Logical topology

Logical topology is the arrangement of devices on a computer network and how they communicate with one another. Logical topologies describe how signals act on the network.

In contrast, a physical topology defines how nodes in a network are physically linked and includes aspects such as geographic location of nodes and physical distances between nodes. The logical topology defines how nodes in a network communicate across its physical topology. The logical topology can be considered isomorphic to the physical topology, as vice versa.

Early twisted pair Ethernet with a single hub is a logical bus topology with a physical star topology. While token ring is a logical ring topology with a physical star topology.