network topology: The specific physical, i.e., real, or logical, i.e.

, virtual,
arrangement of the elements of a network. Note 1: Two networks have the same
topology if the connection configuration is the same, although the networks may
differ in physical interconnections, distances between nodes, transmission rates,
and/or signal types.

BUS TOPOLOGY
A bus network uses a multi-drop transmission medium, all node on the network share a common
bus and thus share communication. This allows only one device to transmit at a time. A
distributed access protocol determines which station is to transmit. Data frames contain source
and destination addresses, where each station monitors the bus and copies frames addressed to
itself.

( a typical bus topology)

A bus topology connects each computer (nodes) to a single segment trunk (a communication
line, typically coax cable, that is referred to as the 'bus'. The signal travels from one end of the
bus to the other. A terminator is required at each to absorb the signal so as it does not reflect
back across the bus. A media access method called CSMA/MA is used to handle the collision
that occur when two signals placed on the wire at the same time. The bus topology is passive. In
other words, the computers on the bus simply 'listen' for a signal; they are not responsible for
moving the signal along.

Advantages:
Failure of one of the station does not affect others.
Good compromise over the other two topologies as it allows relatively high rate of data
tansmittion.

Well suited for temporary networks that must be set up in a hurry.

Easy to implement and extend.

Disadvantage:
Require a network to detect when two nodes are transmitting at the same time.

Does not cope well with heavy traffic rates

Difficult to administer/troubleshoot.

Limited cable length and number of stations.

A cable brake can disable the entire network; no redundancy.

Maintenance cost may be higher in the long run.

Performance degrade as additional computers are added.

The physical topology of a network is the way in which the cables and computers
are connected to each other. The main types of physical topologies are:
○ Bus
○ Star
○ Ring

•
With a star topology, the
workstations, fileservers,
printers etc. are attached via
drop cables to a central hub or
multiport repeater.

The hub is central to a star topology and the network cannot function
without it. Other hubs may be attached to the first hub via drop cables,
creating nodes. These other hubs can themselves have computers attached
to them or even further hubs to create further nodes.

The cables used in star topologies are either shielded or unshielded twisted pair
wires (STP or UTP).
Star topologies are difficult to install, but once installed are easy to maintain and
expand. A fault in a cable only affects the computer or node it is attached to and
is easy to locate.
At the moment, the ring topology is the least used. However, it is likely to become more
widespread with the use of fibre optic cables.

physical topology Last modified: Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The physical layout of devices on a network. Every LAN has a topology, or the way that the
devices on a network are arranged and how they communicate with each other. The way that the
workstations are connected to the network through the actual cables that transmit data -- the
physical structure of the network -- is called the physical topology. The logical topology, in
contrast, is the way that the signals act on the network media, or the way that the data passes
through the network from one device to the next without regard to the physical interconnection
of the devices.
A network's logical topology is not necessarily the same as its physical topology. For example,
twisted pair Ethernet is a logical bus topology in a physical star topology layout. While IBM's
Token Ring is a logical ring topology, it is physically set up in a star topology.
For network diagrams, see Network Topology Diagrams in the Quick Reference section of
Webopedia.
In order for systems to communicate on a network, there has to be a communication path or
multiple paths between which the data can travel. To communicate with another entity, these
paths move the information from one location to another and back. This is the function of
switching. Switching provides communication pathways between two endpoints and manages
how data is to flow between these endpoints. Two of the more common switching methods used
today include:
• Packet switching
• Circuit switching

Packet switching is the approach used by some computer network protocols to deliver data
across a local or long distance connection. Examples of packet switching protocols are Frame
Relay, IP and X.25.
 How Packet Switching Works
Packet switching entails packaging data in specially formatted units (called packets) that are
typically routed from source to destination using network switches and routers. Each packet
contains address information that identifies the sending computer and intended recipient.
Using these addresses, network switches and routers determine how best to transfer the
packet between hops on the path to its destination.

circuit switching Last modified: Friday, May 03, 2002

A type of communications in which a dedicated channel (or circuit) is established for the
duration of a transmission. The most ubiquitous circuit-switching network is the telephone
system, which links together wire segments to create a single unbroken line for each telephone
call.
The other common communications method is packet switching, which divides messages into
packets and sends each packet individually. The Internet is based on a packet-switching protocol,
TCP/IP.
Circuit-switching systems are ideal for communications that require data to be transmitted in
real-time. Packet-switching networks are more efficient if some amount of delay is acceptable.
Circuit-switching networks are sometimes called connection-oriented networks. Note, however,
that although packet switching is essentially connectionless, a packet switching network can be
made connection-oriented by using a higher-level protocol. TCP, for example, makes IP
networks connection-oriented.

