Cisco C9500-12Q-M English Product Description

Important Pre-Note

Cisco Catalyst 9500 base hardware only ships with -E (Network Essentials) and -A (Network Advantage) factory embedded perpetual network licenses; there is no official Cisco "-M" base hardware SKU for C9500-12Q. The suffix -M typically stands for DNA Essentials term subscription add-on bundled with Network Essentials hardware, representing the full package: C9500-12Q-E hardware + DNA Essentials 3/5/7-year term license. All physical hardware specs are identical to C9500-12Q-E; differences lie solely in software subscription entitlements.

Product Overview

The Cisco Catalyst C9500-12Q-M is a 1RU high-performance fixed core & aggregation switch bundle consisting of C9500-12Q-E hardware with pre-included Cisco DNA Essentials term subscription license, built on UADP 3.0 ASIC and Cisco IOS XE. It delivers wire-speed 40G QSFP+ fiber forwarding, StackWise-480 high-bandwidth stacking, basic Layer 2/3 routing, entry-level automation and telemetry via DNA Essentials, optimized for cost-controlled campus aggregation, small leaf-spine DC, inter-building backbone deployments requiring basic DNA Center visibility and zero-touch provisioning.

Identical Hardware Specifications (Same as C9500-12Q-E / C9500-12Q-A)

Port Layout

12 non-blocking 40G QSFP+ fiber ports; each QSFP+ supports breakout to 4×10G SFP+ via splitter cables
Management interfaces: 1×RJ45 console, 1×Mini-USB console, 1×USB-A, dedicated 1G out-of-band management port
No copper/PoE ports, fully fiber-optimized for high-speed interconnections

Performance & Physical

Switching Capacity: 960 Gbps full-duplex non-blocking
Forwarding Rate: 720 Mpps wire-speed packet forwarding
Form Factor: 1U rack-mount, front-to-back airflow
Memory & Storage: 16 GB DDR4 DRAM, 16 GB SSD flash, large shared deep packet buffer
Stacking: StackWise-480 (480 Gbps bandwidth), up to 8 switches per logical stack; StackWise Virtual dual-box redundancy supported
Power & Cooling: Dual hot-swappable 950W platinum AC power supplies, redundant field-replaceable fans (N+1 redundancy)
Environment: Operating 0°C–40°C; storage -20°C–65°C; humidity 5%–90% non-condensing
MTBF: Up to 179,660 hours

Scalability Table Capacities

MAC Address Table: 64,000 entries
IPv4 Routes: 64,000 indirect + 32,000 host routes
IPv6 Routes: 32,000 indirect + 16,000 host routes
Combined IPv4/IPv6 Multicast Routes: 48,000
Hardware ACLs (Security/QoS): 18,000 each
Flexible NetFlow: Max 512,000 flow records
VLAN Support: 4,094 VLAN IDs, full SVI inter-VLAN routing
Jumbo Frame: Up to 9198 bytes

Software License Feature Set (C9500-12Q-M = Network Essentials Perpetual + DNA Essentials Term)

1. Embedded Network Essentials Base License (Perpetual)

Layer 2: STP/RSTP/MSTP, LACP, Q-in-Q, Private VLAN, SPAN/RSPAN/ERSPAN
Basic Layer 3: Static routing, RIP, single-area OSPF, EIGRP Stub, HSRP/VRRP, dual-stack IPv4/IPv6, basic NAT/PAT
Fundamental Security: Secure boot, Trust Anchor module, 802.1X, limited MACsec, CoPP, standard ACL filtering
HA Features: SSO/NSF graceful restart, cross-stack LACP, ISSU hitless stacking upgrade, hot-swap power/fan
Basic QoS & Multicast: Hierarchical QoS, policing/shaping, WRED, PIM-SM/SSM for video streaming

2. DNA Essentials Term Subscription (The "-M" Add-On Entitlements)

Cisco DNA Center core functions: Network inventory, zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), basic image management
Basic network assurance: Limited telemetry, simple traffic visibility, device health monitoring
Simplified smart licensing management via CSSM
Limited ISE integration for basic endpoint authentication policies
No SD-Access fabric, TrustSec micro-segmentation, advanced automation or full DNA Advantage analytics

Feature Limitations vs C9500-12Q-A (Network Advantage + DNA Advantage)

Missing full routing suite: Multi-area OSPF, full EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS, MPLS L2/L3 VPN, PBR, VRF-lite multi-tenancy
No advanced security: TrustSec SGT segmentation, SD-Access fabric, LISP/VXLAN overlay, full hardware DDoS mitigation
Restricted automation: No Python guest shell container hosting, full NETCONF/YANG, advanced DNA Center policy orchestration
Limited telemetry and application visibility, no ThousandEyes or advanced threat analytics

Typical Deployment Scenarios for C9500-12Q-M

Mid-size campus aggregation with budget constraints, requiring basic DNA Center monitoring
Small leaf-spine data centers without multi-tenant overlay or BGP core routing
Inter-campus fiber backbone links needing zero-touch deployment and basic device health tracking
Branch core networks that do not require SD-Access zero-trust segmentation

Short Catalog Version (For Quotation & BOM)

Cisco C9500-12Q-M Catalyst 9500 12-Port 40G QSFP+ Switch, Network Essentials Perpetual + DNA Essentials Term License Bundle

1RU high-performance fiber aggregation core switch with 12×40G QSFP+ ports, UADP 3.0 ASIC, 960Gbps switching capacity, StackWise-480 stacking, dual redundant platinum AC power supplies. Factory embedded Network Essentials perpetual license paired with DNA Essentials term subscription for basic Layer2/3 routing, entry-level Cisco DNA Center automation, zero-touch provisioning and fundamental network assurance, targeted at cost-sensitive campus aggregation and small-scale data center high-speed fiber interconnection.


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