Cisco C9800-40-K9 Full English Product Description
1. Short Official Part & License Label
C9800-40-K9: Cisco Catalyst 9800-40 Series Mid-High Density Intent-Based Wireless LAN Controller, 1U Rack-Mount Appliance, 4×10G SFP+ Uplink Interfaces, 40 Gbps Non-Blocking System Throughput, Native IOS-XE Modular OS, DNA-Ready, Supports Wi‑Fi 6/6E APs, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, NBAR2 AVC Layer7 Application Control, Advanced aWIPS, ETA Encrypted Traffic Analytics, Full AP+Client Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA, ISSU In-Service Software Upgrade, Smart Licensing Using Policy, Active Supported Enterprise Campus Wireless Controller
2. Full Product Overview
The Cisco Catalyst C9800-40-K9 is a scalable enterprise-grade wireless LAN controller built on modern modular Cisco IOS‑XE, belonging to Cisco’s next-generation Intent-Based Networking (IBN) Catalyst 9800 portfolio. Designed for medium-to-large enterprise campus core gateways, multi-building university and K‑12 districts, regional headquarters, high-density Software-Defined Data Center wireless boundaries, and mid-tier MSSP multi-tenant wireless environments that demand high-performance 10G fiber uplinks and large-scale AP capacity beyond compact platforms such as C9800-L.
This platform supports up to a maximum of2000 lightweight Aironet / Catalyst Wi‑Fi 6/6E access points and 32,000 concurrent wireless clients. It adopts Cisco Smart Licensing Using Policy (SLP) with flexible capacity scaling, eliminating fixed base AP-count SKUs. It terminates DTLS‑encrypted CAPWAP tunnels from all remote and campus APs, supporting three primary deployment modes: Central Local Mode, FlexConnect distributed branch switching to reduce WAN backhaul traffic, and SD‑Access Fabric integration for zero-trust campus architectures. It delivers unified RF orchestration, enterprise wireless security, seamless Layer 2/3 client mobility, VoWLAN QoS, VideoStream multicast optimization, and embedded advanced wireless intrusion prevention (aWIPS).
The C9800-40 provides 40 Gbps non-blocking forwarding throughput via four SFP+ 10-Gigabit uplink ports compatible with copper, SR, LR, and LRM fiber transceivers. The chassis supports optional dual hot-swappable redundant power supplies and redundant cooling fans to eliminate single points of failure for mission-critical wireless infrastructure. Key enterprise capability: full AP + Client Stateful Switchover (SSO high availability) synchronizes CAPWAP tunnel state, PMK cache and active client sessions between HA peers to achieve zero service interruption during failover or maintenance. The modular IOS‑XE OS supports hot patching and ISSU (In-Service Software Upgrade) for non-disruptive firmware updates without AP or client outages.
The Catalyst 9800-40 is actively supported hardware, not End-of-Sale. It fully interoperates with Aironet Wave 2 and Catalyst 9100 series Wi‑Fi 6/6E lightweight APs. Management options include embedded HTTPS web UI, IOS‑XE CLI over SSH, serial console, and centralized automation via Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center) or Cisco Prime Infrastructure with NETCONF/YANG and RESTCONF open APIs.
Key Upgrade vs C9800-L Series: Higher 40Gbps throughput, drastically larger maximum AP and client scale, dedicated crypto processing for heavy TLS decryption workloads, mobility group clustering capability, and carrier-grade feature set suitable for consolidated multi-building campus deployments.
