
 Disadvantages:
They don’t scale very well. As additional
locations are introduced to the WAN, the
number of hops between any given pair of
locations remains highly inconsistent and has
an upward trend
An equipment or facility failure anywhere in a
peer-to-peer WAN can split the WAN
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 Ring topology
 Can be developed fairly easily from a peer-
to-peer network by adding one transmission
facility and an extra port on two routers
 A ring-shaped WAN constructed with
point-to-point transmission facilities can be
used to interconnect a small number of
sites and provide route redundancy at a
potentially minimal incremental cost
 Can use dynamic routing protocols

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Ring topology

User Location A

T1
T1

T1 T1 User Location C
User Location B

User Location D

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Advantages/Disadvantages of Ring
topology
 Advantages:
It provides alternative routes
It is less expensive than all but the peer-to-
peer WAN
 Disadvantages:
Depending on the geographic dispersion of
the locations, adding an extra transmission
facility to complete the ring may be cost
prohibitive
Rings are not very scalable
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Star network Topology
 constructed by homing all locations into a
common location
 The star topology can be constructed
using almost any dedicated transmission
facility including frame relay and point-to-
point private lines

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Advantages/Disadvantages of star
topology
 Advantages:
More scalable than a peer-to-peer or ring
network
Improved network performance. Hop count
of three
 Disadvantages:
It creates a single point of failure
There is no route redundancy

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Star topology

User Location A

T1
T1 T1

User Location C
User Location B

User Location D

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 Full-mesh topology
 This topology features the ultimate reliability and fault
tolerance
 Every networked node is directly connected to every
other networked node
 Redundant routes to each location are plentiful, hence
static routing impractical.
 Use dynamic routing protocols
 One application would be to provide interconnectivity for
a limited number of routers that require high network
availability
 Another potential application is to fully mesh just parts of
the WAN, such as the backbone of a multitiered WAN or
tightly coupled work centers
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Advantages/Disadvantages of full-
mesh
 Advantages:
Minimizes the number of hops between any
two network-connected machines
Can be built with virtually any transmission
technology
 Disadvantages:
These WANs can be fairly expensive to build
A finite (although substantial) limit on the
scalability of the network

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Full-mesh topology

User Location A

T1
T1

T1
T1

T1 T1 User Location C
User Location B

User Location D

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 Partial-mesh topology
 Partial meshes are highly flexible topologies
that can take a variety of very different
configurations
 The routers are much more tightly coupled
than any of the basic topologies but are not
fully interconnected, as would be the case in
a fully meshed network
 A partially meshed WAN topology is readily
identified by the almost complete
interconnection of every node with every
other node in the network
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Partial-mesh

User Location A

T1
T1

T1
T1

User Location C
User Location B

User Location D

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Advantages of partial-mesh
 Partial meshes offer the capability to
minimize hops for the bulk of the WAN’s
users
 Unlike fully meshed networks, a partial
mesh can reduce the startup and
operational expenses by not
interconnecting low-traffic segments of
the WAN, hence more affordable and
scalable

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Two-tiered topology
 A two-tiered topology is a modified
version of the basic star topology. Rather
than single concentrator routers, two or
more routers are used
 A two-tiered WAN constructed with
dedicated facilities offers improved fault
tolerance over the simple star topology
without compromising scalability

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Two-tiered topology

User Location B
User Location A

T1 T1 T1 T1 T1

User Location C User Location D User Location F

User Location E

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Three-tiered topology
 WANs that need to interconnect a very
large number of sites, or are built using
smaller routers that can support only a
few serial connections, may find the two-
tiered architecture insufficiently scalable.
 Therefore, adding a third tier may well
provide the additional scalability they
require

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Three-tiered
User Location A

Backbone tier

T1
T1 T1

User Location D
User Location B

T1 T1 T1
56Kb 56Kb

Concentrator tier User Location C

User Tier

User Location E User Location F User Location G User Location H

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Advantage/Disadvantage of three-
tiered
 Advantage:
A three-tiered WAN constructed with
dedicated facilities offers even greater fault
tolerance and scalability than the two-tiered
topology
 Disadvantage:
Three-tiered networks are expensive to build,
operate and maintain

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 Hybrid topologies
 Hybridization of multiple topologies is useful
in larger, more complex networks
 Multitiered networks, in particular, lend
themselves to hybridization. A multitiered
WAN can be hybridized by fully or partially
meshing the backbone tier of routers
 An effective hybrid topology may be
developed in a multitiered WAN by using a
fully meshed topology for the backbone
nodes only
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Hybrid topology
T3

T3 T3

Backbone tier

T1
T1 T1

User Location D
User Location B

T1 T1 T1
56Kb 56Kb

Concentrator tier User Location C

User Tier

User Location E User Location F User Location G User Location H

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