1

Chapter 2

NETWORK
CABLING
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TOPOLOGIES

 There are three main local area network

(LAN) topologies:
 Bus
 Star
 Ring
 Other network topologies include:
 Mesh
 Wireless
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BUS TOPOLOGY

 The bus topology supports thick and thin coaxial

segments.
 Segments are connected by repeaters.
 The bus topology uses the baseband signaling
method.
 Signals are broadcast in both directions
simultaneously.
 Both ends of each segment require termination to
avoid reflection.
 End systems connect to the segment in a linear
manner.
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THICK AND THIN COAXIAL BUS

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STAR TOPOLOGY

 The star topology can use coaxial, twisted pair, or

fiber optic cable.
 A central device (hub) connects hubs and nodes
to the network.
 Each node connects to its own dedicated port on
the hub.
 Hubs broadcast transmitted signals to all connected
devices.
 You can connect multiple hubs to form a
hierarchical star topology.
 The star topology uses the baseband signaling
method.
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A SIMPLE STAR TOPOLOGY

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A HIERARCHICAL STAR TOPOLOGY

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RING TOPOLOGY

 The ring topology can use twisted pair or fiber optic

cabling.
 A central device (hub) connects hubs and nodes to the
network.
 Each node connects to its own dedicated port on the hub.
 You can connect multiple hubs to form a larger ring.
 The ring topology uses the baseband signaling method.
 Frames are transmitted around the ring from node to hub
to node.
 Media Access Control (MAC) is used for token passing.
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A RING NETWORK
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MESH TOPOLOGY

 Typically uses fiber optic cabling for

redundant wide area network (WAN) links
 Provides multiple paths to destinations for
fault tolerance
 Supports baseband and broadband signals
 Requires an enormous amount of cable
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LAN MESH
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ENTERPRISE MESH
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WIRELESS TOPOLOGY

 Cell-based technology that uses

unbounded media
 Two wireless topologies:
 Ad hoc
 Infrastructure
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AD HOC WLAN
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INFRASTRUCTURE WLAN
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LAN CABLE TYPES

 Three cable types are used in LANs:

 Coaxial
 Twisted pair
 Fiber optic
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COAXIAL CABLE
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AUI (ATTACHMENT UNIT

INTERFACE) CABLE
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THIN ETHERNET HARDWARE

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UNSHIELDED TWISTED PAIR (UTP)

CABLE
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UTP CONNECTORS
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UTP CABLE GRADES

Category Frequency Primary Application

1 Up to 0 MHz Voice networks

2 Up to 1 MHz
3 Up to 16 MHz
4 Up to 20 MHz
5 Up to 100 MHz
5e Up to 100 MHz
Voice and low-speed data
networks less than 4
Mbps
Voice and data networks
from 4 to 100 Mbps
16-Mbps Token Ring
100-Mbps Fast Ethernet
1000-Mbps Gigabit Ethernet

6 Up to 250 MHz 1000-Mbps Gigabit Ethernet

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FIBER OPTIC CABLE

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STRAIGHT TIP (ST) CONNECTOR

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STRAIGHT THROUGH AND

CROSSOVER WIRING
 Wiring within a twisted pair cable is
configured as either
 Straight through, where each wire (or pin) is
attached to the same contact point at each
end
 Crossover, where transmit contacts on each
end of the cable are connected to the
receive contact at the other end
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STRAIGHT THROUGH WIRING

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CROSSOVER WIRING
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SUMMARY

 The three basic LAN topologies are bus,

star, and ring. WLANs are becoming more
popular. Mesh networks are not typically
used in LANs.
 The primary cable types used in LANs are
coaxial, twisted pair, and fiber optic.