Circuit Switching
In this networking method, a connection called a circuit is set up between two devices,
which is used for the whole communication. Information about the nature of the circuit is
maintained by the network. The circuit may either be a fixed one that is always present,
or it may be a circuit that is created on an as-needed basis. Even if many potential
paths through intermediate devices may exist between the two devices communicating,
only one will be used for any given dialog. This is illustrated in Figure 1.
 Figure 1: Circuit Switching
In a circuit-switched network, before communication can occur between two devices, a
circuit is established between them. This is shown as a thick blue line for the conduit of
data from Device A to Device B, and a matching purple line from B back to A. Once set
up, all communication between these devices takes place over this circuit, even though
there are other possible ways that data could conceivably be passed over the network of
devices between them. Contrast this diagram to Figure 2.

The classic example of a circuit-switched network is the telephone system. When you
call someone and they answer, you establish a circuit connection and can pass data
between you, in a steady stream if desired. That circuit functions the same way
regardless of how many intermediate devices are used to carry your voice. You use it
for as long as you need it, and then terminate the circuit. The next time you call, you get
a new circuit, which may (probably will) use different hardware than the first circuit did,
depending on what's available at that time in the network.

TCP Connections: The Three-Way Handshake

The three-way handshake in Transmission Control Protocol (also called the three message
handshake) is the method used to establish and tear down network connections. This
handshaking technique is referred to as the 3-way handshake or as "SYN-SYN-ACK" (or more
accurately SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK). The TCP handshaking mechanism is designed so that two
computers attempting to communicate can negotiate the parameters of the network connection
before beginning communication. This process is also designed so that both ends can initiate and
negotiate separate connections at the same time.

3-Way Handshake Description

Below is a (very) simplified description of the TCP 3-way handshake process. Refer to the
diagram on the right as you examine the list of events on the left.
 EVENT DIAGRAM

Host A sends a TCP SYNchronize packet to Host B

Host B receives A's SYN
Host B sends a SYNchronize-ACKnowledgement
Host A receives B's SYN-ACK
Host A sends ACKnowledge
Host B receives ACK. TCP connection is ESTABLISHED.

SYNchronize and ACKnowledge messages are indicated by a bit inside the TCP header of the
segment.
TCP knows whether the network connection is opening, synchronizing or established by using
the SYNchronize and ACKnowledge messages when establishing a network connection.
When the communication between two computers ends, another 3-way communication is
performed to tear down the TCP connection. This setup and teardown of a TCP connection is
part of what qualifies TCP a reliable protocol.
Note that UDP does not perform this 3-way handshake and for this reason, it is referred to as an
unreliable protocol.
Protocols Encapsulated in TCP
Note that FTP, Telnet, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, SSH and any other protocol that
rides over TCP also has a three way handshake performed as connection is opened. HTTP web
requests, SMTP emails, FTP file transfers all manage the messages they each send. TCP handles
the transmission of those messages.
TCP rides on top of Internet Protocol (IP) which is why it is called TCP/IP (TCP over IP). TCP
segments are passed inside the payload section of the IP packets. IP handles addressing and
routing and gets the packets from one place to another, but TCP handles the actual
communication between hosts.

Three-way Handshake

If a source host wishes to use an IP application such as active FTP for instance, it selects a port
number which is greater than 1023 and connects to the destination station on port 21. The TCP
connection is set up via three-way handshaking:
• This begins with a SYN (Synchronise) segment (as indicated by the code bit) containing
a 32-bit Sequence number A called the Initial Send Sequence (ISS) being chosen by,
and sent from, host 1. This 32-bit sequence number A is the starting sequence number of
the data in that packet and increments by 1 for every byte of data sent within the segment,
i.e. there is a sequence number for each octet sent. The SYN segment also puts the value
A+1 in the first octet of the data.
• Host 2 receives the SYN with the Sequence number A and sends a SYN segment with its
own totally independent ISS number B in the Sequence number field. In addition, it sends
an increment on the Sequence number of the last received segment (i.e. A+x where x is
 the number of octets that make up the data in this segment) in its Acknowledgment field.
This Acknowledgment number informs the recipient that its data was received at the
other end and it expects the next segment of data bytes to be sent, to start at sequence
number A+x. This stage is aften called the SYN-ACK. It is here that the MSS is agreed.
• Host 1 receives this SYN-ACK segment and sends an ACK segment containing the next
sequence number (B+y where y is the number of octets in this particular segment), this is
called Forward Acknowledgement and is received by Host 2. The ACK segment is
identified by the fact that the ACK field is set. Segments that are not acknowledged
within a certain time span, are retransmitted.
TCP peers must not only keep track of their own initiated Sequence numbers but also those
Acknowledgment numbers of their peers.

Closing a TCP connection is achieved by the initiator sending a FIN packet. The connection only
closes when an ACK has been sent by the other end and received by the initiator.

Maintaining a TCP connection requires the stations to remember a number of different

parameters such as port numbers and sequence numbers. Each connection has this set of
variables located in a Transmission Control Block (TCB).