1. What is a switch?
It has ports for connecting
hosts to via Ethernet cables.
Which allows data to go in one
port and out another
determined by the destination
address.
The number of ports
change depending on
the type of switch you
have.
Usually found in all
networks. It is an
improvement on a
hub because the
hub will broadcast
the data to all od the
devices connect to
the hub and only the
one its addressed to
will accept the
packet the rest will
discard it.
A switch allows all the devices connected to it (via Ethernet
cable) to communicate, share folder and access and shared
devices on the network such as printer and storage servers.

2. Basic configuration
The basic configuration of a switch will consist of
things like, setting password on the ports like
console, VTY and auxiliary. Also a password on
the enable mode in the CLI to prevent people
going in and changing the configuration. Also a
password and IP address on the VLAN so that
packet can be set via the VLAN.
Basic commands
Switch > enable
Switch# config t
Switch(config)#enable password ……
Switch(config)# enable secret password……
Switch(config)#interface VLAN 10
This allows the user to
enter global
configuration mode
This command allows the
user to configure via a
terminal
This command allows you
to set a password for the
enable command
This allows you to set
another password for
the enable command
that is encrypted.
This command allows you
to enter the VLAN interface
and configure the VLAN.

3. Managed switches
Managed switches are switches that have been
set up do that an administrator can adjust
aspects of the switch while it is operating. The
admin can set up security features on the ports
such as a MAC filter. This is where only MAC
address that are on the networks MAC tables
will be able to connect to the network, if a
Ethernet cable is unplugged and put in laptop
the port will close so the device can not connect
to the network. The admin can also give ports
priority so that when they are sending data the
packet is dealt with first and transmitted first.
The administrator can also set the the switch up
so that it can do port mirroring, which is where
the switch sends a copy of network packets to a
monitoring connection. They can also set up
VLAN setting so that packets can be sent
through VLAN secure network that can also
boost performance.