Choosing a Layout for Your Needs

There is no universally perfect topology — the right choice depends on your goals and budget. Network designers weigh several factors against one another: cost, speed, fault tolerance, scalability, and ease of management. A home network and a hospital data center have very different priorities. This lesson gives you a framework for choosing a layout that fits a given situation, which the exam tests through scenario questions.

Cost includes cabling, hardware, and labor. A bus uses the least cable but is unreliable. A full mesh is extremely reliable but very expensive because the number of links grows with the square of the device count. A star sits in the middle: more cable than a bus, but affordable and easy to install. Budget often rules out the mesh except where reliability justifies it.