Full English Description for Cisco C9300X-24S-A
1. Part Number Naming Breakdown
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C9300X: High-performance stackable Layer 3 enterprise fiber aggregation switch platform built on crypto-optimized UADP 2.0sec ASIC, supporting StackWise-1T 1 Terabit stacking bandwidth, StackPower power pooling and one hot-swappable C9300X-NM modular uplink slot with line-rate 100G hardware IPsec encryption acceleration.
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24S: 24 fixed 1G SFP fiber downlink slots (no RJ45 copper ports, no PoE capability). Compatible with all standard 1G SFP transceivers for single-mode/multi-mode fiber long-distance campus aggregation, FTTX and building interconnection deployments.
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A: Perpetual Network Advantage IOS XE on-prem license tier. Fully unlocks complete premium enterprise feature stack including unrestricted advanced routing, TrustSec zero-trust micro-segmentation, 256-bit AES MACsec, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), full unsampled streaming telemetry and end-to-end SD‑Access fabric orchestration.
2. Short Sales One-Liner (For BOM, Quotation & Datasheet Header)
Cisco Catalyst C9300X-24S-A, 1RU rack-mount stackable Layer3 1G SFP fiber aggregation switch, 24-port 1G SFP fiber downlinks with one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, pre-installed permanent Network Advantage IOS XE license, StackWise-1T 1Tbps stacking and StackPower power pooling supported, factory-shipped single 715W AC non-PoE power supply, managed via local CLI and full Cisco Catalyst Center for fiber-centric campus aggregation, building interconnection and FTTX deployments requiring unrestricted advanced Layer 3 routing, security and analytics capabilities.
3. Complete Product Overview Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300X-24S-A is a fixed-form-factor all-fiber stackable Layer 3 enterprise aggregation switch within the Catalyst 9300X series, purpose-built for fiber-dominant campus, industrial and smart city deployments that rely entirely on 1G fiber links for inter-building aggregation, FTTX access node termination and long-distance equipment interconnection. Equipped with 24 dedicated 1G SFP fiber downlink slots (zero copper RJ45 ports and no PoE output), the chassis integrates one dedicated hot-swappable C9300X-NM modular uplink slot to flexibly deploy 10G/25G/40G/100G high-speed optical uplink modules for elastic bandwidth scaling to core switches. Powered by UADP 2.0sec crypto ASIC with hardware acceleration for line-rate 100G IPsec tunnels, this model runs full native IOS XE 17.x software with permanent Network Advantage license, enabling the full suite of enterprise routing, security, automation and telemetry functions locked on Network Essentials (-E) hardware variants. It leverages StackWise-1T hardware stacking to combine up to 8 identical C9300X switches into a single unified logical switching fabric with 1 Tbps aggregate stacking bandwidth, delivering sub-50ms fast stack failover convergence for carrier-class network reliability. Native StackPower technology dynamically aggregates power supplies across the entire stack for power redundancy and load balancing during hardware failure events. Dual hot-swappable AC power supply slots and field-replaceable variable-speed fan trays eliminate single points of hardware failure. The switch supports full on-premises management via console CLI, SNMPv3 or complete Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center) SD-Access integration, with native zero-touch provisioning, full unsampled streaming telemetry and end-to-end TrustSec zero-trust segmentation designed for large all-fiber hybrid campus and industrial network infrastructures with no PoE endpoint loads.
4. Detailed Hardware Interface Specifications
Downlink Fiber Ports (24 × 1G SFP Slots)
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24 hot-pluggable SFP slots supporting 1000BASE-SX, LX, ZX, EX single/multi-mode fiber transceivers; no copper RJ45 interfaces and zero PoE power output.
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No UPOE/PoE hardware circuit, all power budget allocated to switch forwarding and uplink modules only.
Modular Uplink Expansion Slot
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1 dedicated hot-swappable C9300X-NM network module slot, compatible with optional high-speed uplink modules:
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C9300X-NM-8Y: 8 × SFP28 (10G / 25G)
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C9300X-NM-4C: 4 × QSFP+ (40G)
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C9300X-NM-2C: 2 × QSFP28 (100G)
Stacking Interfaces
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Dual rear dedicated StackWise-1T stacking ports, total 1 Tbps aggregate stacking bandwidth per stack group; supports ring topology with sub-50ms stack failover convergence, maximum 8 switches per stack.
Management & Auxiliary Ports
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USB Type-A storage port for offline firmware upgrades and configuration backup.
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Mini-USB Type-B console port for local out-of-band CLI access.
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Independent 1G RJ45 out-of-band management port (data-only, no PoE).
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LED status indicators for each SFP slot link/activity, power supply health, fan status, stack status and system fault alarms.
Power & Physical Form Factor
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Form Factor: 1RU standard 19-inch rack-mount chassis, dimensions 4.4 × 44.5 × 52.4 cm.
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Dual hot-swappable redundant AC power supply slots; factory pre-shipped with single 715W AC non-PoE PSU (PWR-C1-715WAC-P).
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Zero PoE power budget; full 715W capacity dedicated to switching fabric, fans and uplink module operation.
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Thermal system: 3 field-replaceable redundant variable-speed fan trays with front-to-back airflow.
