Image showing bus network layout

A bus network Topology is a network architecture in which a set of clients are connected via a shared communications line, called a bus. There are several common instances of the bus architecture, including one in the motherboard of most computers, and those in some versions of Ethernet networks. Image File history File links NetworkTopology-Bus. ... Image File history File links NetworkTopology-Bus. ... “Computer Networks” redirects here. ... In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ... In computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data or power between computer components inside a computer or between computers and typically is controlled by device driver software. ... The ABIT KT7, an ATX format motherboard A motherboard is a printed circuit board used in a personal computer. ... Ethernet is a large, diverse family of frame-based computer networking technologies that operates at many speeds for local area networks (LANs). ...

Bus networks are the simplest way to connect multiple clients, but often have problems when two clients want to transmit at the same time on the same bus. Thus systems which use bus network architectures normally have some scheme of collision handling or collision avoidance for communication on the bus, quite often using Carrier Sense Multiple Access or the presence of a bus master which controls access to the shared bus resource. Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) is a probabilistic Media Access Control (MAC) protocol in which a node verifies the absence of other traffic before transmitting on a shared physical medium, such as an electrical bus, or a band of electromagnetic spectrum. ... bus master ...

A true bus network is passive – the computers on the bus simply listen for a signal; they are not responsible for moving the signal along. However, many active architectures can also be described as a "bus", as they provide the same logical functions as a passive bus; for example, switched Ethernet can still be regarded as a logical bus network, if not a physical one. Indeed, the hardware may be abstracted away completely in the case of a software bus. Passive has several meanings: In grammar it describes a grammatical voice. ...

With the dominance of switched Ethernet over passive Ethernet, passive bus networks are uncommon in wired networks. However, almost all current wireless networks can be viewed as examples of passive bus networks, with radio propagation serving as the shared passive medium. While the term wireless network may technically be used to refer to any type of network that is wireless, the term is most commonly used to refer to a telecommunications network whose interconnections between nodes is implemented without the use of wires, such as a computer network (which is a...

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Bus Network

Advantages

• Easy to implement and extend
• Requires less cable length than a star topology
• Well suited for temporary or small networks not requiring high speeds(quick setup)
• Cheaper than other topologies

Disadvantages

• Limited cable length and number of stations.
• If there is a problem with the cable, the entire network goes down.
• Maintenance costs may be higher in the long run.
• Performance degrades as additional computers are added or on heavy traffic.
• Proper termination is required.(loop must be in closed path).
• If many computers are attached, the amount of data flowing causes the network to slow down.
• Significant Capacitive Load (each bus transaction must be able to stretch to most distant link).
• It works best with limited number of nodes.