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Why would you want to do this?<br />
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Not really. &nbsp;I mean you could always change the passwords by closing your eyes and then typing in something random so you have no clue what it is. &nbsp;Then in order to do anything to it, you would need to use the password recovery steps.
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Why would you want to do this?

Not really.  I mean you could always change the passwords by closing your eyes and then typing in something random so you have no clue what it is.  Then in order to do anything to it, you would need to use the password recovery steps.

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our client is under the impression that all of there managed switches were at one point unmanaged. &nbsp;if a switch failed they could just replace it with another one and not load any configurations in to it.
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our client is under the impression that all of there managed switches were at one point unmanaged.  if a switch failed they could just replace it with another one and not load any configurations in to it.

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foochar is correct. &nbsp;If you put no configuration on the switch at all, they are &quot;plug and play.&quot;<br />
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However, if you are not going to use any of the extra features that a managed switch gets you, then save money and by unmanged switches.<br />
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However with unmanged switches you loose things. &nbsp;In addition to no VLANs, you also can't monitor for port traffic utilization, you can't mirror ports for sniffing traffic, no Etherchannels to add bandwidth between switches, and probably a few other things.
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foochar is correct.  If you put no configuration on the switch at all, they are "plug and play."

However, if you are not going to use any of the extra features that a managed switch gets you, then save money and by unmanged switches.

However with unmanged switches you loose things.  In addition to no VLANs, you also can't monitor for port traffic utilization, you can't mirror ports for sniffing traffic, no Etherchannels to add bandwidth between switches, and probably a few other things.

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And another big difference in unmanaged switches is no spanning-tree. &nbsp;So loops can create... interesting events.
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And another big difference in unmanaged switches is no spanning-tree.  So loops can create... interesting events.

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is it possible to turn a managed Cisco switch to unmanaged? &nbsp;ours are WS-C2970G-24TS-E.
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is it possible to turn a managed Cisco switch to unmanaged?  ours are WS-C2970G-24TS-E.

Cisco managed to unmanaged

Cisco PIX is a dedicated hardware firewall appliance; the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) is a firewall and anti-malware security appliance that provides unified threat management and protection the PIX does not. Other Cisco devices and systems include routers, switches, storage networking, wireless and the software and hardware for PIX Firewall Manager (PFM), PIX Device Manager (PDM) and Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM).

Cisco

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the Internet. The most familiar type of routers are home and small office cable or DSL routers that simply pass data, such as web pages, email, IM, and videos between computers and the Internet. More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, use of software-based routers has grown increasingly common.

Routers

Network Management involves issues that are independent of specific hardware or software, including email policies, upgrade planning, backup scheduling and working with managed service providers for Desktop-As-A-Service (DaaS), Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) and the like through the use of tools, coupled with manufacturer standards, best practice guidelines, policies and procedures plus all other relevant documentation. Network management also includes monitoring, alerting and reporting, management reporting, planning for device or service updates, the backup of configurations, the setting of key performance indicators and measures (KPIs/KPMs), associated service level agreements and problem records as part of the IT Service Management (ITSM) framework.