Full English Description for Cisco C9300X-48T-E

1. Part Number Naming Breakdown

Model: C9300X-48T-E

• C9300X: High-performance stackable Layer 3 enterprise access switch platform built on crypto-optimized UADP 2.0sec ASIC, supporting StackWise-1T 1 Terabit stacking bandwidth, dual hot-swappable power supplies and one hot-swappable C9300X-NM modular uplink slot with hardware line-rate 100G IPsec encryption acceleration.
• 48T: 48 fixed 1GBASE-T copper RJ45 downlink ports (data-only, no PoE capability). Each port auto-negotiates 10/100/1000Mbps, suitable for wired PCs, printers, servers and low-bandwidth wired IoT terminals.
• E: Perpetual Network Essentials IOS XE on-prem license tier. Only unlocks basic Layer 2 switching and limited Layer 3 routing functions; premium enterprise features including full BGP/EIGRP routing suite, TrustSec zero-trust segmentation, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), full unsampled streaming telemetry and 256-bit AES MACsec are locked and only available with Network Advantage (-A) license.

2. Short Sales One-Liner (For BOM, Quotation & Datasheet Header)

Cisco Catalyst C9300X-48T-E, 1RU rack-mount stackable Layer3 48-port 1G non-PoE copper enterprise access switch, 48-port 10/100/1000BASE-T data-only RJ45 downlinks with one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, pre-installed permanent Network Essentials IOS XE license, StackWise-1T 1Tbps stacking supported, factory-shipped single 350W AC non-PoE power supply, managed via local CLI and basic Cisco Catalyst Center for cost-effective office wired PC, server and IoT access deployments with limited advanced routing and security requirements.

3. Complete Product Overview Paragraph

The Cisco Catalyst C9300X-48T-E is a fixed-form-factor dense 48-port 1G copper stackable Layer 3 enterprise access switch within the Catalyst 9300X series, designed for budget-oriented standard office wired access, server rack termination and low-power wired IoT deployments that only require basic 1G copper connectivity without PoE power supply to endpoints. Equipped with 48 non-PoE 1G RJ45 downlink ports, 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 aggregation and core layers. Powered by UADP 2.0sec crypto ASIC with hardware crypto acceleration, this model runs native IOS XE with permanent Network Essentials license, providing fundamental Layer 2 switching and restricted Layer 3 routing functions while disabling all premium feature sets exclusive to Network Advantage licensed switches. It supports StackWise-1T hardware stacking to combine up to 8 identical C9300X switches into a unified logical switching fabric with 1 Tbps aggregate stacking bandwidth, achieving sub-50ms fast stack failover convergence for enterprise-class network reliability. Dual hot-swappable AC power supply slots and field-replaceable variable-speed fan trays eliminate single points of hardware failure. The switch only supports limited on-premises management via console CLI, SNMPv3 or basic Cisco Catalyst Center integration (Meraki cloud management is not available for this model). It comes with basic zero-touch provisioning and sampled traffic monitoring, built for mid-size hybrid campus wired access environments without demand for advanced zero-trust security, full streaming analytics or SD-Access fabric orchestration.

4. Detailed Hardware Interface Specifications

Downlink Copper Ports (48 × 1G Non-PoE RJ45)

• 48 RJ45 10/100/1000BASE-T ports, purely data transmission without PoE power circuits, unable to supply power to IP phones, wireless APs or PoE surveillance cameras.
• Compatible with Cat5e / Cat6 cabling for regular 1G wired terminal connections.

Modular Uplink Expansion Slot

• 1 dedicated hot-swappable C9300X-NM network module slot, compatible with optional high-speed uplink modules:
  • C9300X-NM-8Y: 8 × SFP28 (10G / 25G)
  • C9300X-NM-4C: 4 × QSFP+ (40G)
  • C9300X-NM-2C: 2 × QSFP28 (100G)

Stacking Interfaces

• 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

• USB 2.0 Type-A storage port for offline firmware upgrades and configuration backup.
• Mini-USB Type-B console port for local out-of-band CLI access.
• Independent 1G RJ45 out-of-band management port (data-only, no PoE).
• LED status indicators for each RJ45 port link/activity, power supply health, fan status, stack status and system fault alarms.

Power & Physical Form Factor

• Form Factor: 1RU standard 19-inch rack-mount chassis, dimensions 4.4 × 445 × 445 mm.
• Dual hot-swappable redundant AC power supply slots; factory pre-shipped with single 350W AC non-PoE PSU.
• Zero PoE power budget; full 350W power capacity dedicated to switching fabric, cooling fans and modular uplink module operation.
• Thermal system: 3 field-replaceable redundant variable-speed fan trays with front-to-back airflow.
• Environmental compliance: Operating temperature range -5°C ~ 45°C, ENERGY STAR certified, fully compliant with IEEE 802.3 Ethernet copper standards.

5. Core Hardware Performance Benchmarks

• Standalone Switching Capacity: 880 Gbps
• Standalone Forwarding Rate: 654.72 Mpps
• MAC Address Table Size: 32,000 MAC forwarding entries
• VLAN Support: Up to 4,094 IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLANs, limited quantity of SVIs under Network Essentials license
• QoS Hardware Queues: 8 priority hardware queues per physical port, full DSCP & 802.1p marking and hierarchical traffic scheduling optimized for office data and IoT traffic.
• Jumbo Frame Support: Up to 9198-byte jumbo frame transmission.
• Hardware ACL Capacity: 5,120 ingress/egress access control list entries.
• IPFIX Flow Telemetry: Only sampled flow export is supported under Network Essentials license; full unsampled streaming telemetry is 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 wired PCs, servers and IoT terminals, 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 function locked for -E 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)

1. Unlimited OSPF dynamic routing table capacity
2. TrustSec Adaptive Policy zero-trust segmentation with SGT tagging
3. Full unsampled IPFIX streaming telemetry and Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA)
4. Complete SD-Access wired fabric orchestration
5. Full 256-bit AES MACsec link encryption functionality
6. Embedded Catalyst 9800 wireless controller functionality
7. IEEE 1588v2 PTP precise clock synchronization for industrial IoT deployments

8. IOS XE License Tier Differentiation for C9300X On-Prem Switches

1. 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.
2. 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 adopt 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-48T-E is a 1RU stackable Layer 3 48-port 1G non-PoE copper enterprise access switch equipped with 48 dedicated 10/100/1000BASE-T data-only RJ45 downlink ports and one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, preloaded with permanent Network Essentials IOS XE license. Equipped with StackWise-1T 1Tbps high-bandwidth stacking, dual redundant AC power and 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-sensitive small and medium office wired PC, server room termination and low-power IoT wired access deployments that require no PoE power 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.