Cisco C9400-LC-24XS Full Product Description
1. Short Overview
C9400-LC-24XSis a hot-swappable 24-port dual-speed SFP/SFP+ fiber line card exclusively built for the Cisco Catalyst 9400 modular enterprise switching chassis family (C9404R, C9407R, C9410R), operated on Cisco IOS XE. It supports mixed 1G SFP and 10G SFP+ transceivers simultaneously on all 24 ports, delivering high-density 10 Gigabit fiber uplinks, campus inter-building trunking, SD-Access fabric aggregation, and hybrid data center leaf/spine connectivity.
This fiber-only module carries no PoE power delivery, adopts UADP stub ASIC architecture for wire-speed Layer 2–Layer 4 forwarding, and fully supports OIR (Online Insertion and Removal) for zero-downtime online maintenance without chassis reboot. It integrates hardware MACsec 256-bit encryption for secure fiber transport and high-precision PTP time synchronization for video, voice and industrial IoT networks.
Suffix Breakdown
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C9400: Catalyst 9400 modular core/aggregation switch platform
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LC: Line Card modular uplink/access module
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24: Total 24 front-facing physical ports
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XS: SFP+ dual-speed port interface (supports both 1G SFP and 10G SFP+; distinguishes from 1G-only LC-24S and 25G SFP28 LC-24XY)
Core Differentiators
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vs C9400-LC-24S: LC-24S only supports 1G SFP transceivers; LC-24XS auto-negotiates 1G/10G mixed-speed SFP/SFP+ on every port for high-bandwidth uplink capacityCisco.
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vs copper PoE line cards (C9400-LC-48H/48HN): Pure fiber uplink module without inline PoE, optimized for long-distance high-speed trunking instead of end-user wired access.
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vs C9400-LC-24XY: LC-24XY supports 25G SFP28; LC-24XS caps at maximum 10G per port for cost-effective 10G fiber aggregation.
2. Hardware & Bandwidth Specifications
Port Capability
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Port Count: 24 universal hot-pluggable SFP/SFP+ slots, all ports non-blocking full-duplex
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Supported Port Speeds
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1000BASE-SX/LX/EX/ZX Gigabit via standard SFP transceivers
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10GBASE-SR/LR/ER/ZR 10 Gigabit via SFP+ transceivers
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Cu-SFP / Cu-SFP+ modules for short-range RJ45 copper 1G/10G connections
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Mixed Transceiver Support: SFP and SFP+ modules can be deployed on the same line card without slot grouping restrictions
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Backplane Slot Bandwidth
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With Gen1 supervisors (C9400-SUP-1 / SUP-1XL): 80 Gbps per slot bandwidth
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With Gen2 UADP 3.0 supervisors (C9400X-SUP-2 / SUP-2XL): 240 Gbps full wire-speed non-blocking bandwidth for all 24 ports simultaneously
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Aggregate Bidirectional Throughput: 240 Gbps full-duplex peak capacity
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Jumbo Frame: Layer 2–4 jumbo frame support up to 9198 bytes for large data workloads
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Hardware Encryption: IEEE 802.1AE MACsec-256 port-level encryption to secure fiber uplink traffic
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Precision Timing: Hardware PTP IEEE 1588 / 802.1as for audio/video and industrial network time synchronization
Physical & Power Parameters
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Form Factor: Standard full-width Catalyst 9400 line card, compatible with all empty line card slots of C9404R / C9407R / C9410R chassis
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Typical Full-Load Power Consumption: 200W
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Rated MTBF: 545,080 hours under nominal operating environmentCisco
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Asset Tracking: Built-in front UHF passive RFID tag for network asset lifecycle managementCisco
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Cooling: Passive multi-heatsink design, relies on chassis side-to-side shared airflow; no independent onboard fan
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No PoE Function: This module does not supply IEEE 802.3af/at/bt inline power to connected endpoints
Maximum Chassis Port Density (Fully Populated with LC-24XS)
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Catalyst 9400 Chassis Model
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Max Line Card Slots
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Total 1G/10G SFP+ Ports
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C9404R / C9404R-A / C9404R-E
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2
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48 × SFP/SFP+
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C9407R / C9407R-A / C9407R-E
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5
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120 × SFP/SFP+
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C9410R / C9410R-A / C9410R-E
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8
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192 × SFP/SFP+
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Supervisor Compatibility
Fully interoperable with all Catalyst 9400 supervisor generations:
C9400-SUP-1, C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y, C9400X-SUP-2, C9400X-SUP-2XL (UADP 2.0 / UADP 3.0 ASIC supervisors)
3. Front Panel Layout & Status LEDs
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24 SFP/SFP+ port slots arranged in two horizontal rows (12 ports per row)
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Per-port bi-color link/activity LED for each transceiver slot:
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Solid Green: Valid link, normal operation
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Blinking Green: Bidirectional data transmission/reception
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Solid Amber: Link down, missing transceiver, port fault or error alarm
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Global line card health LED at card edge:
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Green: Module detected, initialized and online
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Amber: Booting, initialization or minor hardware warning
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Red: Critical failure, backplane communication error
