Cisco C9500-32QC-E Full English Product Description

Product Overview

The Cisco Catalyst C9500-32QC-E is a 1RU high-performance fixed core/aggregation switch preloaded with Network Essentials perpetual license, part of Cisco flagship Catalyst 9500 enterprise switching portfolio. Powered by single UADP 3.0 ASIC and Cisco IOS XE operating system, this hybrid 40G/100G fiber switch delivers flexible high-density optical connectivity, wire-speed non-blocking forwarding, foundational Layer 2/3 routing, basic hardware security and StackWise-480 stacking. Optimized for cost-sensitive campus core, small-to-medium data center leaf-spine fabric and inter-building backbone networks without advanced full routing, SD-Access or TrustSec micro-segmentation requirementsCisco.

C9500-32QC-E Front Panel

Port Configuration

32 universal QSFP28 ports supporting dual operation modes:
1. 32 × 40G QSFP+ (full 40G density)
2. 16 × 100G QSFP28 (half-populated 100G high-speed uplink mode)
Each QSFP28 port supports breakout cables to split into 4×10G or 4×25G sub-links, expanding up to 128×10G/25G total fiber interfaces
Out-of-band management interfaces: 1×RJ45 console, 1×Mini-USB console, 1×USB Type-A storage port, 1×dedicated 1G OOB management port
No copper or PoE ports; fully fiber-optimized for high-bandwidth interconnection
All ports support 256-bit MACsec encryption, LACP link aggregation, jumbo frames up to 9198 bytesCisco

Core Hardware Specifications

Switching Capacity: 3.2 Tbps full-duplex non-blocking
Forwarding Rate: 1 Bpps wire-speed packet forwarding for 64-byte frames
Form Factor: 1U rack-mount, front-to-back airflow design
Memory & Storage: 16 GB DDR4 DRAM, 16 GB SSD flash storage, large shared deep packet buffer for burst traffic absorption
Stacking: StackWise-480 stacking (480 Gbps stacking bandwidth), up to 8 switches per logical stack; compatible with StackWise Virtual dual-box virtualization
Power & Cooling: Dual hot-swappable power supply slots (supports 650W/950W AC/DC platinum efficiency PSUs); redundant field-replaceable fan trays with N+1 cooling redundancy
Physical Dimensions: 4.4cm(H) × 44.5cm(W) × 56.8cm(D); weight ~11.63 kg
Environmental: Operating temperature 0°C–40°C; storage -20°C–65°C; humidity 5%–90% non-condensing
Minimum IOS XE Release: Fuji 16.8.1a

Scalability Table Capacities

MAC Address Table: 64,000 entries
IPv4 Routes: 64,000 indirect routes + 32,000 host routes
IPv6 Routes: 32,000 indirect routes + 16,000 host routes
Combined IPv4/IPv6 Multicast Routes: 48,000
Hardware-Accelerated Security ACL Entries: 18,000
Hardware-Accelerated QoS ACL Entries: 18,000
Flexible NetFlow Records: Up to 512,000
Supported VLAN IDs: 4,094; full SVI Layer 3 inter-VLAN routing

Network Essentials (E License) Feature Suite

Layer 2 & Basic Layer 3 Routing

Complete Layer 2 feature set: STP/RSTP/MSTP, LACP, private VLAN, Q-in-Q, SPAN/RSPAN
Core dynamic routing protocols: Static routing, RIP, single-area OSPF, EIGRP stub mode, HSRP, VRRP
Dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 wire-speed forwarding, basic static NAT/PAT

Foundational Hardware Security

Secure boot, Trust Anchor module, image signature verification
802.1X port authentication, basic MACsec port encryption, CoPP control plane policing
Standard hardware ACL filtering, zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), baseline threat traffic suppression

Monitoring & Limited Automation

Management access: CLI, local web UI, SNMP v2/v3, partial NETCONF/YANG support
Flexible NetFlow, basic telemetry, Embedded Event Manager (EEM)
Limited Cisco DNA Center compatibility for inventory and ZTP; advanced fabric functions require Network Advantage license

High Availability

SSO/NSF graceful restart, cross-stack LACP, ISSU hitless stacking firmware upgrade
Hot-swappable redundant power supplies and fans for non-disruptive maintenance

QoS & Multicast

Hierarchical QoS, traffic policing/shaping, WRED congestion avoidance
Standard PIM-SM/SSM multicast for IPTV, video conferencing and media streaming

Key Limitations vs C9500-32QC-A (Network Advantage)

Lacks full BGP, multi-area OSPF, full EIGRP, IS-IS, MPLS L2/L3 VPN and MVPN
No VRF-lite multi-tenant segmentation, policy-based routing (PBR), LISP or VXLAN
No Cisco TrustSec SGT micro-segmentation, SD-Access fabric architecture
Restricted DNA Center automation; unsupported container hosting and full ERSPAN telemetry

Typical Deployment Scenarios

Cost-controlled enterprise campus core/aggregation with mixed 40G/100G uplink requirements
Small-scale data center leaf-spine fabric with flexible breakout 10G/25G server aggregation
Inter-campus fiber backbone links without cross-region BGP routing
Branch campus core networks without zero-trust segmentation or SD-Access fabric
Mid-market enterprise infrastructure prioritizing budget and basic Layer 3 functionality

Short Catalog Version (For BOM & Quotation)

Cisco C9500-32QC-E Catalyst 9500 32-Port 40G/100G QSFP28 Switch, Network Essentials License

1RU hybrid high-density fiber core switch with 32 universal QSFP28 ports (32×40G or 16×100G, breakout to 128×10G/25G), UADP 3.0 ASIC, 3.2Tbps switching capacity, StackWise-480 stacking, dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies, pre-installed Network Essentials IOS XE license, basic Layer 2/3 routing, foundational hardware MACsec security and simplified DNA Center management, designed for budget-sensitive campus core and small data center high-speed fiber interconnection.


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