Bus Network

A bus network topology, also called a daisy-chain topology has each computer directly connected on a main communication line. One end has a controller, and the other end has a terminator. Any computer that wants to talk to the main computer must wait its turn for access to the transmission line. In a straight network topology, only one computer can communicate at a time. When a computer uses the network, the information is sent to the controller, which then sends the information down the line of computers until it reaches the terminating computer. Each computer in the line receives the same information. Figure 2 illustrates a bus network topology. A bus network with a backbone operates in the same fashion, but each computer has an individual connection to the network. A bus network with a backbone offers greater reliability than a simple bus topology. In a simple bus, if one computer in the network goes down, the network is broken. A backbone adds reliability in that the loss of one computer does not disrupt the entire network. Figure 3 illustrates this topology with a backbone.