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CompTIA Network+ (2009 Objectives) Tutorials
Network Topology / Point to Point Topology
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Subtitles of the Movie (CompTIA Network+ (2009 Objectives) / Network Topology / Point to Point Topology)
The Point-to-Point topology is one of those things that happens in networking that you just kind of don't notice, and a Point-to-Point topology is not really something that we normally think of as a topology, although it certainly is. And you can see here that very simply it's just two devices that have a cable or a wireless connection between them. And so, two devices connected directly basically qualify as a Point-to-Point topology. Now let's talk about these things. First of all, they're very, very common out there. They're used to connect computers via ad hoc wireless connections and that's very common in meetings that if I'm in a meeting with a laptop and you're in a meeting with a laptop and we need to transfer data back and forth we can go in and configure those computers to work wirelessly in an ad hoc networking arrangement and we don't have to have any kind of router or anything between us. And at that point we're doing Point-to-Point topology. We can connect two computers using modems on either end and this used to be very, very popular and we were implementing Point-to-Point topologies when we did that. The most common place you will see Point-to-Point topologies is when we connect two routers together within a network. Now it looks a lot like a Bus topology but usually when we're using this Point-to-Point stuff it is inside other topologies or as a part of another topology. For example, we may have Star topologies but then we've got the computer connected to a printer, so the printer is connected directly to the computer via a cable, a printer cable or even a network cable sometimes, and that is, again, a Point-to-Point topology. We also - I've already mentioned this - connect routers and network devices together and that in itself is a Point-to-Point topology and I'm not going to list advantages and disadvantages on this topology because it's quite obvious. It's very easy to troubleshoot. You've only got one cable, two devices. If something breaks it's either the cable or one of the two devices. Very easy to chase down, very easy to troubleshoot. The disadvantages of this, obviously, is that that one cable between the two devices renders them both worthless on the network. So, Point-to-Point, again, it's one of those kind of oddities. It's always kind of right before us but we don't notice it, but you'll be ready for this on the exam and just understand this is another one of those things you might not see on the exam, but if you hear about Point-to-Point topologies on the exam I just wanted you to have a heads up on what they were talking about.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | CompTIA Network+ (2009 Objectives) |
| Author: | Mark Long |
| SKU: | 34216 |
| ISBN: | 1-936334-90-9 |
| Release Date: | 2011-04-29 |
| Duration: | 6 hrs / 91 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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