Network topologies

In short: An overview of the most important network topologies and their advantages and disadvantages.

In more detail: Today almost every wired LAN is a star or a tree made of several stars. The other forms appear in older networks, in rings of provider networks and in the core of the internet.

Comparison

Topology	Layout	Advantage	Disadvantage
[[bus-topologie	Bus]]	all on one shared cable	cheap, little cable
[[ring-topologie	Ring]]	each connected to two neighbours in a circle	orderly access
[[stern-topologie	Star]]	all on a central switch	simple, faults stay local
[[baum-topologie	Tree]]	stars in a hierarchy	well structured, expandable
[[vermaschte-topologie	Mesh]]	many links between nodes	very reliable
[[punkt-zu-punkt-topologie	Point-to-point]]	two devices directly	simple, fast

Which one to use?

For office and home: star or tree. For important links between sites: ring or partial mesh. For wireless networks with several nodes: mesh.

See also: topology, switch