Full English Description for Cisco C9300X-24S-E
1. Part Number Naming Breakdown
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C9300X: High-performance stackable Layer 3 all-fiber enterprise aggregation switch platform powered by crypto-optimized UADP 2.0sec ASIC, supporting StackWise-1T 1 Terabit stacking bandwidth, StackPower power redundancy and one hot-swappable C9300X-NM modular uplink slot with hardware 100G IPsec accelerationCisco.
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24S: 24 fixed 1G SFP fiber downlink slots, no copper RJ45 ports and zero PoE hardware circuit. Compatible with standard 1000BASE-SX/LX/ZX SFP transceivers for inter-building fiber trunking, FTTX termination and industrial long-distance campus aggregation.
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E: Perpetual Network Essentials IOS XE on-prem license tier. Only unlocks base Layer 2 switching and limited Layer 3 routing; premium enterprise functions including full BGP/EIGRP, TrustSec zero-trust segmentation, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), full unsampled streaming telemetry and 256-bit MACsec are locked and exclusive to Network Advantage (-A) license.
2. Short Sales One-Liner (For BOM, Quotation & Datasheet Header)
Cisco Catalyst C9300X-24S-E, 1RU rack-mount stackable Layer3 1G SFP all-fiber aggregation switch, 24-port 1G SFP fiber downlinks with one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, pre-installed permanent Network Essentials IOS XE license, StackWise-1T 1Tbps stacking and StackPower redundancy supported, factory-shipped single 715W AC non-PoE power supply, managed via local CLI and basic Cisco Catalyst Center for cost-sensitive fiber campus aggregation, inter-building fiber connection and FTTX deployments with restricted advanced routing and security requirements.
3. Complete Product Overview Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300X-24S-E is a fixed-form-factor all-fiber stackable Layer 3 enterprise aggregation switch within the Catalyst 9300X series, optimized for budget-focused fiber-dominant campus, industrial and smart city networks that rely purely on 1G fiber links for building interconnection, FTTX access termination and long-distance equipment aggregation. Equipped with 24 dedicated 1G SFP fiber downlink slots without any copper RJ45 or PoE capability, the chassis integrates one hot-swappable C9300X-NM modular uplink slot to deploy 10G/25G/40G/100G optical uplink modules for flexible bandwidth scaling to core switches. Powered by UADP 2.0sec crypto ASIC with hardware crypto acceleration, this model runs native IOS XE with permanent Network Essentials license, delivering fundamental Layer 2 switching and constrained Layer 3 routing functions while disabling full premium feature sets reserved for Network Advantage licensed hardware variants. It leverages StackWise-1T hardware stacking to combine up to 8 identical C9300X switches into a unified logical switching fabric with 1 Tbps aggregate stacking bandwidth, delivering sub-50ms fast stack failover convergence for enterprise-class reliability. Native StackPower technology dynamically aggregates power supplies across the 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 limited on-premises management via console CLI, SNMPv3 or basic Cisco Catalyst Center integration instead of Meraki cloud dashboard, with basic zero-touch provisioning and sampled traffic monitoring built for mid-size all-fiber hybrid campus infrastructures without demand for advanced zero-trust security, full streaming analytics or SD-Access fabric orchestration.
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, zero PoE power output.
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No UPOE/PoE circuit design; full power budget allocated to switching fabric, fans 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 stackCisco.
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)Cisco.
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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, limited SVI quantity under Network Essentials 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: Only sampled flow export supported under Network Essentials license; full unsampled streaming telemetry exclusive to Network Advantage (-A)
6. Layer 2 Standard Feature Suite (Fully Supported under Network Essentials -E)
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 local and remote traffic mirroring, private VLAN edge mode, voice VLAN auto-detection and traffic prioritization, hardware 128-bit AES MACsec link encryption (256-bit MACsec restricted to -A license).
7. Layer 3, Security & Automation Features (Network Essentials -E Limitations)
Supported Restricted Layer 3 Routing
Static IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack routing, RIP v1/v2, OSPFv2/v3 capped at maximum 1,000 learned routing entries, EIGRP Stub mode only, VRRPv2/v3 gateway redundancy, basic PIM sparse-mode multicast routing.
Advanced Routing Locked to Network Advantage (-A)
Full EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, VXLAN, policy-based routing (PBR), unlimited OSPF route scale, end-to-end SD-Access fabric integration
Baseline Enterprise Security
IEEE 802.1X single-factor port authentication, MAB MAC bypass authentication, DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard, CoPP control-plane policing, hardware 128-bit MACsec only, basic ACL logging and threat filtering.
Restricted Automation & Visibility
Basic zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), limited NETCONF/YANG/RESTCONF programmability, sampled IPFIX flow export, partial Cisco Catalyst Center monitoring integration, granular RBAC multi-admin access control, centralized syslog and SNMPv3 logging.
Premium Features Unavailable on Network Essentials (-E)
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Unlimited OSPF dynamic routing table capacity
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TrustSec Adaptive Policy zero-trust segmentation with SGT tagging
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Full unsampled IPFIX streaming telemetry and Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA)
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Complete SD-Access wired fabric orchestration
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256-bit AES MACsec link encryption full support
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Embedded Catalyst 9800 wireless controller functionality
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IEEE 1588v2 PTP precise clock synchronization for industrial/video deployments
8. IOS XE License Tier Differentiation for C9300X On-Prem Switches
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Network Essentials (-E, Base Tier, This Model)
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)
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-E 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 Essentials 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, constrained limited-scale Layer 3 dynamic routing and baseline on-prem security & sampled traffic monitoring capabilities. This model targets cost-conscious small campus all-fiber aggregation, inter-building fiber interconnection and FTTX access termination deployments that rely solely on 1G fiber transceivers, require no PoE output, and use local CLI or limited Cisco Catalyst Center management without premium enterprise features such as unlimited routing tables, zero-trust micro-segmentation and full streaming traffic analytics.
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