It is mainly used in engineering andmanufacturing industries.Today, the ring topologyis seldom used.

They are also found in someoffice buildings ,schoolcampuses, etc.

It is usually used in Local AreaNetworks or LAN's.

A ring topology is a type of physical topology inwhich devices are connected to each other inthe shape of a ring or a loop.

Ring Topology is a network cabling scheme inwhich one cable connects all nodes and forms aclosed loop.

Each packet of data must pass through all thecomputers between source and destination. Thismakes it slower than star topology

If one workstation or port goesdown, the entire network getsaffected

Network is highly dependent on the wire or cablewhich connects different components. If the cableor loop encounters a problem, the whole network isaffected

The higher the number ofnodes, the slower thecommunication

Moving, adding and changingdevices may affect the network

Slower than a star topologyunder normal load.

In order for the nodes to communicatewith each other they must all be switchedon.

Expansion or maintenancerequires the shutdown of thewhole topology.

It is a very organised form of networking whereevery device has the opportunity to send andaccess messages

Even when the load on the network increases,its performance is better than that of bustopology

There is no need for network server tocontrol the connectivity betweenworkstations.

Additional components do notaffect the performance ofnetwork

Each computer has equalaccess to resources.

The ability to generate data packets allows a ringtopology to span far greater distance than bus orstar topologies

Easy to troubleshoot The problem when the ring network shutsdown is that it can be detected easily, and isolated because of pointtopointconfiguration. if you locate where the information is stopping,it will pinpoint which device or cable from which the trouble isoriginating.

A dual ring topology can beused as a backup if the first ringfails.

Performs better than a bustopology under heavy networkload

Does not require a central node tomanage the connectivity between thecomputers

Easy to install and configure as removing or adding adevice involves the tampering of only twoconnections (as each device is only attached to twoon either side).

Each device has equal accessto data transmissions

The machines on a ring network maintain thenetwork by negotiating which machine will utilizethe resources of the network before the others

Minimal hardware required cheap to install and expand

Load of information is spread between devices,instead of concentrating it onto one single pieceof networking equipment like a star topology.

Bus topologies use one major backbone to broadcast information to everydevice on that backbone, regardless of whether that device has asked for theinformation or not whereas in a ring topology, the load is shared by allnodes, and the token system is used to transmit messages throughout thenetwork.

Increasing the number of nodes in a bus topologyhas a greater effect on the speed of the networkthan increasing the number of nodes on a ringtopology.

Locating faults on a bus topology is harder than locating faults on a ringtopology because when there is a problem with a bus topology, all devicesare affected, however on a ring topology, it is easy to pinpoint the problemon one node or device because the token being passed will stop at thefaulty device.