Cisco Nexus 9300: Data Sheet

The Cisco Nexus 9300 is Cisco's range of top-of-rack (ToR) data center switches, designed for spine-leaf, VXLAN/EVPN, and Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure) architectures. It differs from the Catalyst 9300 by running NX-OS instead of IOS-XE and being optimized for data center latency and density. Complete data sheet.

Positioning and use cases

• Top-of-Rack (ToR) deployment in a data center with 24-48 servers
• Leaf switch in a VXLAN/EVPN spine-leaf fabric
• ACI leaf switch in a Cisco ACI fabric (APIC mode)
• Border leaf for WAN/MPLS interconnection
• Storage network (FCoE, RoCE, NFS over IP)

Main product range and part numbers

Nexus 9300-EX/FX (Cloud Scale ASIC)

• N9K-C93180YC-EX: 48×25G SFP28 + 6×100G QSFP28 (ACI/NX-OS) — €24,500 excl. VAT
• N9K-C93180YC-FX: 48×25G + 6×100G + MACsec support + enhanced NetFlow — €28,900 excl. VAT
• N9K-C93240YC-FX2: 48×25G + 12×100G (high-density uplinks) — €38,500 excl. VAT
• N9K-C9336C-FX2: 36×100G QSFP28 (entry-level spine) — €42,000 excl. VAT

Nexus 9300-GX (400G)

• N9K-C9316D-GX: 16×400G QSFP-DD — €48,900 excl. VAT
• N9K-C93600CD-GX: 36×100G + 4×400G — €54,500 excl. VAT
• N9K-C9364C-GX: 64×100G + 12×400G — €89,000 excl. VAT

Technical specifications

• ASIC: Cisco Cloud Scale (CS/ASE-2/ASE-3), depending on the model
• Switching capacity: 3.6 Tbps (93180YC-EX) to 25.6 Tbps (9364C-GX)
• Latency: 800 ns (cut-through) to 1.2 µs (store-and-forward)
• Buffer: 40 MB shared buffer per ASIC
• VXLAN: native hardware support, up to 16M VNI
• EVPN: Type-2 (MAC/IP), Type-5 (IP prefix), MP-BGP
• FCoE: supported (storage license required)
• Jumbo frames: 9216 bytes
• MACsec: 256-bit (FX/GX models only)

NX-OS vs. ACI mode: the key architectural decision

Standalone NX-OS mode

Traditional CLI configuration, manual VXLAN EVPN, and manually configured BGP eBGP/iBGP. Suitable for traditional data centers with an experienced network team. No APIC controller required.

ACI mode (Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure)

Configuration through APIC (controller), using a declarative contract/tenant/EPG model. Full automation and native multi-tenancy. Requires 3× APIC controllers (€25,000 excl. VAT each). ACI licenses per switch: +€5,000 excl. VAT/switch.

Spine-leaf: typical sizing

Small fabric (2 spine + 4 leaf)

• 2× N9K-C9336C-FX2 (spine, 36×100G): €84,000 excl. VAT
• 4× N9K-C93180YC-EX (leaf, 48×25G server ports + 6×100G spine ports): €98,000 excl. VAT
• Cables: 8× QSFP-100G-AOC3M for spine-leaf: ~€5,000 excl. VAT
• NX-OS Essentials licenses included + Advantage: +€15,000 excl. VAT
• Total hardware cost: ~€202,000 excl. VAT

Medium fabric (4 spine + 8 leaf)

For 192 25G servers with 2N redundancy. Hardware budget: ~€450,000 excl. VAT; 5-year TCO with support: ~€680,000.

NX-OS licenses

• NX-OS Essentials (included): basic BGP, VLAN, STP
• NX-OS Advantage: VXLAN EVPN, LISP, MPLS — €4,500 excl. VAT/switch/3 years
• NX-OS Premier: + advanced DCNM, Streaming Telemetry — €6,800 excl. VAT/switch/3 years
• Storage License (FCoE): €3,200 excl. VAT/switch

Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs. Cisco DCNM

Since 2021, Cisco has promoted Nexus Dashboard (formerly DCNM) for orchestration:

• Multi-site VXLAN fabric management
• Insights: advanced telemetry and flow analytics
• Orchestrator: cross-site, multi-fabric deployment
• License: ~€15,000 excl. VAT for 25 switches

100G/400G transceivers and cables

• QSFP-100G-SR4: multimode 100m — €1,190 excl. VAT
• QSFP-100G-LR4: single-mode 10km — €3,890 excl. VAT
• QSFP-100G-DR: single-mode 500m — €2,490 excl. VAT
• QSFP-100G-AOC1M to 30M: active cable — €450-890 excl. VAT
• QSFP-100G-CU1M to 5M: passive copper cable (DAC) — €195-590 excl. VAT
• QSFP-DD-400G-SR8: multimode 100m — €3,890 excl. VAT
• QSFP-DD-400G-DR4: single-mode 500m — €5,890 excl. VAT

Comparison with alternatives

• Arista 7050X3/7060X4: equivalent hardware, EOS is widely regarded as more stable, with better CloudVision support
• Juniper QFX5120: very straightforward native EVPN-VXLAN, with fewer ACI/APIC capabilities
• Mellanox/NVIDIA SN3700: high-performance RoCE for AI/ML, less focused on traditional data centers

Order from OPTINOC

OPTINOC supplies new, genuine Nexus 9300 switches with pre-activated NX-OS Advantage licenses, genuine Cisco or 100% OPTINOC-certified 100G modules (40-60% savings), and turnkey spine-leaf integration. ACI or standalone NX-OS quotations provided within 48 hours.