Network topology gives the structure of the network. The physical topology is the organization of the transmitting medium. The logical topology determines the way how the stations reach the transmitting medium for data transfer. The most Frequent Physical Topologies Bus all devices are connected to a central cable, called the bus or backbone Ring all devices are connected to one another in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it Star all devices are connected to a central hub. Nodes communicate across the network by passing data through the hub Extended Star each star connected by hubs or switches Tree integrates multiple star topologies together onto a bus. In its simplest form, only hub devices connect directly to the tree bus and each hub functions as the "root" of a tree of devices Mesh devices are connected with many redundant interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh topology every node has a connection to every other node in the network Logical Topology (also referred to as Signal Topology) is a network computing term used to describe the arrangement of devices on a network and how they communicate with one another. Logical topologies are bound to the network protocols that direct how the data moves across a network. Examples • The Ethernet protocol is a common logical bus topology protocol • LocalTalk is a common logical bus or star topology protocol • Token Ring is a common logical ring topology protocol