Practise Network topologies. 11 exam-style questions plus unlimited generated ones on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
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State one advantage of a bus topology.
It uses the least cable, so it is cheap.
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of Edexcel exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy3 marks
(a) Identify the topology in which every device is connected to a central switch.[1]
Bus
Star
Full mesh
Partial mesh
(b) State one advantage of a bus topology.[1]
(c) State one disadvantage of a star topology.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Star
(b)Answer: It uses the least cable, so it is cheap.
cheap / uses less cable than other topologies / easy to set up / easy to add devices
(c)Answer: If the central switch fails, the whole network fails.
if the central switch fails, the whole network stops working / it uses more cable than a bus, so it costs more
Question 2Medium4 marks
Explain two advantages of a star topology compared with a bus topology.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
Answer: A single cable fault only affects one device (a backbone break stops a bus); the switch sends data only to its destination, so there are fewer collisions.
if one cable fails, only the device on that cable is affected
whereas in a bus network a break in the backbone cable stops the whole network
the switch sends data only to the device it is addressed to
so there are fewer collisions and the network performs better with heavy traffic (and other devices do not receive the data)
devices can be added or removed without disrupting the rest of the network
faults are easier to find, because each device has its own cable
Question 3Hard4 marks
A company wants to connect 8 devices.
(a) Calculate the number of cables needed if the devices are connected in a full mesh topology. Show your working.[2]
(b) State the number of cables needed if the devices are connected in a star topology using a switch.[1]
(c) Give one reason why wired full mesh networks are rarely used to connect the computers in an office.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: 28 cables
8 × 7 = 56
÷ 2 = 28 (cables)
(b)Answer: 8 cables
8
(c)Answer: The number of cables grows very fast with each extra device, making it too costly and complex.
the number of cables (and network ports) grows very quickly as devices are added, so it is very expensive and complicated to install