Networking Architechture Categories

Written by Julianus Yu

Technically, when you begin the planning stages of a new cabling installation, you should not have to worry about the types of applications used. The whole point of structured cabling Standards such as ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B and ISO/IEC 11801 is that they will support almost any networking or voice application in use today.

The network’s topology refers to the physical layout of the nodes and hubs that make up the network. Choosing the right topology is important because the topology affects the type of networking equipment, cabling, growth path, and network management.

Today’s networking architectures fall into one of three categories:

Star Topology
All cabling used in a star topology is run from the point where the network nodes are located back to a central location. The ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B and ISO/IEC 11801 Standards assume that the network architecture uses a star topology as its physical configuration. If a single node on the star fails or the cable to that node fails, then only that single node fails. However, if the hub fails, then the entire star fails.

Bus Topology
all computers are connected to a contiguous cable or a cable joined together to make it contiguous. Computers in a bus topology listen only for transmissions from other computers; they do not repeat or forward the transmission on to other computers, Ethernet is a common example of a bus topology. The signal in a bus topology travels to both ends of the cable. To keep the signal from bouncing back and forth along the cable, both ends of the cable in a bus topology must be terminated. A component called a terminator, essentially nothing more than a resistor, is placed on both ends of the cable.

Ring Topology
ring topology requires that all computers be connected in a contiguous circle, Each computer in the ring receives signals (data) from its neighbor, repeats the signal, and passes it along to the next node in the ring. Because the signal has to pass through each computer on the ring, a single node or cable failure can take the entire ring down. A true ring topology is a pain in the neck to install cable for because the circular nature of the ring makes it difficult to expand a ring over a large physical area.