LAN Types and Topologies

In a LAN resources are shared among the computers or devices present there.The sharing of resources are done basically by two methods- Peer to Peer and Client-Server.

• Peer to Peer Process:

Here all the computers present are treated as equal. Here all the devices in the network can share their resources.No special computer decides which resources can be shared or not.Here all the computers have the equal rights to access resources available to the network.Peer-to-peer network is designed mainly for small or medium office network.

• Client/Server Model:

Here a centralized server is responsible for supplying all the data needed for the clients.The server provides all the data,needed resources to the clients.Clients don't have the permission to modify server, they can ask the server for resources through specialized application or protocol. FTP server is the most common example of client/server model.

LAN Topologies:

There are basically four types of physical topology or configuration used in LAN. They are-

-Bus Topology

-Ring Topology 

-Star topology

-Tree Topology