Advantages and Disadvantages of Unmanaged Industrial Switches

A key issue when choosing an Industrial Switch is whether to choose a managed or unmanaged industrial switch. Unmanaged industrial switches: Compared to managed industrial switches, unmanaged industrial switches are also known as foolproof switches. Simply put, they do not directly process data and can be plugged into a network cable. Its advantage is that it is easy to use and plug and play, and its price is cheap, which can save expenses. Although managed industrial switches are usually more expensive, they provide some additional powerful features.

In industrial production, unmanaged industrial switches are one of the key devices that connect various devices and machines. This type of switch does not require management and configuration, and can improve work efficiency and production efficiency. In the future, with the continuous development of industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, unmanaged industrial switches will be more widely used and developed.

Unmanaged industrial switches typically have the following characteristics:

Hardware based switch: This switch uses hardware switching technology without the need for software management and configuration, improving the reliability and stability of the switch.

Designed for industrial environments: This type of switch is usually able to withstand harsh industrial environments such as high temperature, low temperature, dust, humidity, etc.

Support multiple communication protocols: This type of switch typically supports multiple communication protocols, such as TCP/IP, UDP, DHCP, etc., which can meet the communication needs between different devices.

Automatic learning and automatic adaptation speed: This switch can automatically learn MAC addresses and network topology, while automatically adapting to the communication speed of devices.

High reliability: This type of switch usually has a high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair), which can ensure the stable operation of the network.

Disadvantages of unmanaged industrial switches:

1. Unmanaged industrial switches have limited functionality and are suitable for small networks, but there are significant limitations to network upgrade and expansion.

2. Not supporting ARP protection, ARP attacks are not viruses, so almost all antivirus software is helpless against them; But it is better than a virus - it can cause slow communication, network paralysis, and even information leakage.

3. MAC address binding is not supported, VLAN partitioning is not supported, and end users connected on unmanaged switches in the same broadcast domain may experience a broadcast storm, which cannot be protected or suppressed. Causing congestion, blocking, and flooding throughout the entire network, resulting in network paralysis.

4. Inconvenient management, high hardware failure rate.

5. The reliability of data transmission is relatively poor, and packet loss is prone to occur.

The IS1000 series unmanaged industrial switches are a series of industrial Ethernet switches independently developed by Houshi Network, which have adaptive functions for multiple optical and electrical ports. The IS1000 series unmanaged industrial switch conforms to industrial grade design, with high stability, cost-effectiveness, high lightning and radiation protection levels. It also has DIN rail installation and desktop installation options, and can be widely used in different fields such as telecommunications, power, water conservancy, finance, rail transportation, energy, public security, etc., to meet the needs of different industries for Ethernet business investment.