In-band and out-of-band management can be complementary and are typically used together
In the past, vendors often positioned in-band versus out-of-band management as an either/or proposition. In reality, in-band and out-of-band management can be complementary and are typically used together:
• From the management station, the management application can access the SAN fabric either in-band or out-of-band. Typically, out-of- band is the default mode, with in-band being used as a backup path in case there is a connectivity failure on the LAN or WAN.
• Most management applications can use either out-of-band or in-band paths to access SAN devices. You can also have the management application access only one Ethernet port on one switch, and then use in-band IPFC to access the rest of the fabric. This allows you to lock down the Ethernet ports on the other fabric devices, which enhances security.