Skip to main content

Mesh / Fully connected topology

In the last blog posts we discussed about the star topology and bus topology. This is the third of the series of blog posts on network topologies. This blog post will explain about the mesh/fully connected topology, its pros and cons and the typical usage of its architecture.

Mesh or Fully connected topology - 

In a mesh or fully connected topology all the nodes are interconnected with each other without the use of a common media.

In this blog post:
  1. Advantages of Mesh / Fully connected Topology
  2. Disadvantages of Mesh / Fully connected topology
  3. Usages of Mesh / Fully connected topology


For example, as we discussed, in a star topology, all the networking devices were interconnected using a switch or a hub and in the bus topology, all the devices were interconnected using a bus line.

More topologies to discover:
  1. Bus Topology
  2. Ring topology
  3. Star topology


However, in mesh or fully connected topology, as the name implies, all the devices are interconnected directly with each other. Due to this nature of connectivity, as shown below, it is the most expensive to build type of network architecture, as it requires the maximum number of connections as a whole.

Mesh Topology


In a mesh topology, the system should calculate the number of links or also called "hops" it should take in order to reach the node. Consider the following diagram in which computer A wants to communicate with computer D :

Mesh Topology 2


Now you may think why we should even concern the alternative pathways when there is a direct link between any two computers. This is specially needed if the direct link between any two computers is broken.

This way of choosing alternative pathways to communicate with devices, when another link is broken in a network, is called self healing technology. 

Advantages of mesh or fully connected topology - 

1. Reliability (ensuring easy troubleshooting) of the network. 

Even when a link is broken, there are many possibilities that the network can choose to ensure the reliability and efficiency of communication as shown below :

Advantages of Mesh Topology


2. Privacy - 

As described above, mesh topologies are primarily used for radio frequency transmission networks like wireless technology and mobile to mobile communication over short distances. These wireless technologies are the most susceptible networks for attacks as penetration to such networks is easy as hardware equipments are seldom needed to join the existing network. Therefore, privacy is highly ensured in mesh networks due to the nature of one : one connection between the devices.

3. Expansion of the network is easy. 

For example, if another computer called F wants to join the network, the upgrade could be done even when all the nodes are communicating with each other due to the fully connected nature of the topology :

Advantages of Mesh Topology 2


Disadvantages of mesh or fully connected topology - 

1. Complexity - 

As you saw in the above explanation on the expansion of the network, when each node or device is added, many links have to be created to maintain the fully connected network property. In fact, if there are n nodes, then there should be n*(n - 1)/2 connections. Therefore, as new connections are made the complexity for maintenance and troubleshooting increases rapidly.

2. Expensive - 

As stated earlier, fully connected networks are the most expensive to build as there are as many connections compared to other network topologies.

3. Redundant links - 

More often many links are seldom or not at all used and are a waste of implementing. However, we may not remove these links as if one link fails these links may be needed to operate as alternate pathways.


Usage - 

As you could see, mesh topology has the highest number of links as a network. Therefore, this network is very expensive to build. However, this network gives the best safety when privacy of communication is concerned. Therefore, mesh topology is generally used for wireless networks, where privacy or data security is of utmost importance as data sniffing could be easily carried out in wireless networks.

Followers



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bus topology

In the last blog post , we discussed about a brief introduction to network topologies and focused particularly on the ">star topology . In this blog post we will discuss about the features, pros and cons and the usage of bus topology. In this blog post- Advantages of using bus topologies Disadvantages of using bus topologies Usage Bus topology -  In a bus topology, all the devices are connected to a central cable (called the bus), through interface connectors (BNC connectors), as shown below: More topologies to discover: Star Topology Mesh or Fully Connected topology Ring topology In a bus topology, terminators are added, as shown by the red squares in the above figure at the ends, to prevent reflection of signals. In a bus topology, only one device may communicate at a time. To avoid collision of packets, all other devices should wait until the bus line is free for them to communicate. A protocol called Distribute Access Protocol (DAP)...
3 comments

Ring topology

We have already discussed about the introduction to topologies , star topology , bus topology and mesh or fully connected topology . This is the last of a series of blog posts on network topologies. In this blog post we will discuss about the ring topology, its pros and cons and the typical usage of its architecture.  Ring topology -  In ring topology all the nodes are connected to make a closed loop as shown in the diagram below :  However, data can travel in a ring network only in one direction with the help of a token. A token contains some information and along with this information data is sent throughout the network.  In this blog post: Advantages of Ring Topology Disadvantages of Ring Topology Usages For example, suppose A wants to send data to C and let us assume that the token is moving along the loop counter clockwise. Then first E receives the token and since the addresses do not match E passes further. Then D rece...
Post a Comment

Introduction and Star topology

Network topologies are all about how the networking devices are connected. Suppose you are provided with a switch and 4 computers, there are numerous ways that these can be connected. The following diagram illustrates some ways of connecting them : Therefore, network topologies is about studying and connecting such computers in different patterns. When we connect in different orientations,we have to particularly pay attention to the pros and cons of each method rather than just using a particular topology randomly. Therefore, this blog post will discuss about the different topologies, their pros and cons and where each of these topologies are typically used. Star topology- A star topology, as shown below, is a topology where all the computers are connected to one centralized hub or switch. Therefore, each of these equipment are given the same opportunity (direct) to contact the switch and all devices radially span out from the centralized hub or switch. In this ...
Post a Comment

How emails are sent [the action of the SMTP servers]

What is SMTP? SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and is used by email carriers to send and receive emails. SMTP uses the store and forward technique to send emails between two connections. [Actually, there are two different servers running on a server machine : the SMTP server and the POP3 or IMAP server. We will focus only on the SMTP and the functionality of the SMTP server in this blogpost]. How does SMTP work [or how emails use SMTP?] ? Consider the following expected communication between John and Brendon: Fig 1 : Expected communication between John and Brendon Suppose John is going to send his email using Outlook express. First, Outlook express should connect to John's network and then to the SMTP server using Port 25 (SMTP usually uses TCP port 25 for connections). Then Outlook express should notify the server the message to be sent, the address of the sender and that of the recipient. Suppose Brendon's address is Brendon@pqr.com. Fig 2...
1 comment
DMCA.com Protection Status