A small business owner is looking to expand the number of Ethernet ports in the office so additional desktop computers can be connected. They do not need advanced capabilities such as VLANs or network-traffic monitoring and would like to keep costs low. Which type of device would be the BEST solution?
An unmanaged switch is a low-cost, plug-and-play device that immediately begins forwarding traffic without any configuration. Because it lacks features such as VLAN support, SNMP monitoring, or port security, it is less expensive than a managed switch and perfectly suited to simply adding additional Ethernet ports. A managed switch would provide capabilities the business does not need and therefore costs more. A router's main purpose is to connect different networks, not merely to add ports, and consumer routers typically offer only a few LAN ports. A hub is outdated technology that broadcasts every frame out all ports, which reduces performance and raises security concerns.
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What is an unmanaged switch?
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What is the difference between managed and unmanaged switches?
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Why are routers and firewalls not suitable for simply expanding Ethernet ports?