Advanced persistent security threats, exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, mobility everywhere and cloud adoption require a network fabric that integrates advanced hardware and software innovations to automate, secure, and simplify customer networks. The goal of this network fabric is to enable customer revenue growth by accelerating business service rollout.
The Cisco® Digital Network Architecture (Cisco DNA) with Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) is the network fabric that powers business. Cisco DNA is an open and extensible, software-driven architecture that accelerates and simplifies your enterprise network operations. The programmable architecture frees your IT staff from time consuming, repetitive network configuration tasks so they can focus instead on innovation that positively transforms your business. SD-Access enables policy-based automation from edge to cloud with foundational capabilities. These include:
● Simplified device deployment
● Unified management of wired and wireless networks
● Network virtualization and segmentation
● Group-based policies
● Context-based analytics
The Cisco Catalyst® 9400 Series switches are Cisco’s leading modular enterprise switching access, distribution and core platform built for security, IoT and cloud. These switches form the foundational building block for SD-Access ― Cisco’s lead enterprise architecture. The platform provides unparalleled investment protection with a chassis architecture that is capable of supporting up to 9 Tbps of system bandwidth and unmatched power delivery for high density IEEE 802.3bt (60W and 90W PoE). Redundancy is now table stakes across the portfolio. The Catalyst 9400 delivers state-of-the-art High Availability (HA) with capabilities like Cisco® StackWise® Virtual technology with In-service-software-upgrade (ISSU), SSO/NSF, uplink resiliency, N+1/N+N redundancy for power supplies. The platform is enterprise optimized with an innovative dual-serviceable fan tray design, side to side airflow and is closet-friendly with ~16” depth. A single system can scale up to 384 access ports with your choice of 1G copper, mGig, Cisco UPOE+©, UPOE, PoE+, 1G Fiber options. The availability of 1/10 G fiber ports facilitate aggregation of existing small form factor fixed access switches. The addition of the new SUP-1XL-Y supervisor allows unique investment protection through 25 G uplink connectivity option which is becoming a popular alternative to 10 G in the core. The platform also supports advanced routing and infrastructure services, SD-Access capabilities and network system virtualization. These features enable optional placement of the platform in the core and aggregation layers of small to medium-sized campus environments.
Embedded Wireless on Catalyst 9000 switches (SD-Access network not required) using WebUI: The Cisco Catalyst 9800 embedded Wireless Controller Software package can be installed on Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series switches to enable wireless controller functionality. This solution is designed for single secure site deployment. You can use the simple WebUI to configure and enable the wireless controller. Once installed, the Catalyst 9800 embedded Wireless Controller running on a Catalyst 9400 Series switch can support up to 200 APs and 4000 Clients. A maximum of two wireless controllers can be enabled per site on two different Catalyst 9400 Series switches increasing the scale up to 400 APs and 8000 Wireless Clients. Up to 4 VRFs are supported. SSO support is also available in dual-SUP mode.
Cisco DNA Software
Cisco DNA Software offers a valuable and flexible way to buy software for the access, WAN, and data center domains. At each stage in the product lifecycle, Cisco DNA Software helps make buying, managing, and upgrading your network and infrastructure software easier. Cisco DNA Software provides:
● Flexible licensing models to smoothly distribute customers’ software spending over time
● Investment protection for software purchases through software services–enabled license portability
● Access to updates, upgrades, and new technology from Cisco through Cisco® Software Support Services (SWSS)
● Lower cost of entry with the new Cisco DNA Subscription for Switching model
Cisco DNA for Access lets you manage your entire switching structure as a single, converged component. With one management system and one policy for wired and wireless networks, it offers an efficient way to provide more secure access.
Figure 1.
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series chassis
The Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series offers three chassis options and a wide range of line card options (Table 1). It provides a common architecture that can scale up to 400 ports. Cisco StackWise Virtual technology doubles this port density by virtually stacking two Catalyst 9400 modular switches in a single logical switch.
The Catalyst 9400 Series chassis is enterprise optimized with efficient side-to-side airflow and full front accessibility for all removable components, including supervisors, line cards, power supplies and fan tray. The chassis also supports optional rear accessibility for fan trays to enable efficient cable management. Catalyst 9400 Series chassis, supervisor, line cards, powersupply and fan trays have embedded RFID tags which facilitate easy asset and inventory management using commercial RFID readers.
Table 1. Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series chassis features
Feature
|
Cisco Catalyst C9404R Chassis
|
Cisco Catalyst C9407R Chassis
|
Cisco Catalyst C9410R Chassis
|
Total number of slots
|
4
|
7
|
10
|
Line-card slots
|
2
|
5
|
8
|
Supervisor engine slots
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
Dedicated supervisor engine slot numbers
|
2 and 34
|
3 and 44
|
5 and 64
|
Supervisor engine redundancy
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Supervisor engines supported
|
C9400-SUP-1,
C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
C9400-SUP-1,
C9400-SUP-1XL,
C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
C9400-SUP-1,
C9400-SUP-1XL,
C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
Maximum PoE per slot
|
4320W5
|
4320W5
|
2960W5
|
Maximum Bandwidth scalability per line-card slot
|
Up to 480 Gbps on all slots6
|
Up to 480 Gbps on all slots7
|
Up to 480 Gbps on all slots8
|
Number of power supply bays
|
4
|
8
|
8
|
AC input power
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Integrated PoE
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Power supplies supported
|
3200W AC, 2100W AC, 3200W DC
|
3200W AC, 2100W AC, 3200W DC
|
3200W AC, 2100W AC, 3200W DC
|
Number of fan-tray bays
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
Location of 19-inch rack-mount
|
Front
|
Front
|
Front
|
1 Slots 2 and 3 are reserved for supervisor engines only in Cisco Catalyst C9404R; slots 1 and 4 are reserved for line cards.
