Powered by Cisco Cloud Scale ASIC technology, the Nexus 9300-EX Series operates as a high-density top-of-rack (ToR) and middle-of-row (MoR) access tier switch. It delivers up to 3.6 Tbps of bandwidth and 2.6 billion packets per second (bpps) for latency-sensitive, cloud-scale architectures. The platform natively integrates with Cisco ACI and supports standard NX-OS deployments, providing deep telemetry via Tetration Analytics and line-rate VXLAN EVPN capabilities without sacrificing buffer depth.
Switch Models
When evaluating the Cisco N9300-EX Series for top-of-rack (ToR) or middle-of-row (MoR) deployments, select the base model according to the required downlink media type and speed. For environments standardizing on 10G/25G fiber connectivity for modern compute and storage, the N93180YC-EX provides investment protection and seamless migration paths. For legacy enterprise data centers leveraging existing copper infrastructure, choose the N93108TC-EX to utilize 100M/1/10GBASE-T downlinks.
For high-density aggregation or spine roles where massive throughput is required in a 1RU form factor, the N93180LC-EX is engineered specifically for 40/50-Gbps and 100-Gbps aggregation, capable of breaking out into 72x 10-Gbps ports. Always match the uplink optics to your core capabilities鈥攁ll models feature 40/100-Gbps QSFP28 uplink slots to guarantee non-blocking uplink ratios for cloud-scale traffic patterns.
| Model | Description |
|---|---|
| Cisco N93180YC-EX | 48 x 1/10/25-Gbps fiber ports and 6 x 40/100-Gbps Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable 28 (QSFP28) ports |
| Cisco N93108TC-EX | 48 x 100M/1/10GBASE-T ports and 6 x 40/100-Gbps QSFP28 ports |
| Cisco N93180LC-EX | Up to 32 x 40/50-Gbps QSFP+ ports OR 18 x 100-Gbps QSFP28 ports |
Product Specifications
Engineers must closely evaluate site facility constraints when allocating these switches in production racks. All switches in this series share a 4-core CPU, 24 GB of system memory, and a 40 MB system buffer, ensuring consistent control plane performance and telemetry capabilities (e.g., Tetration) across the fleet.
Evaluate power draw and thermal dissipation based on the physical deployment. The fiber-based N93180YC-EX is highly efficient (210W typical), whereas the copper-based N93108TC-EX draws more power (290W typical) due to BASE-T transceivers. Accommodate the respective BTU/hr heat loads (1604, 1703, and 1706) within cold/hot aisle containment zones.
| Feature | Cisco N93180YC-EX | Cisco N93108TC-EX | Cisco N93180LC-EX |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ports | 48 x 1/10/25-Gbps and 6 x 40/100-Gbps QSFP28 ports | 48 x 100-Mbps/1/10GBASE-T and 6 x 40/100-Gbps QSFP28 ports | Up to 32 x 40/50-Gbps QSFP+ ports OR 18 x 100-Gbps QSFP28 ports |
| CPU | 4 cores | 4 cores | 4 cores |
| System memory | 24 GB | 24 GB | 24 GB |
| SSD drive | 64 GB | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| System buffer | 40 MB | 40 MB | 40 MB |
| Management ports | 2 ports: 1 RJ-45 and 1 SFP | 2 ports: 1 RJ-45 and 1 SFP | 2 ports: 1 RJ-45 and 1 SFP |
| USB ports | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| RS-232 serial ports | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Power supplies (up to 2) | 500W AC, 650W AC, 930W DC, or 1200W HVAC/HVDC | 500W AC, 650W AC, 930W DC, or 1200W HVAC/HVDC | 500W AC, 930W DC, or 1200W HVAC/HVDC |
| Typical power (AC/DC) | 210W | 290W | 220W |
| Maximum power (AC/DC) | 470W | 499W | 500W |
| BTU/hr | 1604 | 1703 | 1706 |
| Input voltage (AC) | 100 to 240V | 100 to 240V | 100 to 240V |
| Input voltage (high-voltage AC [HVAC]) | 200 to 277V | 200 to 277V | 200 to 277V |
