Network topological designs are not complete without a layer for management traffic. The OOB management network is a separate network for management traffic only. Administrators use the OOB management network to configure, manage, and monitor devices such as servers and switches. Network end users initiate payload traffic that does not traverse the OOB management network. Switches used for management are 1 GbE.
Figure 7 demonstrates how the Dell PowerSwitch S3048-ON can be used to manage the OOB network.
Figure 7 shows an OOB management network for a single rack. More racks can be added to the same management network. A Dell PowerSwitch S3048-ON can be used to manage up to 48 devices on the network, which is typically enough for a single rack of equipment. The switch can then be connected to other adjacent management switches, or upstream to a management core.
Figure 8 shows how the OOB management network was configured for the demonstrated environment, alongside the connections used for in-band production traffic. There are two OOB management connections for each server: one connection is used for ESXi management, and the other connection is used for providing connectivity to the server iDRAC. The production in-band uplinks to the ACI environment are not shown.