Network topology is an arrangement of different devices of a network. It is used in data transmission and formation of interconnection of Nodes and links with each other. Network topology refers to the physical or logical layout of a network.
There are two types of Network topologies:
Physical Topology: physical layout of the connected devices and nodes
Logical Topology: the pattern of data transfer between network nodes.
Both Physical and logical Network topologies can be categorized into many topologies
Point to Point topology: It is the simplest and the earliest type of topology that links two end points. This has been used by the telephonic systems and is the oldest type of network topology.
Bus topology:Â It is use of a single main cable which has terminators on both ends. All the other nodes like workstations, peripherals, etc. are connected to this main cable.
Mesh topology: In this type of arrangement every node participating in the network is connected to every other node.
Star topology:Â It is all the devices are connected to a single hub through a cable. This hub is the central node and all others nodes are connected to the central node.
Ring topology: Ring topologies are similar to bus topologies, except they transmit in one direction only from station to station.
Tree topology: It is also known as the hierarchical topology. It can be considered as the combination of linear bus and star topologies as it contains systems with star topology connected to a linear bus main cable.
Hybrid topology: It is basically a combination of any two or more different types of network topologies
Daisy chain: Daisy chain is a networking term that describes one way that network devices can connect. It allows the workstation to be connected in such a way that the data which has to be sent is transmitted in a sequence.