One of the definitions of a hybrid is something consisting of mixed components, and that definition fits our purposes here. A hybrid topology is a network topology that connects two or more different network topologies together. Two such examples are a star-bus (Figure 5.12) and a star-ring (Figure 5.13):
Looking at Figure 5.13, we can see the bus topology acting almost as a backbone for connecting the two star topologies. Any communications between the two star topology networks will have to abide by the rules of the bus topology, that is, follow the CSMA/CD process for access:
As you can see in Figure 5.13, the star-ring hybrid topology involves connecting a number of star topologies over a ring topology. Again, the rules of the intermediary topology need to be followed.
By using a...