Cisco Catalyst 9300: Complete Technical Specifications

The Cisco Catalyst 9300 is Cisco's flagship access switch for modern enterprises. The successor to the Catalyst 3850, it supports campuses with 50 to 10,000 users through a modular StackWise-480 architecture providing 480 Gbps of stack bandwidth and advanced capabilities such as ETA (Encrypted Traffic Analytics), SD-Access, and Trustworthy Solutions. This detailed technical guide will help you select the right model.

Market positioning and use cases

The Catalyst 9300 is designed for the campus edge: meeting rooms, open-plan offices, office floors, schools, and hospitals. It is not intended for data centers, where the Nexus 9300 is the better choice, or for SMBs with fewer than 40 workstations, where the Catalyst 1200/1300 or Meraki MS is more suitable. Its key strengths are advanced stacking, real-time telemetry, and support for DNA licenses that unlock Cisco DNA Center automation.

Complete product range and part numbers

C9300 Series (24 and 48 copper ports)

• C9300-24T: 24 1G copper ports, no PoE, stacking — €2,450 excluding VAT
• C9300-24P: 24 1G PoE+ ports, 445W, stacking — €3,180 excluding VAT
• C9300-24U: 24 1G UPOE ports, 1110W, stacking — €4,250 excluding VAT
• C9300-24UX: 24 mGig 1/2.5/5/10G UPOE ports, stacking — €6,890 excluding VAT
• C9300-48T: 48 1G copper ports — €3,450 excluding VAT
• C9300-48P: 48 1G PoE+ ports, 715W — €4,420 excluding VAT
• C9300-48U: 48 1G UPOE ports, 1110W — €5,890 excluding VAT
• C9300-48UXM: 36×1G + 12×mGig UPOE — €8,950 excluding VAT

C9300L Series (cost-effective version)

• C9300L-24T-4G: 24 1G ports + 4×1G SFP uplinks — €1,890 excluding VAT
• C9300L-48P-4X: 48 PoE+ ports + 4×10G SFP+ uplinks — €3,850 excluding VAT
• Limitations compared with the standard C9300: no StackWise-480 stacking, replaced by StackWise-320, and no support for modular uplink expansion

Interchangeable uplink modules

• C9300-NM-8X: 8×10G SFP+ — €1,650 excluding VAT
• C9300-NM-4G: 4×1G SFP — €290 excluding VAT
• C9300-NM-4M: 4×mGig 1/2.5/5/10G copper ports — €1,890 excluding VAT
• C9300-NM-2Y: 2×25G SFP28 for campus spine-leaf connectivity — €2,150 excluding VAT

Key technical specifications

• CPU: Intel x86 quad-core 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 8 GB DRAM, 16 GB flash
• Switching capacity: 208 Gbps (24 ports) to 416 Gbps (48 ports)
• Forwarding rate: 154 Mpps to 309 Mpps
• Stacking: StackWise-480 (480 Gbps), up to 8 switches per stack
• MAC addresses: 32,000
• VLAN: 4094
• Jumbo frames: 9198 bytes
• QoS: 8 queues per port with SRR/WRR and PQ
• Security: hardware-based 256-bit MACsec, TrustSec, and Cisco ETA
• Power supplies: 2 redundant hot-swappable PSUs

PoE budget: the critical consideration

PoE capacity is often undersized. Always calculate the budget based on the connected devices:

• Cisco 8851 IP phone: 6.5W (PoE 802.3af class 3)
• IP phone with display: 13W (PoE+ 802.3at)
• WiFi 5 access point: 13W
• WiFi 6 access point (CW9166): 31W (UPOE required)
• WiFi 6E access point (CW9172): 45W (UPOE only)
• Dome IP camera: 9-13W (PTZ up to 25W)
• Building automation hub or digital display: 15-60W

Example: 48 WiFi 6 APs + 20 IP phones = 48×31 + 20×13 = 1748W. This requires a C9300-48U (1110W UPOE) plus an additional 1100W AC power supply, or the load must be split across two stacked switches.

Mandatory licenses: understanding the model

Since IOS-XE 16.12, Cisco has transitioned to Network + DNA licensing. A C9300 switch without a Network license cannot be configured for production use and is limited to a 90-day evaluation mode.

• Network Essentials (NE): Layer 2/3, VLAN, QoS, ACL, and SNMP — 3 years included, approximately €590 excluding VAT per year for renewal
• Network Advantage (NA): all NE capabilities plus BGP, EIGRP, OSPF, VXLAN, MPLS, and HSRP — approximately €1,290 excluding VAT per year
• DNA Essentials: ThousandEyes telemetry and basic Assurance, 3 years — €890 excluding VAT
• DNA Advantage: SD-Access, ETA, StealthWatch, and PoE Analytics — €1,890 excluding VAT for 3 years
• DNA Premier: Cisco AI Endpoint Analytics plus Advanced Wireless — €2,790 excluding VAT for 3 years

OPTINOC recommendation: for a campus without SD-Access, choose NE + DNA Essentials, the minimum required combination. For a campus undergoing SDN transformation, choose NA + DNA Advantage.

StackWise-480 stacking: deployment guide

Stacking enables up to 8 switches to be managed as a single entity. Configuration requirements:

• Stack cables: STACK-T1-50CM (50 cm, €75), STACK-T1-1M (1m, €95), STACK-T1-3M (3m, €185)
• A ring topology is mandatory for redundancy through dual attachment
• Set the master priority using the switch 1 priority 15 command
• Stack master failover: <1 second with NSF/SSO enabled
• Limitation: all switches in the stack must have the same DNA license

Sizing by use case

SMB with 50-100 workstations

2× stacked C9300L-48P-4X switches + 1× C9300L-24T for servers. Hardware budget excluding VAT: 2×3850 + 1890 = €9,590, plus 3-year NE licenses (€1,800). 3-year TCO: approximately €11,400.

Mid-sized enterprise with 200-500 workstations

4× C9300-48U switches with UPOE for all WiFi 6 APs + 2× C9300-24UX mGig switches for the executive meeting room. 2×10G SFP+ uplinks to the core. Budget: 4×5890 + 2×6890 = €37,340 excluding VAT, plus uplink modules and licenses. 3-year TCO: approximately €45,000.

Large enterprise with 1,000-5,000 workstations

Stacks of 4-8 switches per floor, using C9300-48U switches in StackWise-480 stacks, a Catalyst 9500 core configured with VSS, and management through DNA Center. Budget: approximately €250,000 to €800,000 excluding VAT, depending on the number of buildings.

Warranty, support, and end of life

• LLW (Lifetime Limited Warranty) for as long as you own the switch
• Next Business Day hardware replacement through Cisco Smart Net Total Care (SNTC): approximately 15% of the price excluding VAT per year
• SNT-C9300-48U Smart Net 8x5xNBD: approximately €850 excluding VAT per year
• End-of-Sale is announced on a model-by-model basis, generally 5-7 years after release
• End-of-Support for software: 5 years after EoS, including security updates

Competing alternatives

• HPE Aruba CX 6300: comparable switching capabilities, stronger cloud orchestration through Aruba Central, and 10-15% less expensive
• Juniper EX4300-MP: excellent for data center edge and ISP deployments, but more complex for campus automation
• Arista 720XP: high performance, with fewer advanced PoE capabilities

Order from OPTINOC

OPTINOC offers the complete range of brand-new, genuine Cisco Catalyst 9300 products with the manufacturer's warranty, preconfigured Network and DNA licenses, stack cables, and deployment support. Receive a quote within 2 hours, including PoE budget, licensing, and stacking estimates. Delivery within 24-72 hours in France.