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Environmental compliance: Operating temperature range -5°C ~ 45°C, ENERGY STAR certified, fully compliant with IEEE 802.3 Ethernet fiber standards and SFP MSA transceiver specifications.
5. Core Hardware Performance Benchmarks
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Standalone Switching Capacity: 880 Gbps
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Standalone Forwarding Rate: 654.72 Mpps
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MAC Address Table Size: 32,000 MAC forwarding entries
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VLAN Support: Up to 4,094 IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLANs, unlimited SVIs with Network Advantage license.
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QoS Hardware Queues: 8 priority hardware queues per physical port, full DSCP & 802.1p marking and hierarchical traffic scheduling optimized for fiber aggregation and long-haul transport traffic.
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Jumbo Frame Support: Up to 9198-byte jumbo frame transmission.
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Hardware ACL Capacity: 5,120 ingress/egress access control list entries.
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IPFIX Flow Telemetry: Full unsampled streaming flow export supported natively under Network Advantage license.
6. Layer 2 Standard Feature Suite (Supported under Network Advantage -A)
IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, IEEE 802.3ad LACP EtherChannel (max 8 ports per bundle), complete spanning tree toolkit including PVST+, RPVST+, MSTP with BPDU guard, root guard and loop guard; LLDP/LLDP-MED unified endpoint discovery optimized for fiber transceivers and remote network nodes, port security with sticky MAC address learning, broadcast/multicast storm suppression, IGMP Snooping v1/v2/v3, SPAN/RSPAN/ERSPAN local and remote traffic mirroring, private VLANs, voice VLAN auto-detection and traffic prioritization, hardware 128-bit & 256-bit AES MACsec link encryption for fiber trunk security.
7. Layer 3, Security & Automation Features (Full Network Advantage -A Capabilities)
Full Unrestricted Layer 3 Dynamic Routing
Static IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack routing, RIP v1/v2, OSPFv2/v3 with unlimited route entries, full EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, VXLAN, policy-based routing (PBR), VRRPv2/v3 gateway redundancy, full PIM sparse-dense mode multicast routing, complete SD‑Access fabric VRF support for end-to-end virtualized campus networks.
Advanced Zero-Trust Enterprise Security
IEEE 802.1X multi-domain multi-factor port authentication, MAB MAC bypass authentication, DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard, CoPP control-plane policing, hardware TrustSec SGT Adaptive Policy micro-segmentation, hardware 256-bit MACsec link encryption for fiber trunks, line-rate 100G IPsec tunnels, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), advanced ACL logging and threat filtering, IEEE 1588v2 PTP precise clock synchronization for industrial and video transport deployments.
Complete Automation & Full Streaming Telemetry
Zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), full NETCONF/YANG/RESTCONF programmability, Python EEM scripting, full unsampled IPFIX streaming telemetry, full Cisco Catalyst Center SD‑Access fabric integration, scheduled automatic firmware upgrades, granular RBAC multi-admin access control, centralized syslog and SNMPv3 monitoring, on-box container application hosting with optional USB SSD extended storage support, embedded Catalyst 9800 wireless controller capability for distributed fiber-fed branch wireless deployments.
8. IOS XE License Tier Differentiation for C9300X On-Prem Switches
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Network Essentials (-E, Base Tier)
Full Layer 2 switching suite, limited OSPF route scale (max 1,000 entries), baseline port security, only sampled flow telemetry and basic ZTP automation. Advanced routing, TrustSec segmentation, ETA, ERSPAN and 256-bit MACsec are permanently disabled.
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Network Advantage (-A, Full Premium Tier, This Model)
Unlimited dynamic routing table capacity, TrustSec Adaptive Policy zero-trust traffic segmentation with SGT tagging, full unsampled IPFIX flow telemetry, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), complete SD‑Access wired fabric orchestration and native 256-bit AES MACsec link encryption support.
Key difference versus Meraki cloud-managed C9300X-M variants: C9300X-A/-E run native on-prem IOS XE with permanent perpetual licenses, while C9300X-M Meraki switches require renewable term-based cloud subscriptions and exclusive Meraki Dashboard cloud management. All switches within the same stack must deploy matching license tiers to guarantee full stacking interoperability and consistent end-to-end security policy enforcement.
9. Datasheet Short Summary Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300X-24S-A is a 1RU stackable Layer 3 all-fiber 1G SFP aggregation enterprise switch equipped with 24 dedicated 1G SFP fiber downlink slots and one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, preloaded with permanent Network Advantage IOS XE license. Equipped with StackWise-1T 1Tbps high-bandwidth stacking, StackPower power redundancy and redundant AC power/fan resiliency, it delivers complete Layer 2 switching, unlimited full-suite Layer 3 dynamic routing, advanced zero-trust TrustSec segmentation, full streaming telemetry and end-to-end SD‑Access fabric integration. This model targets all-fiber enterprise campus aggregation, inter-building fiber interconnection, FTTX access termination and industrial long-distance network deployments that rely solely on 1G fiber transceivers, require no PoE output, and demand local CLI or full Cisco Catalyst Center on-prem management with unrestricted premium enterprise routing, security and analytics feature sets.
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