| The out-of-band management access switch will connect to the management interface of the managed network elements. The management interface can be a true out-of-band management interface or a standard interface functioning as the management interface. In either case, the management interface of the managed network element will directly connect to the out-of-band management network.
An out-of-band management interface does not forward transit traffic, thereby, providing complete separation of production and management traffic. Since all management traffic is immediately forwarded into the management network, it is not exposed to possible tampering. The separation also ensures that congestion or failures in the managed network do not affect the management of the device. If the device does not have an out-of-band management port, the interface functioning as the management interface must be configured so that management traffic, both data plane and control plane, does not leak into the managed network and that production traffic does not leak into the management network. |
