Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Network Topologies

1. Bus Topology

http://www.ciscorouting.com/networkbasic.html

Advantages of Bus Topology

• It is easy to handle and implement. 
• It is best suited for small networks.

Disadvantages of Bus Topology

• The cable length is limited. This limits the number of stations that can be connected.
• This network topology can perform well only for a limited number of nodes.

2. Ring Topology

http://doit.ort.org/course/networks/32.htm

Advantage of Ring Topology

• The data being transmitted between two nodes passes through all the intermediate nodes. A central server is not required for the management of this topology.

Disadvantages of Ring Topology

• The failure of a single node of the network can cause the entire network to fail.
• The movement or changes made to network nodes affects the performance of the entire network.

3. Star Topology

http://doit.ort.org/course/networks/30.htm

Advantage of Star Topology

• Better performance: star topology prevents the passing of data packets through an excessive number of nodes. At most, 3 devices and 2 links are involved in any communication between any two devices. Although this topology places a huge overhead on the central hub, with adequate capacity, the hub can handle very high utilization by one device without affecting others.
• Isolation of devices: Each device is inherently isolated by the link that connects it to the hub. This makes the isolation of individual devices straightforward and amounts to disconnecting each device from the others. This isolation also prevents any non-centralized failure from affecting the network.
• Benefits from centralization: As the central hub is the bottleneck, increasing its capacity, or connecting additional devices to it, increases the size of the network very easily. Centralization also allows the inspection of traffic through the network. This facilitates analysis of the traffic and detection of suspicious behavior.

• Easy to detect faults and to remove parts.

• No disruptions to the network when connecting or removing devices.

Disadvantages of Star Topology

• High dependence of the system on the functioning of the central hub
• Failure of the central hub renders the network inoperable
• The performance and scalability of the network depends on the capabilities of the hub
• Network size is limited by the number of connections that can be made to the hub
• Other nodes may see a performance drop if traffic to another node occupies a significant portion of the central node's processing capability or throughput.
• Wiring up of the system can be very expensive.

4. Tree Topology

http://www.wifinotes.com/computer-networks/network-topology.html

Advantage of Tree Topology

• Central hub (repeater) increases the distance a signal can travel between devices.                 

Disadvantage of Tree Topology

• Entire network collapse if central Hub fails.

 5. 

Hybrid Topology

http://www.mcmcse.com/glossary/h.shtml

Advantage of Hybrid Topology

• · t   Provides a better result by it.
• ·  It can be designed in many ways for various purposes.

Disadvantage of Hybrid Topology

• Difficult to identify the problem if the entire network shuts down.

6. Mesh Topology

http://www.mcmcse.com/glossary/h.shtml

Advantage of Mesh Topology

• The arrangement of the network nodes is such that it is possible to transmit data from one node to many other nodes at the same time.

Disadvantage of Mesh Topology

• The arrangement wherein every network node is connected to every other node of the network, many of the connections serve no major purpose. This leads to the redundancy of many of the network connections.

Citation: 

1. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_topologies

2. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/114886_network-topology-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-tree-  bus-and-ring-topology

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_network

4. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-different-network-topologies.html