Cisco Catalyst WS-C3850-24P-S Full English Product Description

1. Short Sales Title

2. Official Product Overview

Model Suffix Breakdown

• 3850: Next-gen stackable unified access multilayer switch platform with UADP ASIC, StackWise-480 stacking, hot-swappable power/fan/uplink modules, integrated full wireless controller
• 24: Twenty-four front-panel standard Gigabit RJ45 downlink ports
• P: IEEE 802.3at PoE+ power architecture, maximum 30W per port, total 435W PoE+ power budget
• S: IP Base IOS XE feature set (baseline Layer 3 dynamic routing, full unified wireless mobility controller, max 4000 VLANs, cross-stack HSRP/VRRP support)

Three IOS XE Feature Tier Comparison for Catalyst 3850

1. LAN Base (WS-C3850-24P-L): Pure Layer 2 only, limited static inter-VLAN routing, max 255 VLANs, basic lightweight wireless AP management only, all dynamic routing protocols disabled, no HSRP/VRRP gateway redundancy, restricted Flexible NetFlow Lite only, limited CAPWAP AP capacity.
2. IP Base (WS-C3850-24P-S): All LAN Base features + Static / RIP / EIGRP stub / PIM stub routing, HSRP/VRRP first-hop redundancy, full unified wireless mobility controller, 4000 VLANs, complete Flexible NetFlow Lite, IPv6 stub dynamic routing, cross-stack Layer 3 routing replication, support for up to 100 CAPWAP APs and 2000 wireless clients per stackCisco.
3. IP Services (WS-C3850-24P-E): All IP Base features + full multi-area OSPF, full EIGRP, BGPv4, full PIM sparse-dense multicast, complete end-to-end IPv6 dynamic routing, PBR, WCCP v2, VRF-Lite multi-tenancy, full Flexible NetFlow v9, WIDS/WIPS wireless security, TrustSec & MACsec link encryption.

Stacking Architecture

• StackWise-480 480Gbps full-duplex stacking bus: Up to eight Catalyst 3850 switches can be interconnected into a single logical stack under one unified IP management plane, supporting distributed wire-speed Layer 2/Layer 3 forwarding, cross-stack EtherChannel link aggregation, cross-stack RSPAN port mirroring, cross-stack HSRP gateway redundancy, and cross-stack wireless AP policy & mobility replication. StackWise-480 stacking cables sold separately as optional accessoriesCisco.
• Unified wireless stack domain: All CAPWAP wireless APs across the entire stack operate under a single consistent wireless policy domain with centralized AP licensing, full CleanAir RF spectrum monitoring and rogue AP detection, supporting up to 100 CAPWAP APs and 2000 concurrent wireless clients per logical stack unitCisco.
• StackPower compatible: Enables power sharing across stacked switches when paired with StackPower cables and optional dual power supply tray kit for redundant PoE power distribution.

Power & Port Hardware Design

3. Port & Hardware Specifications

• Front Downlink Ports: 24 × 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 auto-sensing Gigabit copper, auto MDI-X, IEEE 802.3at PoE+ (30W max per port)
• Rear Uplink Slot: 1 modular hot-swappable network module slot (supports 4×10G SFP+ or 2×40G QSFP+ uplink modules)
• Local Management Interfaces: RJ45 serial console, USB Type-B mini console, USB Type-A flash storage, dedicated out-of-band 10/100 Fast Ethernet management port
• Stack Interfaces: Dual StackWise-480 480Gbps stacking connectors
• Power Supply: Single modular 715W AC auto-ranging unit; optional second redundant 715W AC PSU for 1+1 redundancy; input 100–240V AC 50/60Hz; total PoE+ power budget 435W
• Front Panel LEDs: Per-port link/activity/speed/PoE indicators; global system fault, power, stack member ID, wireless status LEDs
• Mounting: Standard 19-inch 1RU rack-mount brackets included; wall-mount adapter optional, desktop rubber anti-slip feet supplied
• Thermal Envelope: Triple redundant hot-swappable variable-speed fan trays; operating temperature 0°C ~ +45°C, storage -25°C ~ +70°C, relative humidity 10–85% non-condensing
• Compliance Certifications: CE, FCC Class A, UL listed, VCCI Class A, RoHS compliant, NEBS Level 3 certified
• Physical Dimensions: 445 mm (W) × 44.5 mm (H, 1RU) × 488 mm (D) / 17.5 × 1.75 × 19.2 inches
• Unit Weight: 5.0 kg (11.0 lbs) with single 715W power supply
• Memory: 4 GB DRAM, 2 GB onboard flash memory for IOS XE universal images and configuration files
• Switching Fabric: 92 Gbps full-duplex non-blocking per-chassis capacity
• Forwarding Rate: 68.4 Mpps wire-speed Layer 2 / baseline Layer 3 forwarding for 64-byte packets
• MAC Address Table: Up to 32,000 unicast MAC entries
• VLAN Capacity: IP Base limit 4000 active IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLANs (VLAN ID range 1–4094)
• Multicast Groups: 4096 IPv4 CGMP snooping + PIM stub multicast routing groups
• Jumbo Frame Support: Up to 9000 bytes on all PoE+ Gigabit downlinks and SFP/SFP+/QSFP+ uplink ports
• Wireless Scale: Supports up to 100 CAPWAP wireless APs per standalone switch/stack, maximum 2000 concurrent wireless clients, 64 unique WLAN profiles, full RF monitoring, CleanAir spectrum analysis
• IPv4 Route Scale: Up to 24,000 IPv4 routed entries
• NetFlow Scale: 48,000 Flexible NetFlow Lite flow entries
• MTBF: 303,230 hours under standard office enterprise operating conditions
• Warranty: Cisco Enhanced Limited Lifetime Warranty (E-LLW)

