functions include initializing interfaces with default configurations, IP
addresses, policies, user accounts, and so on.Figure 17-20 Control Plane and Data Plane
Figure 17-21 shows three network elements: a router, a
switch, and a wireless access point. For each one of them,
the figure shows the control plane and data plane. The
management of these devices includes the functions you
use to control and monitor these devices. As the
controlling and monitoring function has to be done on
each device, we call this architecture a “distributed
control plane architecture.” The drawback is that
network engineers or administrators have to manage
each device independently, logging in to each device and
setting it up. Imagine that you have to make a simple
configuration change such as enabling a syslog server;
you would have to log in to each device independently
and make the changes.
Figure 17-21 Distributed Control Plane Architecture
To prevent the inefficiency of manually managing
network devices, a network controller can be used. When
you use a network controller, you move the control