Full Official English Description – Cisco Catalyst C9300-48UN-M

1. Product Overview

2. Port Hardware Specifications

• Downlink Copper Ports: 48 × IEEE 802.3bz Multigigabit RJ45 ports, auto-negotiable speeds: 100 Mbps / 1 Gbps / 2.5 Gbps / 5 Gbps BASE‑T
• PoE Standard: IEEE 802.3bt Class 3 UPOE, maximum 60W DC power output per single RJ45 port
• Rear Modular Uplink Bay: 1 hot-swappable uplink module slot, compatible with SFP+, SFP28, QSFP+ transceivers supporting 10G / 25G / 40G fiber uplink expansion
• Stacking Interfaces: Two dedicated rear StackWise-480 stacking ports with 480 Gbps bidirectional stacking bandwidth; supports stacking of up to 8 switches into one logical switching domain
• Management Interfaces:
  1 × RJ45 serial console port, 1 × USB Type‑A console port
  1 × 1G out‑of‑band management Ethernet port
  1 × USB 3.0 storage port for offline firmware upgrades, log export and local configuration backup
• Onboard Memory & Storage: 8 GB DDR4 DRAM, 16 GB internal flash memory

3. Switching & Forwarding Performance

• Standalone Switching Capacity: 640 Gbps full‑duplex
• Standalone Line‑Rate Forwarding Rate: 476.19 Mpps
• Aggregated Stack Bandwidth: Up to 1120 Gbps across a full stack
• Stack Aggregated Forwarding Rate: 833.33 Mpps
• MAC Address Table Capacity: 32,000 MAC forwarding entries
• IPv4 Routing Table: 32,000 route entries
• IPv6 Routing Table: 16,000 route entries
• Multicast Group Table: 8,000 multicast group entries
• Shared Packet Buffer: 16 MB hardware buffer to absorb bursty wireless, video and IoT traffic
• Hardware ACL Scale: 5,120 ingress rules + 5,120 egress rules
• Flexible NetFlow / IPFIX Flow Table: 64,000 flow entries
• Jumbo Frame Support: Up to 9198 bytes

4. Power & Thermal Architecture

• Power Supply Support: 1 or 2 hot‑swappable Platinum‑efficiency AC power supplies with OIR (Online Insertion and Removal); factory default ships with single 1100W Meraki‑certified AC PSU (PWR‑C1‑1100WAC‑P‑M)
• UPOE Power Budget Scaling:
  Single 1100W PSU: 645W total UPOE power allocation
  Dual high‑wattage redundant PSUs: Maximum 1745W full UPOE capacity for full 60W per‑port endpoint deployment
• StackPower Technology: Cross‑stack power resource pooling in ring topology (supports up to 4 stack members), dynamic PoE load balancing and N+1 power redundancy across stack units
• Cooling System: 3 field‑replaceable variable‑speed hot‑swap fans with redundant cooling design, low acoustic noise for office rack deployment
• Universal Input Voltage: 100–240V AC, 50/60Hz mains input

5. Stacking & High Availability Technology

• StackWise‑480: 480 Gbps high‑speed stacking backplane, sub‑50ms traffic convergence during stack member hardware failure
• SSO/NSF: Stateful Switchover and Nonstop Forwarding to eliminate service interruption during stack supervisor role failover
• Mixed Stack Compatibility: Fully inter‑stackable with all Catalyst 9300‑M Meraki‑managed switches (T/U/UN/S copper/fiber variants); unified single logical stack domain managed under a single Meraki Dashboard view
• Cross‑stack EtherChannel, Flexlink+ and Extended Fast Software Upgrade supported for stack‑level resiliency

6. Hardware‑Accelerated Security (Tier‑Locked by Meraki Subscription)

• MACsec 256‑bit AES hardware link encryption supported on all copper downlinks and fiber uplink ports
• Trustworthy Systems secure boot, runtime integrity verification and digital firmware authenticity validation
• Endpoint Authentication Suite: IEEE 802.1X, MAB, cloud‑managed captive WebAuth portal access control
• Layer 2 Threat Mitigation: Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), DHCP Snooping, IP Source Guard, BPDU Guard, broadcast/multicast storm suppression
• Secure Management Transport: SSH, HTTPS, SNMPv3, fully encrypted persistent cloud tunnel to Meraki Dashboard
• Tier‑Restricted Advanced Security Functions:
  Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), Adaptive Policy group‑based microsegmentation, full IPFIX streaming telemetry and advanced remote packet capture require a Meraki Advanced subscription license; only baseline threat prevention is available under Meraki Enterprise tier

