With in-band management, devices are managed through the production network switches, avoiding the need of purchasing a dedicated management switch. This solution requires that you initially configure each managed switch locally through a serial port connection. An in-band management network is typically used when resources are limited. The cost savings can be realized when used in branch offices or smaller deployments. Those businesses still have the option of choosing a hybrid solution, where a dedicated OOB management is only implemented on the most critical part of their production network.

The example topology in Figure 8 shows two Dell EMC 48-port leaf switches configured in a VLT pair to provide redundant paths to the upstream network. The leaf switches that are shown are Dell EMC Networking S4048T-ON switches that connect the servers, and other devices, to each other and to the upstream network.