Final answer:
Distributed switches provide advanced features such as centralized management, sophisticated network segmentation, load balancing, QoS tagging, and live migrations of virtual machines.
Step-by-step explanation:
Distributed switches offer several advanced features not typically available in standard switches. One of the primary enhancements is that they enable centralized management, where you can manage all the distributed switches across multiple hosts from a single interface.
This management capability simplifies network configurations and offers consistent network settings across all connected hosts. Network Segmentation via VLANs (Virtual LANs) is more sophisticated on distributed switches, which provides better control over traffic management and isolation.
In addition,Load Balancing, Network I/O Control (NIOC), Port Mirroring, QoS (Quality of Service) tagging, and Private VLANs are all features that a distributed switch can provide to enhance network performance and security.
Distributed switches also support more advanced features like Health Check, which helps ensure that the physical and virtual network setups are aligned properly, and Config Backup and Restore, enabling network configurations to be quickly restored to a previous state.
Also, they facilitate Live Migrations of virtual machines between hosts without losing network state, which is a significant advantage for maintaining service continuity.