2 Slots 3 and 4 are reserved for supervisor engines only in Cisco Catalyst C9407R; slots 1-2 and 5-7 are reserved for line cards.
3 Slots 5 and 6 are reserved for supervisor engines only in Cisco Catalyst C9410R; slots 1-4 and 7-10 are reserved for line cards.
4 Linecards are not supported in the Supervisor slots.
5 Max PoE mentioned is as per the current shipping linecard, however chassis is capable ~4800W PoE per slot.
6 80Gbps per line-card slot when used with C9400-SUP-1 and 240Gbps per line-card slot when used with C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y.
7 80Gbps per line-card slot when used with C9400-SUP-1 and 120Gbps per line-card slot when used with C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y.
8 80Gbps per line-card slot when used with C9400-SUP-1 and 80Gbps per line-card slot when used with C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y.
Supervisor configuration
The Catalyst 9400 Series offers an industry-leading supervisor engine built for secure networks, IoT applications, next generation mobility and cloud adoption. Supervisor Engine-1 options (Sup-1, Sup-1XL, Sup-1XL-Y) are built with the latest Unified Access Dataplane 2.0 (UADP2.0) ASIC future-proofed for next generation technologies with its programmable pipeline, microengine capabilities and template-based configurable allocation of Layer 2, Layer 3, forwarding, Access Control Lists (ACLs) and QoS entries.
Table 2. Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Supervisor Engine maximum bandwidth per slot
Feature
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
Cisco Catalyst C9404R chassis
|
80 Gbps/slot
|
240 Gbps/slot
|
240 Gbps/slot
|
Cisco Catalyst C9407R chassis
|
80 Gbps/slot
|
120 Gbps/slot
|
120 Gbps/slot
|
Cisco Catalyst C9410R chassis
|
80 Gbps/slot
|
80 Gbps/slot
|
80 Gbps/slot
|
Table 3 lists the minimum software requirements for the Cisco Catalyst 9400 supervisor engine.
Table 3. Cisco catalyst Supervisor Engine Software Minimum Requirements
Chassis
|
Supervisor Engine
|
Minimum Software Requirement
|
Cisco C9407R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.1
|
Cisco C9410R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.1
|
Cisco C9407R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.2
|
Cisco C9410R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.2
|
Cisco C9404R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.9.1
|
Cisco C9404R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.9.1
|
Cisco C9404R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.9.1
|
Cisco C9407R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.9.1
|
Cisco C9410R
|
Supervisor Engine C9400-SUP-1XL-Y
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.9.1
|
Line card configuration options
The Catalyst 9400 offers the ability to mix and match a range of line cards to support numerous LAN access, server connectivity, Small and Medium-sized Business (SMB) or branch-office deployments. The Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series supports the line cards listed in Table 4 by part number.
Table 4. Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series line cards
Product Number
|
Description
|
Minimum Software Requirement
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Line Cards
|
C9400-LC-48U
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port UPOE 10/100/1000 (RJ-45)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.1
|
C9400-LC-48T
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port 10/100/1000 (RJ-45)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.1
|
C9400-LC-48UX
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48Port UPOE w/ 24p mGig 24p RJ-45
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.2
|
C9400-LC-24XS
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 24-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP+)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.6.2
|
C9400-LC-48P
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port POE+ 10/100/1000 (RJ-45)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.8.1
|
C9400-LC-24S
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet(SFP)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.8.1
|
C9400-LC-48S
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet(SFP)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.8.1
|
C9400-LC-48H
|
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port UPOE+ 10/100/1000 (RJ-45)
|
Cisco IOS XE Software Release 16.12.1
|
The Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series has flexible interface types and port densities that allow you to mix and match network configurations to meet the specific needs of campus networks (Table 5).
Table 5. Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Maximum port densities
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switching Modules
|
Cisco Catalyst C9404R
|
Cisco Catalyst C9407R
|
Cisco Catalyst C9410R
|
10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit (RJ‑45) ports
|
96
|
240
|
384
|
10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet with POE+ ports
|
96
|
240
|
384
|
Switched 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet with UPOE ports
|
96
|
240
|
384
|
Switched 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports
|
48
|
120
|
192
|
Cisco Multigigabit Ethernet ports (with UPOE)
|
48
|
120
|
192
|
Switched 1 Gigabit Ethernet ports
|
96
|
240
|
384
|
802.3 BT Type 4 (90W) Ports
|
96
|
240
|
3841
|
1 With max power 260 ports can supply full 90W on all ports concurrently |