Managed vs Unmanaged Network Switch – Performance Differences

performanceswitchswitching

Is there a tangible difference in speed/latency between a managed and unmanaged network switch?

Best Answer

Good question. The short answer: No, there's no inherent difference in the speed or latency available to hosts talking to one another on a managed vs. unmanaged switch. In reality though, you'll generally see better performance all around on a managed switch, because unmanaged switches are typically less capable in every sense when compared to a managed switch.

The long answer: Most switch manufacturers provide specifications that often include backplane speed, data rate, and throughput.

  • A backplane is essentially a switch's motherboard. So backplane speed is the speed to which a switch or logical stack of switches is limited by its hardware.
  • The data rate, sometimes referred to as bandwidth, is essentially the theoretical bandwidth at which a switch can process frames. If the data rate is expressed in full duplex that means it's considering both ingress and egress traffic on each interface simultaneously.
  • Lastly, the throughput, or forwarding rate, of a switch is an expression of the amount of data that can be moved from one place to another in a given amount of time. That's why switches' throughput is typically expressed in some multiple of packets per second, or in the case of an unmanaged switch, frames per second.

So the long answer really is, you need to compare specific switch models - look at the spec sheets and see for yourself!

Related Topic