A managed network switch is a technology that allows Ethernet devices to communicate with each other and that contains features to configure, manage and monitor traffic on a Local Area Network (LAN). A managed network switch provides more control over how data travels over the network and who can access it. 

Managed switch features may vary among manufacturers and models but often include the following:

• Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) support for switch and link redundancy without creating loops. 
• the ability to implement quality of service
• VLAN support
• bandwidth rate limiting
• port mirroring.

Managed switches let users adjust each port on the switch to any setting, enabling them to manage, configure and monitor the network in many ways. 

How does a Managed Switch Work?

 Managed switches allow users to change every port on the switch to any setting, by allowing them to configure, monitor & manage the network in different ways.

Generally, these switches use SNMP protocol (Simple Network Management Protocol), which allows administrators to observe the conditions of the network switch as well as separate switch ports to provide different statistics like network errors, port status, traffic throughput, etc. So that network administrators can track this information eventually & utilize this information for both network capacity & troubleshooting purposes.

The configuration of these switch ports can be done like trunks, which means a procedure that labels data frames through a VLAN ID & transfers various VLAN frames across a particular link. Generally, these ports are useful in connecting two switches as one otherwise to connect a network switch to a VM server that needs the right of entry to many VLANs. Network administrators can also combine many ports virtually to make port-combined links that transfer double times of a single link speed.

Finally, these switches generally include a remotely accessible console-like web interface or command line for allowing network administrators to create design changes from various physical locations.