LAN Topologies

LAN topologies define the manner in which network devices are organized. Four common LAN topologies exist:bus, ring, star and tree.

1. Bus topology is a linear LAN architecture in which transmissions from network stations propagate the length of medium and are received by all other stations.

2. Ring topology is a LAN architecture that consists of a series of devices connected to one another by unidirectional transmission links to form a single closed loop. Both Token Ring/IEEE 802.5 and FDDI networks implement a ring topology.

3. Star topology is a LAN architecture in which the endpoints on a network are connected to a common central hub or switch, by dedicated links. Logical bus and ring topologies are often implemented physically in a star topology.

4. Tree topology is a LAN architecture that is identical to the bus topology, except that branches with multiple nodes are possible in this case.