Cisco Catalyst WS-C4948 Full English Product Description
1. Short Sales Title
Cisco WS-C4948 Classic 1RU Fixed Top-of-Rack Server Switch, 48×10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 Ports + 4×Dual-Purpose SFP Combo Uplink Slots, Side-to-Side Airflow, Dual Hot-Swap Redundant AC/DC Power Supply Bays, Hot-Swap Redundant Fan Tray, 96 Gbps Non-Blocking Fabric, 72 Mpps Wire-Speed Layer 2–Layer 4 Forwarding, Cisco IOS 12.2XO Software, CEF Hardware IPv4 Routing, End-of-Sale SMB Data Center ToR Leaf, Enterprise Server Rack Aggregation & Low-Density Building Distribution Switch for Unified Gigabit Server/Voice Networks
2. Official Product Overview
The Cisco Catalyst WS-C4948 is the original classic non-E fixed-form-factor 1RU Top-of-Rack (ToR) server switch in the Catalyst 4900 series, released 2006, End-of-Sale October 30, 2020, End-of-Support October 31, 2025. It shares the same Catalyst 4500 IOS/ASIC software architecture, delivering consistent feature compatibility with modular Catalyst 4500 campus chassis for unified network managementCisco.
Shipped as a bare chassis without power supplies; AC/DC redundant power supplies are sold separately as FRUs. Distinct from later WS-C4948E / WS-C4948E-F enhanced models:
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Side-to-side airflow (not front-to-back / back-to-front hot/cold aisle optimized airflow of E-series)
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Fixed 96 Gbps switching capacity, limited to 4×1G SFP combo uplinks (no native 10G SFP+ support without separate WS-C4948-10GE variant)
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Smaller packet buffer and TCAM capacity compared to E-generation hardware
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No extended IPv6 feature set and limited NetFlow support
The WS-C4948 is purpose-built for compact rack server aggregation, small data center leaf deployments, and low-density building distribution carrying Gigabit server, storage, IP phone and surveillance traffic. All critical FRUs (power supplies, fan tray) support live hot-swap replacement without full chassis shutdown for simplified maintenance.
Model Suffix Breakdown
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WS-C: Cisco Catalyst LAN Switch Platform Identifier
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4948: Catalyst 4900 fixed server switch series, 48 copper downlink ports
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No suffix: Classic non-E chassis, side-to-side airflow, combo SFP 1G uplink only (separate WS-C4948-10GE variant for 10GE X2 uplinks)
Front Panel Port Layout
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48 × 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 auto-sensing copper downlink ports for servers, workstations and IP phones
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4 × dual-purpose combo SFP slots: Each slot can run either 10/100/1000BASE-T copper or 1000BASE-X SFP fiber uplinks (1G only; no native 10GE support)
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Out-of-band management interfaces:
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RJ45 RS232 serial console port
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10/100BASE-T dedicated isolated out-of-band Ethernet management port
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Front LED array: System, power, fan, port link/activity, fault, UID beacon diagnostic indicators
Rear Compartment Layout
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Dual independent hot-swappable power supply bays supporting 1+1 N+1 power redundancy
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Integrated single hot-swappable variable-speed fan tray with multiple redundant fans
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Airflow: Side-to-side (intake left, exhaust right; incompatible with standard hot/cold aisle data center rack design)
Supported Transceivers & Power Options
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Optical transceivers: All Cisco 1G SFP modules (SX/LX/LH/ZX)
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Power supplies: AC 1100W hot-swap PSU, DC 1100W telecom negative power PSU
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No PoE support; designed for server rack aggregation only
3. Hardware & Physical Specifications
Core Switching Performance
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Total non-blocking switching fabric capacity: 96 Gbps full-duplex
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Wire-speed forwarding rate: 72 Mpps for Layer 2 bridging and hardware CEF IPv4 routing
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Shared packet buffer memory: 8 MB dynamic shared buffer across all ports
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System memory: 256 MB SDRAM, 128 MB internal flash storage
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MAC address table capacity: 32,768 MAC entries
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IPv4 routing table: 64,000 CEF routes; limited basic IPv6 software forwarding (no full hardware IPv6)
