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Network Topologies 

1. Bus
• simplest topology 
• nodes of the network are individually linked up to two successive other nodes or another node and a terminating node (terminator)  
• considered archaic 
• difficult to troubleshoot network issues
• redundancy issues 
• need for terminators 
• amount of traffic created 
• nodes linked in this topology are called "daisy-chained"
2. Ring 
• similar to bus network in that nodes are linked to each other 
• ends of a ring network are not terminated because there are no ends
• a "circular" network in which each and every node is linked to two other nodes 
• shares many of the same weaknesses as the bus topology 
• troubleshooting difficult
• redundancy 
• traffic 
• difficulty of adding a node to a token ring network
3. Star
• most typical and practical network setup 
• each node maintains an individual connection to the switch 
• traffic between each node only goes through the switch and not through other nodes 
• increases redundancy of the network 
• increases data privacy 
• reliant on the switch 
• extensive wiring necessary
4. Mesh/Ad-Hoc
• rarely occurring configuation in which every node is connected to every other node 
• usually only occurs in wireless networks in "ad hoc" mode 
• each wireless card maintains a connection to ech other wireless node it wish to connect with 
• is inefficient and requires a large amount of overhead and is difficult to manage
5. Combined/Hybrid 
• a topology referring to the case where more than one topology is utilized 

Types of networks(Access Models)

1. Decentralized
• often referred to as "peer to peer" network 
• does not contain any distinctions between client and server 
• every node acts as a client and/or server depending on the task at hand
• difficult to maintain (each node must be manually configured, updated, maintained individually)
2. Client-Server Access
• nodes can either act as "clients' or as "servers" 
• management is easy
• network can offer services that decentralized networks cannot 
3. Centralized
• a modified client-server network in which clients have no individual control 
• all maintenance and setup occurs at the server level