A Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Network Topology

Describes the components of a typical SOHO network

A typical small office/home office (SOHO) LAN network is given in the diagram below:

A SOHO LAN
A small office / home office LAN
  • As seen from the diagram above, a small office/home office (SOHO) network consists of Wired (desktop computers) and wireless (laptops) end stations, a wireless Access point (AP), a Layer 2 (L2) switch, one or more servers, a firewall  and a Layer 3 (L3) router.
  • The end stations can communicate (exchange data) either with other end stations/servers within the SOHO or with end stations on the Internet.
  • The L2 switch provides connectivity between the different end stations and the servers in the office, for data exchange purposes.
  • Additionally, a wireless AP is required for connecting the wireless end stations to the L2 switch. The wireless AP acts as a base station for the wireless nodes inside the office.
  • A L3 Router connects the SOHO network to the public data network (Internet) via. a local ISP (Internet Service Provider).
  • A firewall device protects the internal SOHO LAN network from malicious/spurious traffic originating from the Internet. The firewall device filters out junk data packets coming from malicious computers via. the public data network, primarily aimed at bringing down the internal network.
  • In some cases, the firewall functionality is built inside the router itself, thereby not requiring a separate firewall device.

8 thoughts on “A Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Network Topology”

  2. ii) If Mesh topology is followed then how many number of links and ports are required for 10 computers , 2 printers and 1 scanner ?

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    1. the following formula is used to calculate the links
      No of links =n(n-1)/2
      where n=no of devices=13
      so, no of links =13(13-1)/2=78
      AND No of I/O ports=(n-1)=13-1=12

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  3. I am confused it 10 comp 2 printers and 1 scanner are used
    Should we use star topology for a small company or is mesh topology better?

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      1. Can you sketch a Star topological sample diagram to include the followings
        1..a school district environment
        2.the school environment users
        3.the Application Host Provider
        4.the Application Host Location
        5.the school roster data
        6.major communication interface
        7.communication ports and protocols
        8..Encryption methods ,and
        9.the Host Application Environment
        Please send me this sample topology diagram to include in my project presentation to a school district.
        We are new to this.Thank you as we await for your feedback.

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