Managed vs Unmanaged Switches?

[VLADY218]

What is the difference between Managed and Unmanaged Switches? I found out that with a Managed Switch you can set up VLANS, but im curios is how you set up a Managed Switch. Does it use an IP address or not? and when you configure it, is there software that comes with it or third party software or do you just telnet into it.

I appreciate any insight on my questions.

THANK YOU

 

[LoopyLoo]

Normally you set an IP address on a managed switch. Some have a built in web server for configuring and all have a CLI of some form. Some come with software but it's not normally necessary. VLAN's are useful only if you need them

 

[banwart1]

Also a managed switch is likely to have a console port that will allow direct connection using a roll-over cable or terminal addapter. You don't have to actually configure it with an IP either, it will work out of box no configs. If you want the features then configure. Some performance might be gained by using a managed switch too, you could setup Cut-Through switching instead of Store and Forward and also set priorities to certain traffic, again depends on what you want and are willing to pay for.

 

[VLADY218]

Thank you, your comments are great.

 

[qubic]

Ultimately managed switches come into there own because they have the added bonus of being able to configure each port speed separately. This means that say if you have a switch which is populated with a 100MB capable device, your desktop perhaps then you can set the NIC to 100MB Full Duplex. You will get very noticeable performance increases due to the simple procedure of no data transfer speed agreement requirement. Each device knows its set to 100 Full hence less traffic in sorting data transfer rates for packets. This is not a feature of non managed switches as far as I am aware as they make use of auto negotiation only.