Bus, Star, Ring network

A bus network is a network architecture in which a set of clients are connected via a shared communications line, called a bus. Thus systems which use bus network architectures normally have some scheme of collision handling or collision avoidance for communication on the bus, quite often using Carrier Sense Multiple Access or the presence of a bus master which controls access to the shared bus resource. A true bus network is passive – the computers on the bus simply listen for a signal; they are not responsible for moving the signal along. However, many active architectures can also be described as a “bus”, as they provide the same logical functions as a passive bus. With the dominance of switched Ethernet over passive Ethernet, passive bus networks are uncommon in wired networks. However, almost all current wireless networks can be viewed as examples of passive bus networks, with radio propagation serving as the shared passive medium.

A ring network is a topology of computer networks where each node is connected to two other nodes, so as to create a ring. For example, if a given ring network has eight computers on it, to get from computer one to computer four, data must travel from computer one, through computers two and three, and to its destination at computer four. It could also go from computer one through eight, seven, six, and five until reaching four, but this method is slower because it travels through more computers. Ring networks also carry the disadvantage that if one of the nodes in the network breaks down then the entire network will break down with it as it requires a full circle in order to function. The token ring network is a ring topology only at the logical level, it runs on a physical Star network, using central devices called MSAUs or MAUs.

Star networks are one of the most common computer network topologies. In its simplest form, a star network consists of one central switch, hub or computer which acts as a router to transmit messages. If the central node is passive, the originating node must be able to tolerate the reception of an echo of its own transmission, delayed by the two-way transmission time (i.e. to and from the central node) plus any delay generated in the central node. An active star network has an active central node that usually has the means to prevent echo-related problems. The failure of a transmission line linking any peripheral node to the central node will result in the isolation of that peripheral node from all others, but the rest of the systems will be unaffected.Strictly speaking only networks that use switches have a true star topology. If the network uses a hub, the network topology has the physical appearance of a star, but is actually a bus.