Guide
How to read the part number
Cisco part numbers look cryptic, but every part means something: series, port count, port type, uplinks and licence. Once you can read them you can see at a glance whether a switch has PoE, how fast its uplinks are and what is included.
Short answer
Read the part number from the left: series, port count, port type and finally uplinks or licence level. C9300-48P-A is a Catalyst 9300 with 48 PoE+ ports and Network Advantage. P means PoE+, U UPOE and H UPOE+; -4X means four 10G uplinks, -M Meraki management and = that the item is sold separately as an accessory or spare.
How do you read C9300-48P-A?
Read the part number from left to right: C9300 is the series, 48 is the number of network ports, P means PoE+ and A means the switch ships with the Network Advantage licence level.
- C9300 – the series (Catalyst 9300)
- 48 – number of network ports
- P – port type (here PoE+)
- A – licence level in the switch (A = Advantage, E = Essentials, M = Meraki managed)
What does the letter after the series mean?
A letter directly after the series number marks a variant of the series.
- L (e.g. C9200L, C9300L) – fixed uplink ports instead of a module slot; lower price
- X (e.g. C9300X) – higher performance and uplink modules up to 100G
- LM (C9300LM) – fixed 4× 25G uplinks; multigigabit only on the -48UX model
- CX (C9200CX) – compact, fanless switch for office spaces
Which port type gives which PoE?
The letters after the port count tell you what kind of ports the switch has and how much power they can deliver to access points, cameras and phones.
- T – data ports without PoE
- P – PoE+ (up to 30 W per port)
- FP / PF – PoE+ with a larger total budget; the budget decides how many ports get 30 W at the same time
- PL – PoE+ with a smaller total budget (e.g. C9200-48PL)
- U – UPOE (up to 60 W per port)
- H – UPOE+ (up to 90 W per port)
- UX, UXM, UN, HX, HXN, PXG, UXG, MGP – multigigabit (2.5/5/10G) on all or some ports, with PoE
- S – SFP ports for fibre; Y – 25G SFP28 ports; TX – 10G copper ports
Read more: PoE – is there enough power?
Where are the uplinks?
On switches with fixed uplinks the uplink ports are part of the part number. If they are missing (C9200, C9300, C9300X) the switch has a module slot and the uplink module is chosen separately. C9200L, C9200CX, C9300L and C9300LM have fixed uplinks.
- -4G – four 1G SFP ports
- -4X – four 10G SFP+ ports
- -2Y / -4Y – two or four 25G SFP28 ports
- -2X2G – two 10G and two 1G
Read more: Uplink modules – which one?
What do the other markers mean?
A few markers appear in many part numbers.
- = at the end (e.g. C9300-NM-8X=) – the item is sold separately as an accessory or spare
- -HW (Meraki) – the hardware itself; the licence is bought separately and is required for the device to work
- -E on access points – European radio regulatory domain; -MR – Meraki mode; -RTG – stocked standard configuration ("Ready to Go"), -CFG – accessories chosen when ordering
- K9 – the product contains encryption (export rules, nothing you need to choose)
- -RF – refurbished product (Cisco Refresh). We only sell new products
Frequently asked questions
Questions we often get
Is the A or E in the part number the same as the subscription?
No. The letter is the licence level shipped with the switch. The Catalyst subscription (Essentials or Advantage for 3, 5 or 7 years) is chosen separately when you add the switch to the quote basket.
Why does the same product exist with and without = ?
Without = it is ordered as part of a configuration together with the switch. With = it is the standalone item. We automatically suggest the right variant.
What does -M at the end mean?
That the switch is Meraki managed (e.g. C9300-48P-M). It is managed from the Meraki cloud and licensed with a Meraki licence instead of the Catalyst subscription.