In bus network, all nodes are connected to a common communication medium or central cable. The central physical cable that connects the nodes is called Bus. The data is communicated between nodes in both directions through bus. A bus topology uses the multipoint connection. The central single cable (or bus) acts as backbone to link all the devices to the network.
In bus network, when a computer sends a message to another computer it also attaches the address of the destination computer. In bus topology, a special device called a terminator is attached at the cable’s start and end points. A terminator stops the network signals.
In LAN, bus topology is mostly used. In this topology, each computer is assigned a unique address. The bus network configuration is given in figure image.
Advantages
The main advantages of bus topology are:
- It is less expensive and easy to install and maintain.
- When nodes are added and removed to and from the network, the network is not affected.
- If one node fails other nodes are not affected.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantages of bus topology are:
- It supports only a small number of nodes.
- Entire network fails if there is any problem in the central cable.
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