Unmanaged versus Managed Switches by Cisco Systems

Unmanaged versus Managed Switches

Suzette: Hello, everyone. I’m Suzette Pereira, Product Marketing Manager at Cisco Systems. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of our online LAN switching update. This session is one in a series of monthly LAN switching podcasts where we talk about business and deployment
considerations in focused 5- to 10-minute topics.

Today’s session will cover the difference between unmanaged and managed switches.

With me today is one of Cisco’s product managers for the Catalyst desktop switches, Amanda Holdan.

Welcome. Amanda.

Amanda: Thanks. Suzette. I’m really happy to be here. Being that this is a popular topic, I am frequently asked the difference between a managed and unmanaged switch.

Suzette: Well, I understand the key difference between a managed and unmanaged switch is the ability to configure the switch and to prioritize LAN traffic to ensure that the most important
information, as I have defined it, gets through.

Amanda: That’s correct. Managed switches give you more control over your LAN traffic and offer advanced features to control that traffic.

An unmanaged switch simply allows Ethernet devices to communicate with one another, such as a PC or network printer, and those are typically what we call “plug and play.” They are shipped with a fixed configuration and do not allow any changes to this configuration.

Suzette: So an unmanaged switch allows devices to talk to each other, but that is pretty much all that they do?

Amanda: Pretty much, yes.

Suzette: Okay, I get that. So what is different about a managed switch?

Amanda: Managed switches provide all the features of an unmanaged switch and provide the ability to configure, manage, and monitor your LAN. And this gives you greater control over how data travels over the network and who has access to it.

Also, managed switches use protocols such as the Simple Network Management Protocol, or what
we call SNMP, for monitoring the devices on the network. SNMP is a protocol that facilitates the
exchange of management information between network devices. SNMP queries can determine the
health of the network or the status of a particular device. By displaying this data in an easily
understood format, IT managers located at a central site can monitor the performance of the
network and quickly detect and repair network problems without having to physically interact with
the switch.