Migration from Cisco 3650 & 3850 to Cisco 9300 Switches

Discover all the benefits of a system migration with our Cisco 9300 vs. 3850 & 3650 comparison and our guide on new features of the Cisco 9300 series.

Network security is the prime concern in this digital disruption age, so a Cisco migration to newer switches is essential. Network planners and engineers who have been familiar with Cisco Catalyst 3650/3850 Series Switches are recommended to deploy Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches to guarantee robust security in their enterprise networking environment.

Overview

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series fixed access switches are built to help you change your network from a platform of connectivity to a platform of services. It is the first-of-a-kind purpose-built platform designed for complete fabric control with Cisco DNA and Software-Defined Access (SD-Access). Its users will experience versatile capabilities in this switching system.

The Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series consists of access switches (stack and single switch) and core/access (in smaller branch offices) switches. This series is the industry's first optimized platform for 802.11ac Wave 2, with support for 2.5Gbps, multi-gigabit downlinks, and Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) and Cisco Universal PoE. Get the support for the highest density of 802.11ac Wave 2 (48 access points) in a single Rack-Unit box.

Reasons to Migrate

Cisco StackPower technology makes Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches resilient and efficient, delivering high-density Cisco UPoE and PoE+ ports. These switches provide unparalleled PoE resilient capabilities, such as Perpetual and Fast PoE, which help optimize them for Internet of Things (IoT) deployments.

Key Benefits:

1. Reduced cost and complexity with Cisco-defined Access by automating policy. It enables fast service creation and provides complete visibility into the wired and wireless access network environment.

2. Advanced end-to-end security to handle threats before, during, and after attacks

3. Designed to create better customer and employee experience through higher performance and improved support for mobility and new apps

System Hardware:

Based on Cisco's UADP 2.0 ASIC architecture and an x86 CPU architecture, Cisco 9300 Series Switches can provide additional internal and external storage and enable the device to host containers and run third-party applications and scripts natively within the switch.

Upgraded features:

Upgraded features between Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches and Cisco 3850 Series Switches:

System Default Features

The Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series has the same system default behavior as the Cisco Catalyst 3650/3850 Series. Take, for example, the interface's default to Layer 2 switch port mode. IP routing is disabled. The management interface is in a dedicated virtual routing and forwarding instance.

Control Plane Policing (CoPP) is enabled on the Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series with default policing rates for different traffic classes. These policing rates are optimized for a typical campus environment. CoPP is not enabled by default on the Cisco 3650/3850 Series. However, those provide a macro to create the different classes. Their users can specify the policing rate for different classes.

The Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series offers the same robust high-availability features as the Cisco Catalyst 3650/3850 Series. Cisco 9300 Series supports StackWise-480 and StackWise-320. For customers migrating from 3850 Series stacks to 9300 Series stacks, similar stacking cables can be used to stack 9300 Series switches. An additional stack kit will be necessary for Stackwise 320 for customers migrating from 3650 Series Stack to 9300L stacks.

The Cisco 9300 Series also supports Cisco StackPower features for power redundancy. That enables four switches to be stacked together in either combined or redundant mode. Two power stacks of four switches can be configured for power redundancy in two eight-member stacks.

The Cisco 9300 Series also supports Cisco StackPower features for power redundancy. That enables four switches to be stacked together in either combined or redundant mode. Two power stacks of four switches can be configured for power redundancy in two eight-member stacks. Catalyst 9300 Series switches with fixed uplinks provide no support for StackPower.

Functions

Find Gigabit Ethernet and TenGigabit Ethernet ports in Cisco 3650/3850 Series Multigigabit switches. Cisco 9300 Series Multigigabit switches have introduced TwoGigabit Ethernet ports powered by 2.5G speed and TenGigabit Ethernet on the 48-port Multigigabit switch.

Updated Software Features

1. Host Tracking:

Cisco 9300 Series with the latest Cisco IOS XE Software release supports the new Switch Integrated Security Features based on the IP device tracking feature. That acts as a container policy, enabling snooping and device-tracking features with First Hop Security.

2. Quality of Service:

Cisco 9300 Series has the latest ASIC and operating system and supports a per-port egress queuing policy.

3. Congestion Avoidance:

Cisco 9300 Series uses Weighted Tail Drop or WTD and Weighted Random Early Detection or WRED. It enables the system to discard packets at specified queue thresholds based on IP precedence.

Bottom Line

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series is the next-generation enterprise switching access platform with several optional capabilities. It is well-suited for enterprises looking to migrate from their existing Cisco Catalyst 3650/3850 Series deployment.

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