3. Complete Hardware Physical & Interface Specifications
Form Factor & Mechanical
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Rack Form Factor: Standard 1U 19-inch rack-mount chassis
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Dimensions: 44.45 mm (H) × 444.5 mm (W) × 482.6 mm (D) / 1.75 × 17.5 × 19 inches
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Unit Weight: 11.3 kg (25 lbs) single PSU; 13.6 kg (30 lbs) with dual redundant PSUs installed
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Cooling System: Multiple hot-swappable redundant internal cooling fans
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Power Supply: Single AC PSU standard; optional second redundant AC PSU for fault tolerance
Rear Panel Interface Layout
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4× 10G SFP+ uplink slots (Supports SFP+ copper, SR, LR, LRM fiber transceivers; LAG EtherChannel aggregation and MACsec encryption supported)
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1× 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 dedicated out-of-band Service Port for isolated management traffic
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Dual console ports: RJ45 RS-232 serial console + mini-USB console port for local CLI configuration and recovery
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USB 3.0 Type-A port for local firmware upload, configuration backup and restore
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Dual AC power supply input slots (primary + optional redundant secondary PSU)
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Physical security lock slot for anti-theft security cable attachment
Front Panel LED Status Indicators
Global status LEDs: Power 1, Power 2, System Health, Critical Fault Alarm, Fan Status
Per-port Link/Activity status LEDs for all four 10G SFP+ uplink interfaces and dedicated service port
Power & Environmental Parameters
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Input AC Range: Universal 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz power input
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Maximum Total Power Consumption: 420 W fully loaded with dual PSUs
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Operating Temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
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Storage Temperature: -20°C to 70°C (-4°F to 158°F)
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Humidity: 5%–95% non-condensing (operation & storage)
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Regulatory Certifications: UL 60950-1 safety, CE, FCC Class A EMC, ICES-003, VCCI
Official Licensed Capacity & Performance Benchmarks
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Maximum Supported Lightweight APs: Up to 2000 APs (capacity controlled via Smart Licensing RTU entitlements)
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Maximum Concurrent Active Wireless Clients: 32,000 total across all managed APs
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System Non-Blocking Throughput: Up to 40 Gbps
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Supported Unique WLAN SSIDs: Up to 4,096 broadcast/hidden SSIDs
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Maximum 802.1Q Tagged VLAN Interfaces: Up to 4,096 VLANs
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Max AP Groups for Segmented Wireless Policy Control: 2,000 independent AP groups
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Max FlexConnect Remote Branch Groups: 2,000 groups (max 100 APs per group)
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Roaming Capabilities: Intra-controller Layer2 seamless roaming, Layer3 inter-VLAN mobility, 802.11r fast secure roaming (supports 64,000 PMK cache roaming clients)
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Supported Wireless Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wave 2, Wi‑Fi 6/6E, WMM, 802.11k/r/u/w/h, Hotspot 2.0 Passpoint, WPA3‑SAE Enterprise
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Max Detected Rogue APs: 5,000; Max Rogue Wireless Clients: 10,000
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Max RFID Location Tags Tracking: 50,000 tags for location-based services
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Supports Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), TLS/SSL Decryption and IPsec VPN hardware processing
4. Complete Unified Wireless & Security Feature Suite
1. Centralized Lightweight AP Lifecycle Management
DTLS encrypted CAPWAP tunnel termination for all joined APs; zero-touch AP auto-discovery via DHCP Option 43; bulk AP firmware upgrades, unified RF profiles and global security policy deployment. Supports three core deployment modes: Central Local Mode, FlexConnect local switching to reduce WAN bandwidth consumption, and SD‑Access Fabric integrated mode. Compatible with OfficeExtend teleworker APs; wireless mesh supported on matching AP hardware.
2. Cisco CleanAir Intelligent RF Spectrum Management
Continuous real-time 2.4GHz/5GHz RF interference monitoring, dynamic transmit power control, automatic channel assignment, wireless coverage hole detection, rogue AP detection, classification and active wireless containment, persistent historical RF analytics for capacity planning and wireless troubleshooting.
3. Enterprise-Grade Wireless Security Stack
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Authentication Standards: IEEE 802.1X EAP-TLS/PEAP/EAP-FAST, local internal user database, external RADIUS/TACACS+ AAA integration
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Encryption Protocols: WEP, WPA2‑PSK/Enterprise, WPA3‑SAE/Enterprise, AES‑CCMP, TKIP
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Wireless Threat Mitigation: Built-in advanced aWIPS wireless intrusion prevention, rogue AP containment, wireless client isolation, dynamic per‑SSID VLAN assignment, downloadable per-user ACLs
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Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA): Identify threats hidden within encrypted traffic without full packet decryption
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TrustSec integration for software-defined segmentation, Cisco ISE BYOD device profiling
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Compliance: PCI DSS validated architecture for retail wireless wireless POS payment deployments
4. Identity-Aware Zero Trust Policy Enforcement
Native integration with Active Directory, Cisco ISE and AnyConnect Secure Client to deploy user/group context-based zero-trust access rules, enabling granular access control based on user identity, device posture and network location.