7. Layer 2 & Layer 3 Protocol Support

Full Layer 2 Feature Set

Layer 3 Routing Protocols

• Limitation: Advanced routing protocols including BGP and full Policy‑Based Routing (PBR) are unlocked exclusively with the Meraki Advanced subscription license

8. Software & Meraki Cloud Licensing Ecosystem

• Operating System: Custom hybrid Cisco IOS XE image optimized exclusively for Meraki Dashboard cloud orchestration
• Core Licensing Difference vs C9300‑48UN‑E / C9300‑48UN‑A: No perpetual Cisco DNA Network Essentials / Network Advantage licenses. The switch requires mandatory time‑based Meraki term subscriptions (1/3/5/7/10‑year) in two tiers:
  1. Meraki Enterprise: Base Layer 2 / lightweight Layer 3 routing, basic telemetry, zero‑touch provisioning, real‑time dashboard monitoring, email/SMS event alerts
  2. Meraki Advanced: Adds ETA malware detection, full IPFIX streaming telemetry, Adaptive Policy microsegmentation, advanced remote diagnostics and expanded routing scale
• Unified Management Channels:
  1. Meraki Cloud Dashboard (primary): Graphical centralized configuration, template‑based mass deployment, scheduled automatic firmware upgrades, historical traffic analytics, cross‑site topology visualization
  2. Local CLI via console / SSH for emergency on‑prem troubleshooting
• Programmability: Meraki REST API, on‑box Python guest shell, limited NETCONF/YANG streaming telemetry export

9. Physical & Environmental Specifications

• Form Factor: 1 Rack Unit (1RU) standard 19‑inch EIA rack‑mount chassis
• External Dimensions: 445 mm (W) × 564 mm (D) × 44 mm (H) / 17.5 × 22.2 × 1.73 inches
• Chassis Weight (single PSU installed): 9.09 kg (20.04 lbs)
• Operating Ambient Temperature: 0°C ~ +45°C
• Storage Temperature: -40°C ~ +70°C
• Operating Humidity: 5% – 90% non‑condensing
• Typical MTBF Rating: 198,647 hours under standard factory operating conditions
• Compliance Certifications: UL, CSA, CE, FCC Class A, ICES‑003, RoHS, TAA compliant

10. Model Naming Breakdown

• C9300: Base standard Catalyst 9300 stackable enterprise switching hardware platform (StackWise‑480 non‑X series)
• 48UN: 48‑port 5G multigigabit mGig RJ45 chassis with IEEE 802.3bt UPOE (max 60W per port)
• M: Meraki Cloud‑Managed variant, requires term‑based Meraki Enterprise/Advanced subscription licenses; no perpetual Cisco DNA entitlements

11. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Multi‑site enterprise campus floor stacking with centralized Meraki cloud monitoring for Wi‑Fi 6/6E medium‑power wireless APs
2. Medium‑scale IP surveillance aggregation for 60W PTZ cameras without high‑power 90W UPOE++ demand
3. Distributed smart building IoT edge aggregation: access control panels, lighting controllers, digital signage and mixed office endpoints
4. Chain retail, multi‑branch office stacking deployments requiring zero‑touch remote provisioning and unified cross‑location visibility
5. Cloud‑first wired access layer deployments prioritizing remote lifecycle management without on‑premises DNA Center infrastructure

Key Distinction Note

• ‑M: Meraki cloud subscription‑managed, feature tiers split by Enterprise/Advanced term licenses
• ‑E: On‑prem DNA Center managed, perpetual Cisco DNA Network Essentials baseline license
• ‑A: On‑prem DNA Center managed, perpetual Cisco DNA Network Advantage full‑feature license suite