Cisco C9300-24S-A Switch

The Cisco Catalyst C9300-24S-A has 24 1G SFP fiber access ports, intended for fiber aggregation rather than copper endpoint connectivity. Because they are fiber SFP ports, they carry no Power over Ethernet and cannot power wireless access points, IP phones, or IP cameras. For copper access, the C9300-24T is the data-only copper model and the C9300-24P adds PoE+.

The C9300-24S-A has 24 1G SFP access ports plus a modular uplink slot. The SFP access ports accept 1G SFP optics; the uplink module adds higher-speed options up to 40G. Specific transceiver compatibility should be verified against the manufacturer's transceiver compatibility matrix at tmgmatrix.cisco.com. Transceivers are sold separately.

The C9300-24S-A supports Cisco StackWise-480 data stacking of up to eight members at 480 Gbps of stack bandwidth, and Cisco StackPower for shared power and power redundancy across the stack. It stacks with other C9300 models, including mixed stacks with C9300X, and does not stack with C9300L, Catalyst 9200, or other series. StackWise and StackPower cables are ordered separately.

The two switches are the same modular-uplink platform, license tier, and stacking, and differ in fiber-port count and throughput. The 24S-A has 24 1G SFP ports with 208 Gbps of switching capacity and a 154.76 Mpps forwarding rate. The 48S-A has 48 1G SFP ports with 256 Gbps of switching capacity and a 190.47 Mpps forwarding rate. Choose the 48S for denser fiber aggregation.

The two switches are identical hardware and differ only in license tier. The -E model ships with perpetual Network Essentials, which covers Layer 2 plus basic routed access such as static routing, RIP, EIGRP stub, OSPF for up to 1,000 routes, PBR, PIM stub multicast, and VRRP. The -A model ships with perpetual Network Advantage, which adds full OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS, HSRP, VRF, VXLAN, LISP, and SGT segmentation. SD-Access is enabled by the term-based Cisco Catalyst subscription rather than the perpetual tier.

No. The switch runs on its included perpetual base license indefinitely. Under Cisco's ordering model, new switch orders include a term-based Cisco DNA or Cisco Catalyst software subscription of the same tier as the network license; that subscription unlocks Cisco Catalyst Center and cloud-managed features. When the subscription term ends, the switch continues operating on the perpetual base license capabilities after a reload.

Yes. Cisco's migration guidance positions the Catalyst 9300 as the successor to the end-of-sale Catalyst 3850. Migrating from a 3850 to the C9300-24S-A moves the aggregation layer to Cisco IOS XE, StackWise-480 stacking, and StackPower, and existing Catalyst 3850 network modules remain compatible with the 9300.

Network Devices Inc. sells the C9300-24S-A as current, new, factory-sealed stock. Cisco publishes End-of-Sale and End-of-Life status for every Catalyst 9300 Series part number on its official End-of-Life and End-of-Sale Notices page for the series, which is the authoritative source for a specific SKU. Buyers standardizing on a platform for a multi-year refresh should confirm the current status there before ordering.

The C9300-24S-A is sold new and factory-sealed. It is covered by a Network Devices Inc. one-year warranty and a 30-day return policy.