Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumNetwork Topologies and Types

A network administrator is analyzing an existing office layout where all workstations are physically connected via individual twisted-pair cables to a central legacy hub. While the cable layout forms a star shape, users report frequent transmission slowdowns caused by data frame collisions during high-traffic periods. Which of the following best describes the logical topology operating within this network?

  1. Logical bus, because the central hub repeats signals to all attached ports, creating a single shared collision domain.Answer
  2. B
    Logical star, because the central hub selectively routes frames directly to their intended destination MAC addresses.
  3. C
    Logical ring, because connected workstations rely on a token-passing mechanism to regulate access to the physical media.
  4. D
    Logical mesh, because every workstation maintains an isolated virtual point-to-point connection to all other endpoints.

Answer

Logical bus, because the central hub repeats signals to all attached ports, creating a single shared collision domain.
While the physical cabling radiates outward from a central hub to form a physical star, hubs function at Layer 1 of the OSI model by repeating all incoming traffic to all active ports. As a result, all connected endpoints share a single collision domain, which defines a logical bus topology.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the physical cable layout described in the scenario.
Individual cables radiate from a central device to workstations, forming a physical star topology.
Physical topology represents the physical arrangement of cabling and device connections.
2
Determine how data flows internally through a network hub.
A legacy hub operates at Layer 1 and repeats incoming electrical signals to every active port.
Logical topology describes how data actually travels across the network medium.
3
Match the device behavior to its corresponding logical topology.
Because all nodes receive every transmission and contend for the same medium, the network operates as a logical bus.
A physical star with a central hub forms a logical bus network.

Key Concept

Physical vs. Logical Topologies (Hub-based Ethernet)
Rate this question

Topics

Network Topologies and Types

More questions from this topic