CertiGuide to A+ (A+ 4 Real)  9  Chapter 13: Basic Networking Terminology       9  OSI Reference Model and Networking Protocols and Technologies            9  Layer 2 - Data Link Layer

Layer 2 - Data Link Layer 1 Bus

The physical topology is a way of connecting various network devices with the help of cable.

Routes of data transfer between nodes on a network represent logical topology. It is formed by the adjusting the network equipment and can differ from the physical topology. For example, Ethernet uses an extended-star physical topology, but acts as though it uses a logical bus topology.

Choice of the correct physical topology is a very important detail of network design. The correct functioning of a network will depend on it. for example, the simplicity of adding new devices makes some topologies are very scaled down, while other topologies can have redundancy, hence, high reliability and the opportunity of load balancing.

These topologies are mostly widespread:

Layer 2 - Data Link Layer 1 Bus