Full English Description for Cisco C9300LM-48T-4X-E
Important SKU Note
C9300LM is channel shorthand for Meraki cloud-managed Catalyst 9300 Lite hardware; the official formal Cisco part number is C9300L-48T-4X-M. The suffix -E indicates compatibility with Meraki Enterprise tier cloud subscription licenses, not traditional IOS XE Network Essentials perpetual licenses.
1. Part Number Naming Breakdown
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C9300LM: Catalyst 9300 Lite Meraki cloud-native stackable fixed-uplink Layer 3 enterprise access switch, powered by UADP 2.0 ASIC and fully orchestrated via Meraki Dashboard cloud control planeCisco Meraki
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48T: 48 × 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit RJ45 data-only downlink ports, no PoE power delivery capability
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4X: 4 integrated fixed dual-rate SFP+ uplink slots, auto-negotiate 1G SFP and 10G SFP+ transceivers for high-speed 10G fiber aggregation
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E: Hardware qualified for Meraki Enterprise renewable term subscription license (base feature set). All C9300LM switches require time-based Meraki Catalyst cloud subscriptions instead of permanent IOS XE perpetual licensesCisco Meraki
2. Short Sales One-Liner (For BOM, Quotation & Datasheet Header)
Cisco Catalyst C9300LM-48T-4X-E, 1RU stackable Meraki cloud-managed Layer3 high-density non-PoE Gigabit access switch, 48-port data-only 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 downlinks with zero PoE power budget, 4 fixed dual-rate 1G/10G SFP+ fiber uplink interfaces, Meraki Enterprise subscription eligible, StackWise-320 stacking support, factory pre-installed 350W AC power supply, single-pane Meraki Dashboard cloud management for multi-site large office, classroom and branch wired workstation deployments with PCs, printers and servers requiring high-bandwidth 10G fiber aggregation uplinks.
3. Complete Product Overview Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300LM-48T-4X-E is a high-density data-only fixed-uplink stackable Layer 3 edge switch within the Catalyst 9300LM Meraki cloud-managed portfolio, engineered for large corporate open offices, K-12 education desktop fleets, medium branch server closets and dense workstation deployments without PoE-powered endpointsCisco Meraki. Equipped with 48 non-PoE Gigabit copper RJ45 downlink ports and four dedicated dual-speed SFP+ uplink ports supporting native 10Gbps aggregation bandwidth, this chassis shares identical wire-speed forwarding hardware performance with on-prem IOS XE C9300L-48T-4X-E switches, yet all configuration, batch firmware upgrades, real-time traffic monitoring, fault alerting and baseline security policy management are fully centralized exclusively via the Meraki cloud dashboard rather than local CLI or Cisco DNA Center. It supports StackWise-320 stacking technology to aggregate up to 8 identical C9300LM switches into a single unified logical stack with 320Gbps dedicated hardware stacking bandwidth, features dual hot-swappable 350W AC power supply slots for power redundancy, and delivers native cross-platform policy synchronization alongside Meraki MR wireless access points and MX security gateways in one centralized cloud console. Meraki zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), remote cable diagnostics and cross-site network topology visualization are native core functions for all C9300LM cloud-managed hardware; premium capabilities such as unlimited OSPF routes, Adaptive Policy zero-trust segmentation and Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) are locked to the higher Meraki Advanced subscription tier.
4. Detailed Hardware Interface Specifications
Downlink Copper Ports (48×Data-only Gigabit RJ45)
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48 × 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet ports, pure data transmission design with zero PoE power output
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Auto speed negotiation, auto-MDI/MDI-X, integrated built-in cable diagnostic tools for remote line testing
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Hardware supports 128-bit AES MACsec link encryption; full 256-bit AES MACsec encryption unlocked only under Meraki Advanced subscription license
Fixed Uplink Interfaces
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4 dedicated onboard dual-rate SFP+ slots compatible with 1G SFP and 10G SFP+ transceivers (SX, LX, ZX, LR, copper SFP-T and SFP+-T DAC modules supported)
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Auto-sense 1G or 10G uplink speeds; no modular uplink card expansion slots available
Stacking Interfaces
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Dual rear dedicated StackWise-320 stacking ports with total 320Gbps stacking bandwidth; compatible with C9300L-STAK-KIT2-M stacking cable kits, supports mixed stacking with other C9300LM models only if all stack members carry matching Meraki Enterprise license tiers
Management & Auxiliary Ports
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USB Type-A storage port for offline firmware upload, local configuration backup and system log export
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Dual console access: USB Type-C console port + Mini-USB B console port for emergency local CLI access when cloud connectivity is lost
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UID beacon LED push-button for fast physical device identification inside dense rack cabinets
Power & Physical Form Factor
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Form Factor: 1RU standard 19-inch rack-mount chassis, dimensions 4.4 × 44.5 × 44.9 cm
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Dual hot-swappable redundant AC power supply slots; factory pre-shipped with single 350W AC PSU (PWR-C1-350WAC-P-M)
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No PoE power budget applicable, all downlink ports are data-only without power supply capability
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Thermal design: 3 field-replaceable redundant variable-speed fan trays; overheat fault notifications are pushed automatically to the Meraki cloud dashboard
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Environmental compliance: Operating temperature -5°C ~ 45°C, ENERGY STAR certified
5. Core Hardware Performance Benchmarks
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Standalone Switching Capacity: 176 Gbps
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Standalone Forwarding Rate: 130.95 Mpps
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StackWise-320 maximum stacked backplane bandwidth: 592 Gbps (stack of up to 8 C9300LM units)
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MAC Address Table Size: 32,000 MAC forwarding entries
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Shared Packet Buffer Memory: 16MB
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Onboard Memory: 8GB DRAM, 16GB Flash storage
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VLAN Support: Up to 4,094 802.1Q tagged VLANs; maximum 1,000 active STP VLANs & SVIs
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QoS Hardware Queues: 8 priority hardware queues per port, full DSCP & 802.1p CoS traffic marking and scheduling
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Jumbo Frame Support: Up to 9198-byte jumbo frames
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ACL Capacity: 5,120 ingress/egress ACL entries
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IPFIX Flow Telemetry: Sampled flow data only under Meraki Enterprise license; full unsampled IPFIX enabled with Advanced license
6. Layer 2 Standard Feature Suite (Meraki Cloud Configured)
IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, IEEE 802.3ad LACP EtherChannel (max 8 ports per bundle), full spanning tree toolkit including PVST+, RPVST+, MSTP with BPDU guard, root guard, loop guard and UDLD; LLDP/CDP unified device inventory auto-synced to Meraki dashboard, port security with sticky MAC address allowlists, broadcast/multicast storm suppression, IGMP Snooping v1/v2/v3, SPAN/RSPAN remote packet capture triggered via cloud portal, private VLANs, voice VLAN auto-detection and traffic prioritization, hardware 128-bit MACsec link encryption.
