Ring Network Topology in Computer Networks

Ring Network Topology

A ring network topology consists of multiple computers or devices communicated in a closed-loop by a single communication medium. The information traverse around the ring to every station because it reaches the desired computer or device. It is so termed because of the circular method of the data flow. Generally, the data flow is unidirectional, but it must be bidirectional too. In a unidirectional ring, the data act in one direction only, while in bidirectional, it works in both directions.

It is another popular technique for network configuration. The ring network topology is displayed in the figure below

A ring network frequently uses a bit-serial transmission medium, including twisted pairs or coaxial cables. A master clock can be used to communicate to each station when to read and write bits, or the timing data can be encoded into the information as long as specific restrictions are met to keep up the ring from flooding.

Advantages of Ring Network Topology

Following are the advantages of ring topology

• It is a truly distributed data processing system.
• It is more decent than the star network.
• If one station fails in the network or a channel between two fails, an alternate routing is possible.

Disadvantages of Ring Network Topology

Following are the disadvantages of ring topology

• Communication delay is directly proportional to the multiple nodes in the network.
• It has more complicated control software.