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Dual mechanical ejector latches on both sides to support OIR hot insertion/removal without chassis power shutdown
4. IOS XE Full Software Feature Set
Layer 2 Campus Switching Functions
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IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking (4096 maximum VLANs), PVLAN private VLAN segmentation for multi-tenant isolation
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Cross-line-card LACP/PAGP EtherChannel link aggregation for redundant uplink trunks
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RSTP/MSTP spanning tree suite with BPDU guard, root guard, loop guard and UplinkFast convergence
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DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard and MAC port security
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IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet for idle port power reduction
Layer 3 & SD-Access EVPN Fabric Capabilities
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Hardware-accelerated IPv4 / IPv6 unicast & multicast routing (static, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS)
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Up to 32-way ECMP equal-cost multi-path uplink load balancing
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Native VXLAN EVPN data plane forwarding for Cisco SD-Access enterprise fabric border/aggregation nodes
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Anycast gateway, LISP host mobility and fabric overlay traffic aggregation
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Hardware VRF-lite multi-tenancy segmentation, supporting up to 1000 independent VRF instances
Security & QoS Hardware Features
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8 independent hardware priority queues per port, WRR/DRR congestion scheduling, policing, marking and shaping
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L2/L3/L4 hardware ACL policy enforcement, CoPP control plane policing to protect supervisor CPU
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TrustSec SGT tag classification and end-to-end policy propagation across the fabric
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Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) for hidden threat detection
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IEEE 802.1X, MAB, WebAuth wired access authentication, AAA TACACS+/RADIUS/LDAP secure authentication
Automation, Programmability & Observability
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Model-driven programmability: NETCONF, RESTCONF, YANG data models, REST API
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POAP zero-touch automated provisioning for mass fabric deployment
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Real-time streaming telemetry, IPFIX flow export, continuous port latency/buffer utilization monitoring
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GOLD non-disruptive online diagnostic tests for ongoing line card health monitoring
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Full native integration with Cisco DNA Center single-pane-of-glass lifecycle management
5. Typical Deployment Scenarios
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Large Multi-Building Campus Distribution Uplink Aggregation
24-port mixed 1G/10G fiber trunking connects remote campus buildings to core Catalyst 9400 chassis; cross-card EtherChannels deliver redundant high-speed inter-building links for SD-Access EVPN fabric traffic.
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Medium Hybrid Data Center Leaf Switch Uplinks
Cost-effective 10G SFP+ uplinks to data center spine switches, supporting multi-tenant VRF segmentation for enterprise, cloud and server workloads.
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High-Density Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless Controller Aggregation
10G fiber trunks aggregate hundreds of enterprise wireless access points to campus core switches, hardware QoS prioritizes voice/video wireless client traffic.
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Industrial Smart Building & IoT Backbone
Long-distance single-mode fiber links connect distributed industrial controllers, IP surveillance subnets and building automation gateways; MACsec encryption secures IoT control traffic, TrustSec segmentation isolates vulnerable IoT subnets from corporate user networks.
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Service Provider Edge Enterprise Handover
10G fiber uplinks to carrier routers, redundant EtherChannel design ensures resilient hybrid cloud and internet breakout connectivity.
6. Standard Package Contents of C9400-LC-24XS SKU
1 × C9400-LC-24XS 24-port SFP/SFP+ dual-speed fiber line card module
Disposable plastic dust covers for empty front port slots
Hardware installation guide, global safety, EMC and RoHS regulatory compliance documentation
Separately Required Accessories
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SFP (1G) / SFP+ (10G) optical transceivers (SX/LR/ER/ZR) or Cu-SFP/Cu-SFP+ copper modules
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Single/multi-mode fiber patch cords, Twinax copper cables
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Catalyst 9400 series chassis, supervisors, power supplies and fan tray (sold independently)
Short Commercial Catalog Summary for Quotation
Cisco C9400-LC-24XS is a hot-swappable 24-port dual-speed 1G/10G SFP/SFP+ fiber line card for the Catalyst 9400 modular enterprise switching platform, purpose-built for high-density campus trunking, SD-Access fabric aggregation, data center leaf uplinks and wireless controller aggregation workloads. It supports mixed Gigabit and 10 Gigabit transceivers on all ports simultaneously, delivers wire-speed Layer 2/Layer 3 forwarding via UADP stub ASIC, and supports OIR zero-downtime online maintenance, hardware MACsec encryption and PTP precision timing. Operating under secure Cisco IOS XE, this module provides complete VXLAN EVPN SD-Access fabric, zero-trust security, hardware QoS and Cisco DNA Center automation capabilities, with no PoE power delivery functionality. Fully compatible with all C9404R/C9407R/C9410R chassis and all generations of Catalyst 9400 supervisors, it scales up to 192 total 10G fiber ports when fully populated in the flagship C9410R chassis. Limitations require separate purchase of SFP/SFP+ transceivers, does not support 25G speeds (differentiated from LC-24XY), and lacks inline PoE power for end-user wired access devices. The line card complies with global safety, EMC, NEBS and RoHS environmental standards for enterprise wiring closet and edge data center high-traffic deployment.
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