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TCAM ACL/QoS/security entries: 64,000 concurrent flow entries
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Maximum VLANs: 4094 standard 802.1Q tagged VLANs
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SVI routed interfaces: Up to 4094 inter-VLAN routed interfaces
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Jumbo frame support: Up to 9198 bytes MTU for bridged and routed traffic
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Maximum EtherChannel bundles: 8 ports per Gigabit EtherChannel (GEC)
Power & Cooling System
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Power supply bays: 2 hot-swappable redundant slots for 1+1 power failover
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AC input range: 100–240V 50/60Hz; DC –48V telecom power
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Fan tray: Integrated multi-fan variable-speed hot-swappable assembly; single fan failure triggers SNMP alert without traffic outage
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Airflow direction: Side-to-side left intake, right exhaust (non-data-center optimized)
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Real-time monitoring: Fan speed, internal temperature, PSU voltage and fault logging via console and SNMP traps
Physical & Environmental Parameters
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Rack form factor: 1 RU standard 19-inch rack mount
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Dimensions (H × W × D): 4.45 cm × 43.2 cm × 40.6 cm (1.75 × 17.0 × 16.0 inches)
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Weight: 13.6 kg (30 lbs) bare chassis without power supplies; fully loaded max weight 17.2 kg (38 lbs) with dual PSUs installed
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Operating temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F–104°F); altitude up to 3000 meters
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Storage temperature: -40°C to 75°C (-40°F–167°F)
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Relative humidity: 10%–90% non-condensing
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Compliance Certifications: FCC Class A, UL 60950-1, CE, VCCI Class A, NEBS Level 3, RoHS compliant
4. Full Layer 2 & Layer 3 IOS Feature Set (Cisco IOS 12.2XO)
Layer 2 Switching Features
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IEEE 802.1D STP, 802.1w Rapid STP, 802.1s MSTP
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802.1Q trunking + ISL proprietary trunk encapsulation, DTP dynamic trunk negotiation
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VTP v1/v2/v3 VLAN Trunking Protocol, private VLAN host isolation
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Port security, static/dynamic secure MAC address learning, MAC filtering
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802.3ad LACP EtherChannel link aggregation (max 8 ports per bundle)
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Broadcast/multicast/unicast storm suppression
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IGMPv1/v2/v3 snooping, CGMP for IPTV and video multicast optimization
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Voice VLAN auto-detection for Cisco IP phone uplink aggregation
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Local SPAN, RSPAN remote traffic mirroring for monitoring
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802.3x full-duplex flow control
Layer 3 Routing & Multicast Features
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Static IPv4 routing, RIP v1/v2, full multi-area OSPFv2, EIGRP, BGPv4
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Wire-speed hardware SVI inter-VLAN routing via CEF
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Limited software-only IPv6 forwarding (no hardware IPv6 acceleration; E-series required for full IPv6)
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PIM-DM / PIM-SM multicast routing, MSDP support
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ECMP equal-cost multi-path load balancing across multiple uplinks
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Policy-Based Routing (PBR) available with Enterprise Services IOS license
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Basic VRF-Lite multi-tenancy segmentation
Advanced MQC QoS & Traffic Prioritization
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Hierarchical MQC modular QoS policy framework
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8 hardware priority queues per physical port, bidirectional 802.1p CoS / DSCP mapping
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Ingress traffic policing, egress shaping, packet marking and remarking
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Pre-built Auto-QoS templates optimized for VoIP, video conferencing and IP surveillance traffic prioritization
Enterprise Security Suite
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IEEE 802.1X port-based NAC authentication with RADIUS/TACACS+ AAA identity integration
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DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard anti-spoofing protection
