ARCnet Topology is star and bus or a mixture. Cable type is RG-62 A/U coaxial (93 ohm), UTP or fiber-optic. A network can use any combination of this media. Connectors used include BNC, RJ-45, and others. It passes tokens passing for media access. Maximum segment length is 600 meters with RG-62 A/U, 121 meters with UTP, 3485 meters with fiber-optic, and 30 meters from a passive hub. It may use active and passive hubs. The specification is ANSI 878.1. It can have up to 255 nodes per network. The speed is 2.5 Mbps. ARCnet Plus has operating speeds approaching 20Mbps.
Signals are broadcast across the entire network with computers processing only signals addressed to them. ARCnet tokens travel based on a station identifier (SID) which each computer has. Each network card has a DIP switch used to set the SID with an address between 1 and 255. Signals are generally sent from the lowest numbered station to the next until they wrap around back to SID of 1. To determine non-existent stations, the station with the lowest ID indicates it has the token and begins querying IDs of higher value until it gets a response. Then the next computer does the same until the original station is queried. This procedure is done when a station is added or removed from the network or when the network is originally started. How does the network know when a station has been added or removed? How is the lowest numbered SID identified? Addresses assignment based on proximity causes the network to operate more efficiently.
The acronym SID is used for a station identifier with regard to ARCnet, but as used in the Windows NT and Windows 95 operating systems, it refers to the security identification number of a user or group.
Troubleshooting
Card default address is 0. Bus topology cannot support more than 10 nodes per segment.
Characteristics Summary
- Topology - star-bus.
- Cable - 93 ohm coaxial or fiber.
- Speed - 2.5/20 Mbps.
- Maximum segment length - 600 meters with RG-62, 121 meters with UTP, 3485 meters with fiber.
- Media access - Token passing.
- Maximum nodes on the network - 255.
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