4. Layer 2 + IP Base Baseline Layer 3 IOS XE Full Feature Set

Core Layer 2 Switching & Converged Wired-Wireless QoS Functions

• Up to 4000 IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLANs, VTPv3 dynamic VLAN synchronization, MSTP 802.1s multiple spanning tree
• Dual trunk encapsulation: Cisco ISL trunk + IEEE 802.1Q standard trunk on all Gigabit copper and SFP/SFP+/QSFP+ fiber ports
• Hierarchical IEEE 802.1p CoS / DSCP MQC QoS, 4 egress priority queues per port; Auto-QoS template optimized for VoIP, video conferencing and IPTV traffic prioritization
• Gigabit / 10G / 40G EtherChannel link aggregation (LACP / static PAgP), up to 8 bundled ports for uplink redundancy and cross-stack load balancing
• Rapid STP (802.1w), UplinkFast, BackboneFast, BPDU Guard, Root Guard, UDLD to eliminate Layer 2 switching loops
• Port security: Static MAC assignment, sticky dynamic MAC learning, configurable port shutdown violation actions
• Per-port broadcast/multicast/unicast storm control to mitigate flooding DoS attacks
• Local SPAN + cross-stack RSPAN port mirroring supported via StackWise-480 stacking
• CGMP (Cisco Group Management Protocol) to reduce redundant multicast flooding across unified wired/wireless domains
• Voice VLAN dedicated VoIP traffic segmentation, automated Auto QoS marking for PoE+ IP voice endpoints
• Cisco EnergyWise intelligent power management to lower idle chassis and PoE power consumption
• RMON Groups 1,2,3,9 real-time traffic statistics monitoring
• NTP time synchronization, CDP Cisco Discovery Protocol for end-to-end network device visibility
• Embedded web-based Device Manager, Cisco Network Assistant zero-touch stack-wide provisioning
• Full IPv6 dual-stack Layer 2 switching: IPv6 Snooping, IPv6 ACL, IPv6 QoS marking, IPv6 neighbor discovery
• Integrated Unified Wireless Controller: Mobility Agent & Mobility Controller dual modes, CAPWAP AP termination, unified wired/wireless ACL/QoS/policy enforcement, wireless rogue AP detection, 802.11r fast roaming support, baseline CleanAir RF spectrum management
• Full Flexible NetFlow Lite for granular wired/wireless traffic visibility (complete Flexible NetFlow v9 requires IP Services license upgrade)

Exclusive IP Base Baseline Layer 3 Routing Suite

• Hardware wire-speed IPv4 inter-VLAN routing via SVI switched virtual interfaces (maximum 1000 SVIs)
• Static default routing, static prefix routing, RIP v1 / RIP v2 interior gateway protocols
• Limited interior gateway support: EIGRP stub routing only (no full multi-area EIGRP)
• Multicast support: PIM stub multicast routing (no full PIM sparse-dense mode)
• First-hop redundancy protocols: HSRP, VRRP for IPv4 gateway redundancy, cross-stack HSRP fully supported
• Basic Layer 3 ingress/egress ACL for routed subnet traffic filtering
• Equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) static route load balancing across multiple fiber uplinks
• Limited IPv6 stub dynamic routing (OSPFv3/EIGRPv6 stub mode)

IP Base Routing Limitations vs IP Services

• No full multi-area OSPF, full EIGRP, BGP inter-domain core routing
• No full PIM sparse / dense / sparse-dense multicast routing
• No policy-based routing (PBR), no WCCP web cache redirection, no DVMRP multicast tunneling
• No fallback bridging for non-IP inter-VLAN traffic
• No VRF-Lite multi-tenancy segmentation

