network Engineering Basics

Point-to-Point network Topology

As its name implies, in a point-to-point topology you have a direct connection between two routers or switches, giving you one communication path. The routers in a point-to-point topology can be linked by a serial cable, making it a physical network, or if they’re located far apart and connected only via a circuit within a …

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Mesh network Topology

In this type of topology, you’ll find that there’s a path from every machine to every other one in the network. That’s a lot of connections—in fact, the mesh topology wins the prize for “most physical connections per device”! You won’t find it used in LANs very often, if ever, these days, but you will …

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Ring network Topology

In the Ring network Topology , each computer is directly connected to other computers within the same network. in the above Looking at the above Figure, you can see that the network’s data flows from computer to computer back to the source, with the network’s primary cable forming a ring. The problem is, the ring …

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Star network Topology

A star network topology’s computers are connected to a central point with their own individual cables or wireless connections. You’ll often fi nd that central spot inhabited by a device like a hub, a switch, or an access point. Star topology offers a lot of advantages over bus topology, making it more widely used even …

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bus network topology

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 …

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Physical Network Topologies

Just as a topographical map is a type of map that shows the shape of the terrain, the physical topology of a network is also a type of map. It defines the specific characteristics of a network, such as where all the workstations and other devices are located and the precise arrangement of all the …

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Client-Server Networks

Client-server networks are pretty much the polar opposite of peer-to-peer networks because in them, a single server uses a network operating system for managing the whole network. Here’s how it works: A client machine’s request for a resource goes to the main server, which responds by handling security and directing the client to the desired …

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Peer-to-Peer Networks

Computers connected together in peer-to-peer networks do not have any central, or special, authority—they’re all peers, meaning that when it comes to authority, they’re all equals. The authority to perform a security check for proper access rights lies with the computer that has the desired resource being requested from it. It also means that the …

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Network Architecture

We’ve developed networking as a way to share resources and information, and how that’s achieved directly maps to the particular architecture of the network operating system software. There are two main network types you need to know about: peer-to-peer and client-server. And by the way, it’s really tough to tell the difference just by looking …

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