At present, switches on the market can be divided into managed switches and unmanaged switches. How much do you know about these two types of switches? What is the difference between the two? How should I choose?

What is a network management switch?

The network management switch mainly performs functions such as monitoring switch ports, dividing VLANs, and setting trunk ports through the management port. Because the network management switch has VLAN, CLI, SNMP, IP routing, QoS and other characteristic functions, it is often used in the core layer of the network, especially in large and complex data centers.

What is an unmanaged switch?
The unmanaged switch is a plug-and-play Ethernet switch that does not directly process data. Since the non-network management switch does not require any settings, it can be used by plugging in the Internet cable, and it is also called a fool-type switch.

The difference between managed switches and non-managed switches
Regardless of whether it is a managed switch or a non-managed switch, they are used for network port expansion and data exchange, but the network managed switch adds a series of management functions on this basis. The network management switch supports configuration. It can control the network through configuration changes, such as priority, flow control and ACL. Non-network management switches do not support configuration changes, so its functions are not as rich as network management switches. Not only that, the network management switch also has the advantages of large backplane bandwidth, large data throughput, low packet loss rate, low delay, and flexible networking. However, it is precisely because the network management switch has rich functions that its cost price is relative to that of non-network management. Higher for the switch.

How to choose between managed and non-managed switches?

To ensure the smooth operation of the entire network system, it is very important to choose a suitable switch. So how should one choose between a managed switch and a non-managed switch? You can consider two aspects of network environment and cost:

In complex data centers and large enterprise networks, the network needs to continuously transmit a large amount of data. At this time, the switch has to undertake thousands of data traffic transmission and management functions. In this case, it is very wise to choose a network management switch. Because the network management switch can perform detection management and user control management on network equipment according to the equipment and users on the switch.
In simple network environments such as small offices, homes, etc., complex management functions are not required, so you can choose non-managed switches because the price of non-managed switches is cheaper and more affordable than network managed switches.