Mesh topology

Mesh topology has multiple connections between each of the nodes on the network. The advantage of a mesh topology is that if one cable breaks, the network can use an alternative route to deliver its packets.

Mesh networks are not very practical in a LAN setting. For example, to network eight computers in a mesh topology, each computer would have to have seven network interface cards, and 28 cables would be required to connect each computer to the seven other computers in the network. Obviously, this scheme is not very scalable.

However, mesh networks are common for metropolitan or wide area networks. These networks use devices called routers to route packets from network to network. For reliability and performance reasons, routers are usually arranged in a way that provides multiple paths between any two nodes on the network in a mesh-like arrangement.