A network engineer is installing new switches in the data center to replace existing infrastructure. The previous network hardware had administrative interfaces that were plugged into the existing…

Question

Options

• AConnect the switch management ports to a separate physical network.
• BDisable unused physical ports on the switches to keep unauthorized users out.
• CSet the administrative interfaces and the network switch ports on the same VLAN.
• DUpgrade all of the switch firmware to the latest hardware levels.

• A
  85% (17)
• C
  10% (2)
• D
  5% (1)

Explanation

Connecting switch management ports to a separate physical network implements out-of-band (OOB) management. This isolates administrative traffic from production data traffic, meaning an attacker who compromises the production network cannot directly reach management interfaces. It also ensures management access remains available even during network outages. Disabling unused ports (B) is a good security practice but does not address the exposure of management interfaces on the production network. Placing management and switch ports on the same VLAN (C) is actually what the previous insecure configuration did - it does not improve security. Upgrading firmware (D) addresses software vulnerabilities but does not change the network architecture risk of co-mingling management and data traffic.

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