Mesh, Ring and Hybrid Topologies

      Mesh, Ring and Hybrid Topologies

Mesh Topology

Mesh Topology is not commonly used these days. In Mesh topology, every network device is connected to other network devices. Mesh topology is costly because of the extra cables needed and it is very complex and difficult to manage.

Ring Topology

In a ring topology, all computers are connected via a cable that loops in a ring or circle. A ring topology is a circle that has no start and no end and terminators are not necessary in a ring topology. Signals travel in one direction on a ring while they are passed from one computer to the next, with each computer regenerating the signal so that it may travel the distance required. Main advantage of Ring topology is that the signal degeneration is low since each workstation participating in the network is responsible for regenerating the weak signal. Disadvantage is if one workstation fails, entire network will fail.

Hybrid Topology

Hybrid topology is a mixture of different topologies. Example is star-bus topology.