5. Mobility, Voice & Video QoS
Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) traffic prioritization, Call Admission Control (CAC) for VoWLAN VoIP handsets, Cisco VideoStream multicast optimization for wireless IPTV streaming, configurable bidirectional per-client bandwidth policing, fast secure roaming via 802.11r to eliminate voice call interruptions during client movement.
6. Application Visibility and Control (AVC)
Layer 7 deep application identification powered by NBAR2 for thousands of enterprise, SaaS, social media and cloud applications; application-based traffic filtering, DSCP QoS marking, rate limiting and Flexible NetFlow v9 reporting for traffic governance and performance monitoring.
7. Integrated VPN Services
Site-to-Site IPsec IKEv1/IKEv2 tunnels with AES‑256 encryption; AnyConnect SSL remote access VPN with split tunneling, customizable clientless web portal and secure mobility for distributed global remote workforce.
8. High Availability & Linear Scalability
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Active/Standby Full AP+Client Stateful Switchover (AP+Client SSO): Complete synchronization of AP registration, CAPWAP tunnel state, PMK cache and active client sessions for zero service interruption during failover or maintenance
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Multi-node mobility groups for cross-controller Layer3 roaming and unified guest anchor tunneling across multiple 9800-40 controllers
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LAG EtherChannel link aggregation supported on all four 10G SFP+ uplink ports for bandwidth aggregation and link redundancy
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Optional dual redundant power supplies and hot-swappable fans eliminate hardware single points of failure
9. Traffic Visibility, Logging & Compliance
Real-time monitoring via embedded HTTPS web GUI; secure encrypted syslog, SNMP v3 and Streaming Telemetry export to third-party SIEM platforms. Persistent audit logging meets enterprise PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR regulatory requirements.
10. Programmability & Centralized Orchestration
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Standalone local administration: Embedded HTTPS WebUI, IOS‑XE CLI via SSH v2, serial console
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Centralized multi-controller policy deployment, monitoring and reporting via Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center) or Cisco Prime Infrastructure
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Open standard APIs: NETCONF, YANG, RESTCONF for zero-touch automation and wireless lifecycle management
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Cisco Smart Licensing / Smart Licensing Using Policy (SLP) for flexible capacity management
5. Typical Deployment Scenarios
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Large enterprise campus core wireless security gateway supporting up to 2000 APs
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Multi-building university and K‑12 district large-scale unified wireless consolidation projects
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Premium regional retail headquarters wireless infrastructure with PCI DSS wireless POS compliance requirements
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High-density hybrid campus + FlexConnect multi-branch combined wireless architecture
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Mid-tier MSSP hosted multi-tenant wireless environments with isolated policy domains
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Legacy CUWN migration replacing older AireOS 5508 / 8510 controllers with modern IOS‑XE Wi‑Fi 6-ready DNA platform
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Lab, staging and pre-production environments for SD‑Access, zero-trust and high-density wireless testing
6. Short Sales Listing Tagline
Cisco C9800-40-K9 1U Rackmount Mid-High Density Catalyst IOS-XE Intent-Based Wireless LAN Controller, Supports Max 2000 Lightweight Aironet/Catalyst APs & 32,000 Concurrent Wireless Clients, 4×10G SFP+ Uplink Ports, 40Gbps Non-Blocking System Throughput, Optional Dual Redundant PSU, DNA-Ready, Supports Wi‑Fi 6/6E, CleanAir RF, FlexConnect, NBAR2 AVC, aWIPS & ETA Encrypted Traffic Analytics, Full AP+Client SSO Stateful HA, ISSU Non-Disruptive Upgrades, Smart Licensing, Managed via Local WebUI, IOS-XE CLI or Catalyst Center, Modern Enterprise Wireless Controller for Large Campuses & Regional Headquarters Deployments
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