network topology
termnetworking
The shape of a network: how nodes are connected, drawn either as the cables actually run or as the traffic actually flows.
The distinction that trips people up is physical versus logical topology, and they are frequently different. Classic Ethernet wired as a star through a hub behaved logically as a bus, because every frame still reached every port and every station still contended for the same medium. Ask which one someone means before you argue about the diagram.
Also known as: topology, physical topology, logical topology