To prepare a switch for remote management access, the switch must be configured with an IP address and a subnet mask. Keep in mind, that to manage the switch from a remote network, the switch must be configured with a default gateway. This is very similar to configuring the IP address information on host devices. In the figure, the switch virtual interface (SVI) on S1 should be assigned an IP address. The SVI is a virtual interface, not a physical port on the switch.
SVI is a concept related to VLANs. VLANs are numbered logical groups to which physical ports can be assigned. Configurations and settings applied to a VLAN are also applied to all the ports assigned to that VLAN.
By default, the switch is configured to have the management of the switch controlled through VLAN 1. All ports are assigned to VLAN 1 by default. For security purposes, it is considered a best practice to use a VLAN other than VLAN 1 for the management VLAN.
Note that these IP settings are only for remote management access to the switch; the IP settings do not allow the switch to route Layer 3 packets.