System Software

Bus Topology

Advantages

Ø  It is easy to set up, handle, and implement.

Ø  It is best-suited for small networks.

Ø  It costs very less.

 

Disadvantages

Ø  The cable length is limited. This limits the number of network nodes that can be connected.

Ø  This network topology can perform well only for a limited number of nodes. When the number of devices connected to the bus increases, the efficiency decreases.

Ø  It is suitable for networks with low traffic. High traffic increases load on the bus, and the network efficiency drops.

Ø  It is heavily dependent on the central bus. A fault in the bus leads to network failure.

Ø  It is not easy to isolate faults in the network nodes.

Ø  Each device on the network "sees" all the data being transmitted, thus posing a security risk.

Star Topology
Advantages

Ø  Due to its centralized nature, the topology offers simplicity of operation.
It also achieves isolation of each device in the network.

Ø  Adding or removing network nodes is easy, and can be done without affecting the entire network.

Ø  Due to the centralized nature, it is easy to detect faults in the network devices.

Ø  As the analysis of traffic is easy, the topology poses lesser security risk.

Ø  Data packets do not have to pass through many nodes, like in the case of a ring network. Thus, with the use of a high-capacity central hub, traffic load can be handled at fairly decent speeds.

Disadvantages

Ø  Network operation depends on the functioning of the central hub. Hence, central hub failure leads to failure of the entire network.

Ø  Also, the number of nodes that can be added, depends on the capacity of the central hub.

Ø  The setup cost is quite high.

Ring Topology

Advantages

Ø  The data being transmitted between two nodes passes through all the intermediate nodes. A central server is not required for the management of this topology.

Ø  The traffic is unidirectional and the data transmission is high-speed.
In comparison to a bus, a ring is better at handling load.

Ø  The adding or removing of network nodes is easy, as the process requires changing only two connections.

Ø  The configuration makes it easy to identify faults in network nodes.

Ø  In this topology, each node has the opportunity to transmit data. Thus, it is a very organized network topology.

Ø  It is less costly than a star topology.

Disadvantages

Ø  The failure of a single node in the network can cause the entire network to fail.
The movement or changes made to network nodes affect the entire network's performance.

Ø  Data sent from one node to another has to pass through all the intermediate nodes. This makes the transmission slower in comparison to that in a star topology. The transmission speed drops with an increase in the number of nodes.

Ø  There is heavy dependency on the wire connecting the network nodes in the ring.

Mesh Topology
Advantages

Ø  The arrangement of the network nodes is such that it is possible to transmit data from one node to many other nodes at the same time.

Ø  The failure of a single node does not cause the entire network to fail as there are alternate paths for data transmission.

Ø  It can handle heavy traffic, as there are dedicated paths between any two network nodes.

Ø  Point-to-point contact between every pair of nodes, makes it easy to identify faults.

Disadvantages

Ø  The arrangement wherein every network node is connected to every other node of the network, many connections serve no major purpose. This leads to redundancy of many network connections.

Ø  A lot of cabling is required. Thus, the costs incurred in setup and maintenance are high.

Owing to its complexity, the administration of a mesh network is difficult.