7. Meraki Cloud Native Layer 3, Security & Orchestration Features (Enterprise Tier Restrictions)
Supported Routing Capabilities (Enterprise License Limits)
Static IPv4/IPv6 routing, RIP, OSPFv2/v3 capped at maximum 1,000 learned routes, VRRP gateway redundancy, wire-speed inter-VLAN routing, PIM sparse-mode stub multicast routing. Unlimited OSPF route scale requires Meraki Advanced subscription.
Cloud-Managed Baseline Enterprise Security
IEEE 802.1X multi-domain/multi-host authentication, MAB MAC bypass authentication, DHCP snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard, CoPP control-plane policing, hardware Secure Boot & Trust Anchor Module, granular RBAC multi-admin dashboard permissions, TLS/SSH encrypted communication tunnel between switch and Meraki cloud. End-to-end Adaptive Policy group-based traffic segmentation is disabled on Enterprise tier.
Meraki Cloud Automation & Basic Visibility
Zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) out-of-box automatic registration to Meraki organization, global bulk firmware scheduling and staged upgrade deployment, live remote cable testing without on-site IT technicians, real-time cross-site network topology mapping, unified wired/wireless policy synchronization with Meraki MR APs and MX security gateways, cloud-hosted centralized event logging, sampled IPFIX traffic analytics, cross-device fault alerting via email/SMS notifications, on-demand remote packet capture for offline troubleshooting.
Critical Features Locked to Meraki Advanced License (Unavailable on -E Enterprise Tier)
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Unlimited OSPF dynamic routing table capacity
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Adaptive Policy zero-trust end-to-end traffic segmentation with SGT taggingCisco Meraki
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Full unsampled IPFIX flow telemetry and Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA)Cisco
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Complete cross-domain wired-wireless fabric policy orchestration
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256-bit AES MACsec link encryption support
8. Meraki Subscription License Tier Differentiation
All C9300LM series switches require renewable term-based Meraki Catalyst subscription licenses (1/3/5/7/10-year terms), split into two functional tiers:
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Enterprise License (Base Tier / -E Eligible Hardware)
Full Layer 2 switching suite, limited OSPF route scale (max 1,000 routes), standard edge security controls, cloud monitoring and ZTP automation; Adaptive Policy segmentation, full unsampled IPFIX and ETA are disabled.
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Advanced License (Full Feature Tier / -A Eligible Hardware)
Unlimited dynamic routing table capacity, Adaptive Policy zero-trust end-to-end traffic segmentation with SGT tagging, full unsampled IPFIX flow telemetry, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), complete cross-domain wired-wireless fabric policy orchestration and 256-bit AES MACsec encryption support.
Key difference versus on-prem C9300L (-E/-A IOS XE switches: C9300LM relies on time-limited cloud subscription licensing, while standard C9300L uses permanent perpetual IOS XE licenses without mandatory cloud connectivity. All stack members must deploy matching Meraki license tiers to guarantee full stacking interoperability and consistent network policy operation.
9. Datasheet Short Summary Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300LM-48T-4X-E is a Meraki cloud-native stackable Layer 3 high-density non-PoE Gigabit access switch equipped with 48 data-only Gigabit downlinks and four dual-rate SFP+ 1G/10G fixed uplink ports, compatible with Meraki Enterprise tier cloud subscriptions. Powered by Meraki Dashboard single-pane centralized orchestration and supported by StackWise-320 high-speed stacking plus redundant 350W AC power supplies with no PoE power requirement, it delivers complete Layer 2 switching, limited-scale Layer 3 dynamic routing, baseline cloud security and basic unified wired-wireless cross-site management. This model targets distributed multi-branch enterprises, large office environments and education networks prioritizing zero-touch remote cloud administration over traditional on-prem CLI or Cisco DNA Center deployment workflows, for high-density workstation-only edge networks without PoE-powered endpoints and requiring economical high-performance 10G fiber aggregation uplinks.
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