A bus network is a network topology in which nodes are directly connected to a common half-duplex link called a bus.
Topology of a bus network
A host on a bus network is called a station. In a bus network, every station will receive all network traffic, and the traffic generated by each station has equal transmission priority.A bus network forms a single network segment and collision domain. In order for nodes to share the bus, they use a medium access control technology such as carrier-sense multiple access (CSMA) or a bus master.
Advantages
* Very easy to connect a computer or peripheral to a linear bus.
* Requires less cable length than a star network resulting in lower costs.
* The linear architecture is very simple and reliable.
* It works well for small networks.
* It is easy to extend by joining cable with connector or repeater.
Disadvantages
* Collisions occur in the network resulting in packet loss.
* Bandwidth is shared among nodes; Performance may degrade with many nodes on the network.
* It is difficult to isolate faults in the network.
* The entire network shuts down or is divided into two separate networks if there is a break in the main cable.
Bus network topologies are used when a small, cheap and often temporary network is needed that does not rely on very high data-transfer speeds. They may be used in locations such as a laboratory or office.
In a bus topology , all nodes in the network are connected directly to a central cable that runs up and down the network - this cable is known as the backbone . Data is sent up and down the backbone until it reaches the correct node.
