Advantages and Disadvantages of a Bus, Ring, Star Network

Bus Network

 

-Advantages

• Easy to implement and extend
• Well suited for temporary networks (quick setup)
• Initially less expensive than other topologies
• Cheap

-Disadvantages

• Difficult to administer/troubleshoot.
• Limited cable length and number of stations.
• If there is a problem with the cable, the entire network goes down.
• Maintenance costs may be higher in the long run.
• Performance degrades as additional computers are added or on heavy traffic.
• Low security (all computers on the bus can see all data transmissions).
• One virus in the network will affect all of them (but not as badly as a star or ring network).
• Proper termination is required.(loop must be in closed path).
• If one node fails, the whole network will shut down.
• If many computers are attached, the amount of data flowing causes the network to slow down.

Ring Network

 

-Advantages

• Data is quickly transferred without a ‘bottle neck’. (very fast, all data traffic is in the same direction)
• The transmission of data is relatively simple as packets travel in one direction only.
• Adding additional nodes has very little impact on bandwidth
• It prevents network collisions because of the media access method or architecture required.

-Disadvantages

• Data packets must pass through every computer between the sender and recipient therefore this makes it slower.
• If any of the nodes fail then the ring is broken and data cannot be transmitted successfully.
• It is difficult to troubleshoot the ring.
• Because all stations are wired together, to add a station you must shut down the network temporarily.
• In order for all computers to communicate with each other, all computers must be turned on.
• Total dependence upon the one cable

Star Network

 

-Advantages

• Good performance
• easy to set up and to expand. Any non-centralised failure will have very little effect on the network, whereas on a ring network it would all fail with one fault

-Disadvantages

• Expensive to install
• Extra hardware required

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