Star topology

A star topology is a topology for a Local Area Network (LAN) in which all nodes are individually connected to a central connection point, like a hub or a switch. A star takes more cable than e.g. a bus, but the benefit is that if a cable fails, only one node will be brought down.

Star topology

All traffic emanates from the hub of the star. The central site is in control of all the nodes attached to it. The central hub is usually a fast, self contained computer and is responsible for routing all traffic to other nodes. The main advantages of a star network is that one malfunctioning node does not affect the rest of the network. However this type of network can be prone to bottleneck and failure problems at the central site.

A star network is often combined with a bus topology. The central hub is then connected to the backbone of the bus. This combination is called a tree.