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Does the Cable types determine which type of frame it will carry? Just for a example can't i use a fiber cable to create a star topology which carry ethernet frame? I know this might sound bizzare that why some one will use a fiber cable that in start topology but just to clear the concepts ?

As an example the LAN is a network which is in the close geographical location.

So what i get from this is any network which is established in a small geograohical location is a LAN.

A physical topology is the way devices are connected physically so are there any standard topology which we follow while establishing out a LAN like star,ring,mesh,bus ?

And what are the roles of cables which we use to establish a network ?

Does the frame type is decided by the type of cables which we use to establish a network ? and does the topogy is dependt on the type of cable which we use in establishing the network?

Please help though i understand the topogy, network and cables differently but don't know how they amalgamate in a network ?

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    I would offer that your question holds part of your answer: the frame type actually is key to the physical topology. In 802.3 Ethernet, a physical/logical star is practical because it is a multiple access protocol so you don't need conventions like token passing, or in/out directions in a ring. Low level protocols (dictating frame types) are designed with these details in mind, so look closer at their implementations to find clues about how each should be used.
    – Jeff Meden
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 11:47
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    I understood your point of multiple acces protocol so it doesnot requires token? What about the FDDI does it also uses a token ? And i guess we can implenemnt that FDDI using copper than it is called CDDI rt ? Also one more doubt say if i want to use ethernet framem, then are they allowed only on twisted pair of cables or any other cable will also be able to carry ethernet frame ?
    – Rohit Saluja
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:12
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    FDDI defines a specific frame type; it does use tokens; it was designed for high-availability point to point connections; and there is a CDDI portion. To your comment about ethernet, it certainly does not rely on twisted pair and one look through en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.3 will illustrate that it ranges from coax, to two pairs, four pairs, and fiber optics. My humble advice would be, unless you are trying to become a wide area network specialist, study Ethernet (and only Ethernet) until you know it well. There are few cases where it's the wrong solution for a task.
    – Jeff Meden
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 13:53

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The topology is independent of the framing type.

Frame type is defined at the data link layer of the OSI model.

Cable type is defined at the physical layer of the OSI model.

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  • Thanks for answering in such a lucid manner :) One doubt you say that frame type is defined at the data link layer? So do we have to enable/disable or select the kind of frame type
    – Rohit Saluja
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 5:46
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LAN/WAN/MAN have no effect with cabling. In LAN cable can be optical. But in real life it is not used in LAN because of cost and some other issues like performance, equipment etc.

Which type of cable will be used it depend on bandwidth, length, cost etc.

And again you can make any topology using any cable. if you dont concern about performance.

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  • So i can make use of any type of cable to create a network rt ? Say if I use a fiber in start topology with the switch placed in the center which frame types will be used then ?
    – Rohit Saluja
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:09
  • yeah its possible to make if you have fiber supported switch. Because electrical domains switch will not support without converters. One thing more in fiber data is traveled through light which is analog. and in other cables data is in digital. What you really want to do? are you confuse in concepts ?
    – Adnan Ali
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:16
  • And no body is going to use fiber with switch. because its not feasible. Fiber is good for long distances, not for short distance.
    – Adnan Ali
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 12:18
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    Lots of companies use fiber for shorter distances when they need 10G throughput, or better. Thats why they have short range optics/multimode fiber and long range optics/singlemode fiber, so you have the option for either short or long distances.
    – Jordan Head
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 14:58
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    I would go further than Jordan Head and state that I have seen networks with fiber to the desktop or that utilize GPON to the desktop. While copper is easily the dominant physical medium to the desktop, it is by no means the only one. When you get to data centers, then fiber becomes much more common but is generally still outnumbered by the copper connections.
    – YLearn
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 18:48

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