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Cisco catalyst 9300/9500 real world review
December 19, 2023

Cisco catalyst 9300/9500 real world review

Adam Diaz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • C9500
  • C9300

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches

The catalyst switches that our company chose to use for the switching requirements we needed to resolve were of the Cisco C9300 variety, it was chosen for the high switching capabilities that the devices can produce. the data plane boosts of high switching rate and can be monitored on the Meraki dashboard.
  • they can can switch data packets fast
  • they can be stacked up to seven chassis
  • they also have dual power, but be aware of the POE budget trickery
  • they also power stack so if both power supplies fail they can continue to be operational, subject to the power supply wattage
  • if your DC requires labelling as all should, on the C9500-48Y4C there is no room for hostname labels.
  • the noise from the small replicable fans are very loud on the C9500-24/48Y4C chassis. They do not ramp down - thinks its an airplane taking off???
  • the C9500-24/48Y4C be stacked with stackwise virtual, but only 2 physical chassis can be members. This should be increased to four, although that would remove the need for the C9400 modular switch come to think of it.
  • high MTBF
  • very reliable
  • high network availability
  • Cisco Meraki MX
  • Cisco Meraki MR
  • Cisco Catalyst Switches
  • Cisco Aironet and Catalyst Access Points
  • Cisco Umbrella
Cisco Catalyst switches they are the bedrock of all Cisco switching equipment especially layer 2 or 3 campus switching. They are very interoperable with all other types of cisco switches. One example is the C9500-48Y4C they can be used for core switching or aggregation switching for a collapsed core design. This model also support IPSEC tunnels over microwave links depending on the firmware. They can also be monitored on the Meraki cloud based dashboard

Do you think Cisco Catalyst Switches delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst Switches's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Catalyst Switches live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst Switches go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Catalyst Switches again?

Yes

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000), Cisco Industrial Ethernet 3000 Series Switches (IE 3000), Cisco Industrial Wireless Access Points
It all depends on Capex budgets, if you have a huge taxable write off budget then Cisco Catalyst Switches are available in all shapes and sizes to suit every scenario. If looking from an opex budget, then they can be quite costly to that budget. All in all, nothing screen corporate more than rows of Cisco Catalyst Switches.