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Chapter 2

NETWORK CABLING
Sourced from InternetVikramjeet Singh CP2012

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TOPOLOGIES

There are three main local area network (LAN) topologies:

Bus

Star
Ring Mesh Wireless

Other network topologies include:

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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
1 2

Frequency
Up to 0 MHz Up to 1 MHz

Primary Application
Voice networks Voice and low-speed data networks less than 4 Mbps

3
4 5

Up to 16 MHz
Up to 20 MHz Up to 100 MHz

Voice and data networks from 4 to 100 Mbps

16-Mbps Token Ring 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet

5e 6

Up to 100 MHz Up to 250 MHz

1000-Mbps Gigabit Ethernet 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.