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Hardware-accelerated Port ACL, VLAN ACL (VACL) traffic filtering
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SSHv2 encrypted CLI management, SNMPv3 secure monitoring, encrypted startup-config files
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Control Plane Policing (CoPP) to protect supervisor CPU from DDoS attacks
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Rogue AP detection, private VLAN host isolation
Monitoring & Management
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Basic NetFlow v9 limited flow export (enhanced Flexible NetFlow exclusive to E-series)
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Dedicated out-of-band Ethernet management port for isolated device access
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Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) for neighbor device discovery
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Smart Install zero-touch mass switch provisioning
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Cisco EnergyWise power efficiency monitoring for idle port power reduction
5. High Availability Capabilities
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Dual hot-swappable redundant AC/DC power supplies (1+1 power failover protection)
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Redundant variable-speed hot-swappable fan tray for cooling redundancy
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Full OIR Online Insertion and Removal support for power supplies and fan trays (live replacement without chassis shutdown)
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Sub-second Layer 2/Layer 3 convergence via Rapid STP and EIGRP/OSPF fast hello timers
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No VSS virtual switching support (VSS introduced on WS-C4948E E-series models)
6. Typical Deployment Scenarios
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SMB Small Data Center Top-of-Rack Leaf Switch
48×1G copper ports connect server racks, storage arrays and virtualization hosts; 1G SFP combo uplinks trunk to aggregation/core switches for low-density enterprise data center leaf-spine architectures.
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Medium Enterprise Low-Density Building Distribution Aggregation
Compact 1RU rack form factor fits limited wiring closet space; combo SFP fiber uplinks aggregate Catalyst PoE access switches, consolidating unified voice, video and data traffic for single-floor office blocks.
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Small Regional Branch Core Switch
Serves as standalone multi-VLAN branch core, combining wire-speed Layer 3 inter-VLAN routing and fiber WAN uplink termination without large modular Catalyst 4500 chassis footprint.
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Legacy Catalyst 4500 Campus Uplink Expansion Companion
Deployed as a dedicated Gigabit aggregation companion switch to expand copper server port density for modular WS-C4506/4507R campus core chassis.
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Small Hospital / Education Lab Server Rack Switch
Low-latency wire-speed forwarding supports medical thin clients, lab workstations and campus surveillance camera aggregation with redundant power for mission-critical uptime.
7. Standard Package Contents
1 × WS-C4948 classic non-E 1RU fixed server switch chassis (side-to-side airflow)
19-inch standard rack mounting rail kit
Hardware installation guide, global safety & compliance documentation
Items Sold Separately (Not Included)
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AC or DC hot-swappable redundant power supply units
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1G SFP optical transceivers for combo uplink slots
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RS232 serial console rollover cable
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Cable management accessories, fiber patch cords
Short Commercial Catalog Version (For Quotation & Datasheet Use)
The Cisco Catalyst WS-C4948 is an End-of-Sale classic non-E 1RU fixed ToR server switch from the Catalyst 4900 series, supplied bare without power supplies (AC/DC PSUs sold separately). It features 48×10/100/1000BASE-T copper downlinks plus 4 dual-purpose 1G SFP combo uplink slots, side-to-side airflow, dual hot-swappable redundant power supply bays and hot-swap redundant fan tray, built on a 96 Gbps non-blocking fabric delivering 72 Mpps wire-speed Layer 2–Layer 4 forwarding. Running Cisco IOS 12.2XO, it supports hardware CEF IPv4 routing, MSTP, MQC QoS, enterprise security suite, IGMP snooping and 802.1X NAC authentication. Optimized for SMB mini data center leaf, low-density building distribution and small branch core deployments with OIR hot-swap FRU support; limited to 1G uplinks, side-to-side airflow and basic IPv6 software forwarding (VSS and full hardware IPv6 available on WS-C4948E). Compliant with global safety, EMI and RoHS industrial standards, covered by Cisco limited hardware warranty during active support lifecycle.
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