Full English Description for Cisco C9300X-48S-E
1. Part Number Naming Breakdown
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C9300X: High-performance stackable Layer 3 all-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 acceleration.
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48S: 48 fixed universal SFP downlink slots supporting multi-rate 1G/10G fiber transceivers (1000BASE-SX/LX/EX/ZX, 10GBASE-SR/LR/ER/ZR). No PoE capability, purely optical fiber transmission without copper RJ45 ports. Equipped with a default 715W AC platinum-efficiency power supply, zero PoE power budget as SFP fiber ports cannot deliver Power over Ethernet. Optimized for all-fiber campus inter-building links, industrial optical access and fiber-to-desk workstation deployments with long-distance optical transmission requirements.
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S = SFP fiber downlink port series (all optical, no copper, no PoE).
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E: Perpetual Network Essentials IOS XE on-prem license tier. Only unlocks basic Layer 2 switching and limited Layer 3 routing functions; premium enterprise capabilities including full BGP/EIGRP/IS-IS routing suite, TrustSec zero-trust segmentation, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), full unsampled streaming telemetry, 256-bit AES MACsec and SD-Access fabric orchestration are permanently locked and exclusive to Network Advantage (-A) license tierCisco.
2. Short Sales One-Liner (For BOM, Quotation & Datasheet Header)
Cisco Catalyst C9300X-48S-E, 1RU rack-mount stackable Layer3 all-fiber enterprise access switch, 48×1G/10G multi-rate SFP fiber downlink slots with one modular high-speed uplink expansion slot, pre-installed permanent Network Essentials IOS XE license, StackWise-1T 1Tbps stacking supported, factory-shipped single 715W AC power supply, managed via local CLI and basic Cisco Catalyst Center for cost-effective campus inter-building fiber, industrial optical and fiber-to-desk deployments with restricted advanced routing, security and analytics requirements.
3. Complete Product Overview Paragraph
The Cisco Catalyst C9300X-48S-E is a fixed-form-factor dense all-fiber stackable Layer 3 enterprise access switch within the Catalyst 9300X series, optimized for budget-oriented all-optical campus, industrial and multi-building network deployments that require 48 independent fiber downlink connections without copper RJ45 ports or PoE power delivery, and do not demand full premium enterprise feature sets. Equipped with 48 universal hot-pluggable SFP slots supporting auto-sensing 1G and 10G fiber transceivers for short/long-distance optical data 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 layers. Powered by UADP 2.0sec crypto ASIC with hardware crypto acceleration for line-rate 100G IPsec tunnels, this model runs native IOS XE with permanent Network Essentials license, delivering fundamental Layer 2 switching and constrained Layer 3 routing functions while disabling all advanced premium features reserved for Network Advantage (-A) licensed hardware variantsCisco. 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, achieving sub-50ms fast stack failover convergence for enterprise-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 only supports limited on-premises management via console CLI, SNMPv3 or basic Cisco Catalyst Center integration (Meraki cloud-native firmware is not supported for this on-prem IOS XE model). It comes with basic zero-touch provisioning and sampled traffic monitoring, built for mid-size hybrid campus all-fiber access environments without demand for advanced zero-trust security, full streaming analytics or end-to-end SD-Access fabric automation.
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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Zero PoE power output on all ports, only fiber data transmission without endpoint power delivery.
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Default 715W AC platinum-efficiency PSU, no PoE wattage budget (fiber-only hardware 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, limited quantity of SVIs 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 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: Only sampled flow export is supported under Network Essentials license; full unsampled streaming telemetry is exclusive to Network Advantage (-A).
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System Memory: 16GB DRAM, 16GB onboard flash storage, optional USB 3.0 SSD container hosting support (container orchestration features restricted by license tier).
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 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 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 tier).
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 Stub multicast routing (1000 routes).
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 VRF orchestration, BSR/MSDP bidirectional PIM
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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Full 256-bit AES MACsec link encryption functionality
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Embedded Catalyst 9800 wireless controller container hosting
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IEEE 1588v2 PTP precise clock synchronization for industrial optical surveillance and factory IoT deployments
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NSF, GIR, xFSU high-availability ISSU upgrade capabilities
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 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-E 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 Essentials IOS XE license. Equipped with StackWise-1T 1Tbps high-bandwidth stacking and dual 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-sensitive small and medium office all-fiber campus inter-building, industrial optical and fiber-to-desk wired access deployments requiring long-distance optical transmission without copper PoE ports, 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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