Network Topologies - Ring topology

A ring topology is actually not a physical arrangement of a network cable. Ring is a logical arrangement. In a ring topology, all nodes are connected via a cable that loops in a ring or circle. The Ring passes data logically from station to station until the data reaches its destination. Years ago, ring topologies were common in LANs, as three popular networking technologies used rings: ARCNET, Token Ring and fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) networks.

Advantages of Ring Topology:

• It’s fairly simple to maintain.
• Equal access for each node.
• Signal degeneration is low.

Disadvantages of Ring Topology:

• Any maintenance would affect all the nodes that connect to the ring.
• Under normal traffic load, a ring is much slower than other topologies.
• Isolating a problem can be difficult in some ring configurations.