Network Characteristics

Network Characteristics

1. Star network computer communicate through central hub, all transmissions are received from a peripheral then broadcasted to all peripherals by the central device

   • Ads: If one peripheral goes down the rest can continue, easy to connect new devices, easy to detect failure and troubleshoot
     • Dis: If hub goes down the whole network is compromised, cost of baling is expensive of the network is extensive

2. Bus network peripheral are attached to a single cable with terminators at each end

   • Ads: attaching a new device is easy, cheaper cabling, transmissions are sent in both directions, transmission is more likely to be read as it is received by all device
     • Dis: difficulty identifying faulty peripheral, if cable breaks the whole network maybe lost or split in two, adding additional devices can slow network down crash posibility

3. Total Mesh topology every node (connection) is connected directly to all nodes, if a connection stops working all traffic on the network is rerouted

   • Partial Mesh topology some nodes are connected to only a small number of nodes, therefore reducing rerouting traffic if connections fail but cheaper as less cabling

4. Ring network one directional communication through a cable, message is received by each computer between sender and receiver, each computer in the chain sends the data packted to the next computer until the receiving device obtains data

   • Ads: Prevents build-up of multiple messages on the network colliding as data is sent in one direction, small data packets are continuously transmitted
     • Dis: Device must wait for data packet, if the main cable fails or any device is faulty then the whole network will go down