Bus topology
- simplest network layout where all the nodes are connected to 1 cable
- all nodes are identifiable as they have their own unique address
- The bus topology uses a single cable to connect nodes and has two end point.
- The end points have a terminator that prevents signals transmitted through the wire from reflecting back into the network once it has reach the end
- the disadvantages outweigh the advantages especially when trying to applying a large bus network.
- bus networks are usually replaced by star networks
- each node waits for the bus to be clear before it sends messages to another node
- if 2 nodes send data at the same time then a collision occurs
- each node has a network interface card (NIC) which can send and receive data and monitor the network activity
- it uses the Ethernet structure