Full English Description for Cisco C9300X-48S-A
1. Part Number Naming Breakdown
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C9300X: High-performance stackable Layer 3 fiber access switch hardware platform built on crypto-accelerated UADP 2.0sec ASIC, supporting StackWise-1T 1 Terabit stacking bandwidth, dual hot-swappable power supplies, StackPower cross-stack power pooling and one hot-swappable C9300X-NM modular uplink slot with hardware line-rate 100G IPsec encryption accelerationCisco.
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48S: 48 fixed downlink SFP slots supporting 1G/10G multi-rate fiber transceivers (1000BASE-SX/LX/EX/ZX, 10GBASE-SR/LR/ER/ZR). No PoE capability, designed for all-fiber campus, building interconnection and industrial optical access deployments without copper cabling requirements. Equipped with a default 715W AC platinum-efficiency power supply, zero PoE power budget as fiber SFP ports do not support Power over Ethernet. Optimized for long-distance fiber links between buildings, remote factory sites, campus aggregation and fiber-to-desk workstation deployments.
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S = SFP fiber downlink port series (all optical, no RJ45 copper, no PoE).
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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-48S-A, 1RU rack-mount stackable Layer3 all-fiber enterprise access switch, 48×1G/10G multi-rate SFP downlink fiber slots with one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, pre-installed permanent Network Advantage IOS XE license, StackWise-1T 1Tbps stacking supported, factory-shipped single 715W AC power supply, managed via local CLI and full Cisco Catalyst Center for campus inter-building fiber, industrial optical and fiber-to-desk deployments requiring unrestricted advanced Layer 3 routing, security and analytics capabilities.
3. Complete Product Overview Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300X-48S-A is a fixed-form-factor dense all-fiber stackable Layer 3 enterprise access switch within the Catalyst 9300X series, purpose-built for all-optical campus, industrial and multi-building network deployments that require 48 independent fiber downlink connections without copper RJ45 ports or PoE power delivery. Equipped with 48 universal SFP slots supporting hot-pluggable 1G and 10G fiber transceivers for short/long-distance optical transmission, 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 aggregation and core switching layersCisco. 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 shared power pooling and power redundancy 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 hybrid enterprise all-fiber access infrastructures.
4. Detailed Hardware Interface Specifications
Downlink Fiber Ports (48 × Multi-Rate SFP Slots)
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48 universal hot-swappable SFP slots auto-support 1000BASE (1G) and 10GBASE transceivers.
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Compatible 1G optics: SX, LX, EX, ZX, LH; Compatible 10G optics: SR, LR, ER, ZR.
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No PoE power output on all ports, purely fiber data transmission without power delivery to endpoints.
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Default 715W AC platinum-efficiency PSU, zero PoE wattage budget (fiber-only design).
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 2.0 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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Front-panel LED status indicators for each SFP fiber port link/activity, power supply health, fan status, stack membership 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 × 445 × 520 mm.
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Dual hot-swappable redundant AC power supply slots; factory pre-installed with single 715W AC platinum PSU (energy efficiency >90%).
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StackPower cross-stack power sharing supported to aggregate wattage across stacked units for power redundancy.
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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 1G/10G fiber Ethernet industry standards.
5. Core Hardware Performance Benchmarks
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Standalone Switching Capacity: 2000 Gbps (2 Tbps)
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Standalone Forwarding Rate: 1488 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 long-distance fiber campus interconnection and industrial optical data 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.
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System Memory: 16GB DRAM, 16GB onboard flash storage, optional USB 3.0 SSD container hosting support for containerized applications.
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 SFP-based workstations, industrial optical equipment and remote building switches, 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 secure fiber uplink trunk transport.
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, line-rate 100G IPsec tunnels, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), advanced ACL logging and threat filtering, IEEE 1588v2 PTP precise clock synchronization for industrial optical surveillance and factory IoT 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 branch overlay 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 physical 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-48S-A is a 1RU stackable Layer 3 all-fiber enterprise access switch equipped with 48 universal 1G/10G multi-rate 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 and dual 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 campus inter-building, industrial optical and fiber-to-desk wired access deployments requiring long-distance optical transmission without copper PoE ports, 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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