title: Networking Fundamentals
author:  Richard M. Roberts 
description: Richard M. Roberts has been teaching, designing curriculum, and supervising teachers for over 45 years. He is an accomplished programmer and computer technician and has experience as the system administrator for Novell NetWare, Microsoft NT, and IBM Token Ring networking systems. He is also<br />the author of Computer Service and Repair and the coauthor of Electricity and Electronics. Mr. Roberts has CompTIA A+, Network+, and iNet+ certifications and is currently an adjunct instructor at South Florida Community College.
zlib_text: Module 1 – Overview
  Types of Network Topologies
  The arrangement of a network which comprises of nodes and connecting lines via sender and 
  receiver is referred as network topology. The various network topologies are :
  a) Mesh Topology :
  In mesh topology, every device is connected to another device via particular channel. 
  Every device is connected with another via dedicated channels. These channels are known as 
  links.
  •
  If suppose, N number of devices are connected with each other in mesh topology, then 
  total number of ports that is required by each device is N­1. In the Figure 1, there are 5
  devices connected to each other, hence total number of ports required is 4. 
  •
  If suppose, N number of devices are connected with each other in mesh topology, then 
  total number of dedicated links required to connect them is NC2 i.e. N(N­1)/2. In the 
  Figure 1, there are 5 devices connected to each other, hence total number of links 
  required is 5*4/2 = 10. 
  Advantages of this topology :
  •
  It is