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Networking Fundamentals · Foundational

Network Topology

The arrangement of nodes and links in a network, described physically (cabling) or logically (data flow).

Definition

Common topologies are star, bus, ring, mesh, hybrid, point-to-point and hub-and-spoke. Topology affects cost, fault tolerance, scalability and troubleshooting. Most modern LANs are physical stars or extended stars.

Example

An office where every PC cables to a central switch uses a star topology.

Exam tip

Match the topology to its single points of failure: star = central device, bus = backbone cable.

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