| Input voltage (DC) | 鈥?8 to 鈥?0V | 鈥?8 to 鈥?0V | 鈥?8 to 鈥?0V |
| Input voltage (high-voltage DC [HVDC]) | 鈥?40 to 鈥?80V | 鈥?40 to 鈥?80V | 鈥?40 to 鈥?80V |
| Frequency (AC) | 50 to 60 Hz | 50 to 60 Hz | 50 to 60 Hz |
| Fans | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Airflow | Port-side intake and exhaust | Port-side intake and exhaust | Port-side intake and exhaust |
| Physical dimensions (H x W x D) | 1.72 x 17.3 x 22.5 in. (4.4 x 43.9 x 57.1 cm) | 1.72 x 17.3 x 22.5 in. (4.4 x 43.9 x 57.1 cm) | 1.72 x 17.3 x 22.5 in. (4.4 x 43.9 x 57.1 cm) |
Hardware Performance and Scalability
When architecting the IP fabric, rely on the verified scalability limits to dictate leaf-spine ratios and VRF allocations. For massive multi-tenant data centers or service provider edges utilizing VXLAN EVPN fabrics, the hardware supports up to 896,000 LPM routes and 896,000 IP host entries.
Ensure your design accounts for the flow-table limitations if implementing Cisco Tetration Analytics (capped at 64,000). For multicast-heavy video delivery or market data environments, limit your IGMP snooping groups to 32,000 and multicast routes to 32,000 to maintain uncompromised wire-speed forwarding.
| Item | Cisco N9300-EX Series Switches |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of Longest Prefix Match (LPM) routes | 896,000 |
| Maximum number of IP host entries | 896,000 |
| Maximum number of MAC address entries | 256,000 |
| Maximum number of multicast routes | 32,000 |
| Number of Interior Gateway Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping groups | Shipping: 8,000 / Maximum: 32,000 |
| Maximum number of Cisco N2000 Series Fabric Extenders per switch | 16 |
| Maximum number of Access Control List (ACL) entries | Per slice: 4000 ingress, 2000 egress. Total (2 slices): 8000 ingress, 4000 egress |
| Maximum number of VLANs | 4096 (127 reserved) |
| Number of Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) instances | Shipping: 1,000 / Maximum: 16,000 |
| Maximum number of ECMP paths | 64 |
| Maximum number of port channels | 512 |
| Maximum number of links in a port channel | 32 |
| Number of active SPAN sessions | 4 |
| Maximum number of VLAN鈥檚 in Rapid per-VLAN Spanning Tree (RPVST) instances | 3,967 |
| Maximum number of Hot-Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) groups | 490 |
| Number of Network Address Translation (NAT) entries | 1,023 |
| Maximum number of Multiple Spanning Tree (MST) instances | 64 |
| Flow-table size used for Cisco Tetration Analytics platform | 64,000 |
| Number of Queues | 8 |
Technical FAQ
Q: How does the Nexus 9300-EX handle microbursts and link congestion in storage networks?
A: It utilizes Approximate Fair Dropping (AFD) with Elephant Trap (ETRAP) and Dynamic Packet Prioritization (DPP) to dynamically identify long-lived elephant flows, separating them from latency-sensitive mice flows into different queues without re-ordering, ensuring fairness and mitigating head-of-line blocking.
Q: Are there any hardware limitations when running Cisco Tetration Analytics telemetry?
A: Yes. The native flow-table hardware capacity used specifically for Cisco Tetration Analytics exports is capped at 64,000 entries. Flow information and inter-packet variation telemetry are exported every 100 milliseconds directly from the ASIC.
Q: Does the N93180LC-EX support 10G/25G downstream edge compute natively?
A: No, the LC-EX model features 40/50-Gbps and 100-Gbps native ports. However, it can support up to 72 x 10-Gbps ports by utilizing physical breakout cables from the QSFP+ slots. For native 10/25G connectivity, the N93180YC-EX is the intended access platform.