A ring topology is a type of network configuration where devices are connected in a circular manner, forming a closed loop. In this setup, each device is connected to exactly two other devices, like points on a circle. Data is transmitted from one device to the next in a sequential manner, and each device in the ring acts as a repeater, regenerating and retransmitting the data, ensuring that it continues to flow around the ring.
Advantages of using a ring topology include:
- All data passes through each device, making it easy to manage.
- It is cheap to install and expand.
- Minimum collision.
- Speed to transfer the data is very high.
- Due to the presence of token passing, the performance of ring topology becomes better than bus topology under heavy traffic.
Disadvantages of using a ring topology include:
- If one workstation shuts down, it affects the whole network, or if a node goes down, the entire network goes down.
- It is slower in performance as compared to the bus topology.
- Due to the uni-directional ring, a data packet (token) must have to pass through all the nodes.
To mitigate the disadvantage of a single point of failure, some ring topology setups use a dual-ring structure or redundant ring structures.
