Network redundancy (ring topology) in SCADA systems - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Network redundancy (ring topology)

📖 Scenario: You are working with a SCADA system network that uses a ring topology to ensure network redundancy. This means each device is connected to two other devices, forming a closed loop. If one connection fails, data can still travel the other way around the ring.Your task is to represent this network in code and simulate checking the network's redundancy status.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple program that models a ring network of devices and checks if the network is redundant by verifying each device has exactly two connections.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a dictionary called network with device names as keys and lists of connected devices as values.

Add a variable called expected_connections set to 2 to represent the ring topology requirement.

Write a loop to check each device's connections against expected_connections and store the results in a dictionary called redundancy_status.

Print the redundancy_status dictionary to show which devices have proper redundancy.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Ring topologies are common in SCADA systems to ensure continuous operation even if one connection fails.

💼 Career

Understanding network redundancy helps in maintaining reliable industrial control systems and troubleshooting network issues.

1

Create the network dictionary

Create a dictionary called network with these exact entries: 'DeviceA': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceE'], 'DeviceB': ['DeviceA', 'DeviceC'], 'DeviceC': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceD'], 'DeviceD': ['DeviceC', 'DeviceE'], 'DeviceE': ['DeviceD', 'DeviceA'].

SCADA systems

# Create the network dictionary with devices and their connections
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Think of each device as a key and its connected devices as a list of values.

2

Set expected connections variable

Add a variable called expected_connections and set it to 2 to represent the number of connections each device should have in a ring topology.

SCADA systems

network = {
    'DeviceA': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceE'],
    'DeviceB': ['DeviceA', 'DeviceC'],
    'DeviceC': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceD'],
    'DeviceD': ['DeviceC', 'DeviceE'],
    'DeviceE': ['DeviceD', 'DeviceA']
}
# Set expected_connections to 2
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a simple variable assignment to store the number 2.

3

Check redundancy for each device

Write a for loop using variables device and connections to iterate over network.items(). Inside the loop, create a dictionary called redundancy_status (before the loop) and add an entry for each device with value true if the length of connections equals expected_connections, otherwise false.

SCADA systems

network = {
    'DeviceA': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceE'],
    'DeviceB': ['DeviceA', 'DeviceC'],
    'DeviceC': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceD'],
    'DeviceD': ['DeviceC', 'DeviceE'],
    'DeviceE': ['DeviceD', 'DeviceA']
}
expected_connections = 2

# Create redundancy_status dictionary
redundancy_status = {}
# Use for loop to check connections
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Initialize the dictionary before the loop. Use len(connections) to count connections.

4

Print the redundancy status

Write a print statement to display the redundancy_status dictionary.

SCADA systems

network = {
    'DeviceA': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceE'],
    'DeviceB': ['DeviceA', 'DeviceC'],
    'DeviceC': ['DeviceB', 'DeviceD'],
    'DeviceD': ['DeviceC', 'DeviceE'],
    'DeviceE': ['DeviceD', 'DeviceA']
}
expected_connections = 2

redundancy_status = {}
for device, connections in network.items():
    redundancy_status[device] = (len(connections) == expected_connections)

# Print the redundancy_status dictionary
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(redundancy_status) to show the results.