This type of topology is the most basic one of the bunch, and it really does sort of resemble a bus, but more like one that’s been in a wreck! Anyway, the bus network topology consists of two distinct and terminated ends, with each of its computers connecting to one unbroken cable running its entire length. Back in the day, we used to attach computers to that main cable with wire taps, but this didn’t work all that well so we began using drop cables in their place. If we were dealing with 10Base2 Ethernet, we would slip a “T” into the main cable anywhere we wanted to connect a device to it instead of using drop cables.
Even though all the computers on this kind of network see all the data flowing through the cable, only the one computer, which the data is specifically addressed to, actually gets the data. Some of the benefits of using a bus topology are that it’s easy to install and it’s not very expensive, partly because it doesn’t require as much cable as the other types of physical topologies. But it also has some drawbacks: For instance, it’s hard to troubleshoot, change, or move, and it really doesn’t offer much in the way of fault tolerance because everything is connected to that single cable. This means that any fault in the cable would basically bring the whole network down!