Hello everyone, today is the start of my third week working towards the Network+ Certification. Now I've moved on to the next part of my textbook which focuses on Cabling (not to be confused with the sections on Ethernet cabling.) This bit is not one that is too important according to my teacher, but I will still cover it.
To begin, cabling is sometimes essential in a network, since information must be transferred from system to system. However, this does not matter sometimes if the network sends information wirelessly. Now let us start with a focus on what Topology is. Networks use many topologies to connect computers together. These types are the old ones "bus, ring, and star" and the modern ones "hybrid, mesh, point-to-multipoint, and point-to-point".
Let's talk about "Bus and Ring". The first networks used only one of the two topologies. A bus topology uses one cable that connects all computers in a line, while a ring topology does it in a ring. Data flows differently between bus and ring networks. In bus, the data from the computers go out on a bus, really. It's in the name. A network then has terminators on either end to stop signals from reflecting on the end of each of the end cables. However, in a ring topology, the data moves in a circle (like a ring) from one computer to the next one in the same direction, without end (termination cables.) Although these networks reliably work, the problem is that if just one of the cables breaks, then so does the network.
The next topologies I will talk about are Stars and Hybrids. The star topology has a central connection box, and all the computers connect straight to it. Now the good thing about this, is if one cable fails then there is room for error, as the network is not effected. The Hybrid topology is basically an easier topology to use, as smart network engineers found a way to taking the ring topology (and bus topology) and direct it into a tiny box. Now, people may say that it looks like the star topology, well yes it does, but the signals were actually more similar to the bus and ring topologies. Nowadays topologies are split into two types "logical and physical" one relates to what the setup looks like, and the other to how the signals are actually transmitted. Now this, in reality, is what the hybrid topology really is, just a hybrid. By this I mean that a physical topology from one topology is combined with the logical one of another. Make sense?
Now it's on to the Mesh and Point-to-Multipoint topologies. The mesh topology is when every computer on the network is physically connected. That's crazy and too tedious in my opinion! In a partially-meshed one there are at least two devices connected, while in the fully-meshed one every single computer is connected to each other! However, this network is the most reliable of all, but realistically speaking, it's also the most expensive haha. Then there's the the point-to-multipoint topology. This is literally just like the star topology except with an intelligent device in the middle (usually a computer) rather than a box. Finally I will speak about the point-to-point topology. This one is literally just two computers connected to each other. That's all.
To conclude this entry, I have to just say, that even though a topology shows how systems in a network should connect physically, it is not specific or not. Where's the part showing you what type of cable you need? or what length? Well the topology isn't supposed to tell you this stuff, instead there are manufacturers and standards that have been set over the years, and in simple terms this is called "network technology" and it shows you how to apply these topologies. We'll talk about that later, but for now, thanks for reading, and tschuss!
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