Enterprise Security Feature Suite

• IEEE 802.1X port-based NAC authentication with RADIUS/TACACS+ AAA remote access control (unified wired/wireless NAC enforcement)
• SSH v2 encrypted CLI management; SNMPv3 secure monitoring (fallback unencrypted Telnet/SNMPv1/v2c available)
• Combined Layer 2 + Layer 3 ingress access control lists for granular inbound traffic filtering
• Time-based ACL policy scheduling for restricted network access hours
• Private VLAN edge isolation to separate host communication within the same broadcast domain
• DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard to block IP/MAC spoofing attacks
• Encrypted startup-config files, strong password encryption for local administrative credentials
• Wireless baseline security suite: WPA2/WPA3 enterprise, basic ISE identity services engine integration, rogue AP containment

5. Full Management Interfaces

1. Local Out-of-Band: RJ45 serial console port for offline configuration without network connectivity
2. Secure Remote CLI: SSH v2 encrypted command-line access; fallback unencrypted Telnet
3. In-Band Management: Embedded web GUI, SNMP v1/v2c/v3, CDP Cisco Discovery Protocol, NTP time synchronization
4. Auxiliary Interfaces: USB Type-A flash storage port for IOS XE image / config backup, dedicated out-of-band 10/100 Fast Ethernet management port
5. Stack & Wireless Management: Single unified IP management plane for entire StackWise-480 stack; centralized wireless AP licensing, RF and policy management across all stack members

6. Integrated Security Mitigation Suite

• Multi-level privilege CLI access with encrypted local user password storage
• IEEE 802.1X port authentication to validate wired/wireless endpoints before granting LAN access
• Port MAC address security to restrict unauthorized device connection
• STP BPDU guard and root guard to block rogue switches from altering spanning-tree topology
• Broadcast/multicast storm control to suppress flooding-based denial-of-service threats
• Private VLAN edge to isolate peer hosts on the same access VLAN
• DHCP Snooping + DAI ARP Inspection + IP Source Guard to eliminate address spoofing attacks
• SSHv2 and SNMPv3 encryption to secure remote switch management traffic over the LAN
• Manual permanent shutdown of unused RJ45/SFP/SFP+/QSFP+ ports to reduce unauthorized network attack vectors
• Dedicated management VLAN isolation to segregate switch control plane traffic from end-user data traffic
• Per-port PoE priority scheduling to protect critical voice/Wi-Fi devices during power budget shortages

7. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Small/Medium Enterprise Stackable Converged Wired-Wireless Routed Access Switch: 24 standard PoE+ Gigabit ports power office IP phones, medium-density enterprise Wi-Fi 6 APs and PoE PTZ surveillance cameras; modular uplink slot supports flexible 10G or 40G fiber aggregation to building distribution/core switches. IP Base baseline static/RIP/HSRP inter-VLAN routing eliminates small dedicated distribution routers for multi-VLAN unified wired-wireless campus segmentation, StackWise-480 stacking enables linear access-layer capacity expansion as office wireless device density grows.
2. Small/Medium K-12 / Higher Education Campus Converged Network: PoE+ Gigabit ports link classroom VoIP stacks, student medium-density Wi-Fi APs and campus security camera arrays; hot-swappable 10G/40G uplink modules connect to central school high-speed data center backbone for cross-campus distance learning video traffic. MSTP prevents broadcast loop failures across geographic VLAN domains, baseline multi-subnet routing meets entry-level campus convergence requirements without expensive IP Services advanced routing licenses.
3. Medium Regional Headquarters Wiring Closet Main Multilayer Switch: Standard PoE+ Gigabit downlinks connect multi-department desktop stacks, conference room high-density Wi-Fi APs and building-wide PoE surveillance systems; long-distance single-mode 10G SFP+ uplink provides high-speed fiber backhaul to corporate headquarters core distribution layer. IP Base EIGRP stub + cross-stack HSRP redundancy satisfies enterprise branch multi-VLAN routing compliance without external dedicated branch routers.
4. Medium Retail / Hotel / Healthcare Access Pod: Bulk PoE+ Gigabit ports power lobby VoIP phones, medium-concurrency guest Wi-Fi APs, POS terminals and continuous-recording PTZ security cameras; four 10G uplinks support heavy wireless user bandwidth loads, integrated unified wireless controller removes standalone WLC hardware cost for medium AP density commercial venues.
5. Legacy Catalyst 3750 PoE+ Access Network Refresh Hardware: Drop-in stackable IP Base upgrade replacement for aging LAN Base WS-C3850-24P-L switches, fully compatible with existing enterprise fiber uplink infrastructure, unlocks baseline dynamic Layer 3 inter-VLAN routing and full unified wireless mobility control for gradual migration to Catalyst 9300 unified access platforms without intermediate core router upgrades.

8. Standard Package Contents

Short Commercial Version (For Quotation & Product Catalog)