How to initialize the switch

In most instances, you can remove any brand of switch from the box, turn on the power, and let the switch provide the connection you need without any configuration, just like a hub that doesn't require management. In this article, we will discuss when you need to make additional configuration.

First of all, every network device has a minimum level of security standard. These safety standards include:

·Set passwords (if the intruder sets passwords for you, you won't like it).

· Set unencrypted passwords or turn off simple network management protocols if you don't plan to use it (especially if you set it to "public" and "dedicated".

·If you set up a server as the system login server to store remote login logs, turn off all management methods that you do not use, especially to turn off the web configuration login or identity server (RADIUS or TACACS+).

Our other configuration lists will depend on your specific situation, such as what you want to do with the switch, what degree to do, and the complexity of your environment.

If you have more than one switch in your broadcast domain, you need to configure the spanning tree protocol. The spanning tree function may be enabled by default. However, this default setting may select a root node that is not the best. Set the priority of the switch you want as the root node, keeping other switches as default settings.

If your switch has more than one IP subnet, you may need to configure VLAN or TRUNK. After you create a VLAN, don't forget to add the user port to the appropriate VLAN. It should be noted that if you use Cisco switches, even if you have only one subnet, I would still strongly recommend that you do not use the default VLAN 1 because it is very different from other virtual LANs. You want to create another VLAN and add all the ports to it.

If you plan to connect to an IP phone, then you need to configure a "Voice Virtual LAN" and you can also use the Power over Ethernet function. The default setting for Power over Ethernet is turned off.

Of course, you can also do some settings to make your network better, such as setting tags for each port, helping you track devices plugged in those ports, or manually setting the speed and duplex working mode of certain ports, or turning off unwanted protocols such as the Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP). However, this list is enough to allow most networks to run efficiently with reasonable configuration.

Article entry: csh     Editor in charge: csh