Product overview
The Cisco Nexus® 9300-EX Series switches belongs to the fixed Cisco Nexus 9000 platform based on Cisco Cloud Scale technology. The platform support cost-effective cloud-scale deployments, an increased number of endpoints, and cloud services. The platform is built on modern system architecture designed to provide high performance and meet the evolving needs of highly scalable data centers and growing enterprises.
Cisco Nexus 9300-EX series switches offer a variety of interface options to transparently migrate existing data centers from 100-Mbps, 1-Gbps, and 10-Gbps speeds to 25-Gbps at the server, and from 10- and 40-Gbps speeds to 50- and 100-Gbps at the aggregation layer. The platforms provide investment protection for customers, delivering large buffers, highly flexible Layer 2 and Layer 3 scalability, and performance to meet the changing needs of virtualized data centers and automated cloud environments.
Cisco provides two modes of operation for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches. Organizations can use Cisco NX-OS Software to deploy the switches in standard Cisco Nexus switch environments (NX-OS mode). Organizations can also deploy the infrastructure that is ready to support the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI™) platform to take full advantage of an automated, policy-based, systems-management approach (ACI mode).
Switch models
Table 1. Cisco Nexus 9300-EX Series Switches
Model | Description |
Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX | 48 x 1/10/25-Gbps fiber ports and 6 x 40/100-Gbps Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable 28 (QSFP28) ports |
Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX | 48 x 100M/1/10GBASE-T ports and 6 x 40/100-Gbps QSFP28 ports |
Cisco Nexus 93180LC-EX | Up to 32 x 40/50-Gbps QSFP+ ports OR 18 x 100-Gbps QSFP28 ports |
The Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch (Figure 1) is a 1-Rack-Unit (1RU) switch with latency of less than 1 microsecond that supports 3.6 Terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth and over 2.6 billion packets per second (bpps). The 48 downlink ports on the 93180YC-EX can be configured to work as 1-, 10-, or 25-Gbps ports, offering deployment flexibility and investment protection. The uplink can support up to six 40- and 100-Gbps ports, or a combination of 1-, 10-, 25-, 40-, 50, and 100-Gbps connectivity, offering flexible migration options. The switch has FC-FEC enabled for 25Gbps, and supports upto 3m in DAC connectivity. Please check Cisco Optics Matrix for the most updated support.
Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch
The Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX Switch (Figure 2) is a 1RU switch that supports 2.16 Tbps of bandwidth and over 1.6bpps. The 48 10GBASE-T downlink ports on the 93108TC-EX can be configured to work as 100-Mbps, 1 Gbps, or 10-Gbps ports. The uplink can support up to six 40- and 100-Gbps ports, or a combination of 1-, 10-, 25-, 40, 50-, and 100-Gbps connectivity, offering flexible migration options.
Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX Switch
The Cisco Nexus 93180LC-EX Switch is the industry's first 50-Gbps-capable 1RU switch that supports 3.6 Tbps of bandwidth and over 2.6 bpps across up to 32 fixed 40- and 50-Gbps QSFP+ ports or up to 18 fixed 100-Gbps ports (Figure 3). The switch can support up to 72 10-Gbps ports using breakout cables. A variety of flexible port configurations are supported using templates.
Cisco Nexus 93180LC-EX Switch
Product specifications
The Cisco Nexus 9300-EX series offer industry-leading density and performance with flexible port configurations that can support existing copper and fiber cabling (Tables 2).
Table 2. Cisco Nexus 9300-EX Series Switch specifications
Feature | Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX | Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX | Cisco Nexus 93180LC-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) | -48 to -60V | -48 to -60V | -48 to -60V |
Input voltage (high-voltage DC [HVDC]) | -240 to -380V | -240 to -380V | -240 to -380V |
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) |
Acoustics | 48.5 dBA at 40% fan speed, 64.9 dBA at 70% fan speed, and 77.8 dBA at 100% fan speed | 48.6 dBA at 40% fan speed, 65.2 dBA at 70% fan speed, and 76.5 dBA at 100% fan speed | 49.9 dBA at 50% fan speed, 66 dBA at 70% fan speed, and 73.9 dBA at 100% fan speed |
RoHS compliance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
MTBF | 390,330 hours | 366,130 hours | 323,440 hours |
Minimum ACI image | ACI-N9KDK9-11.3 | ACI-N9KDK9-12.0 | ACI-N9KDK9-12.2(1n) |
Minimum NX-OS image | NXOS-703I4.2 | NXOS-703I4.3 | NXOS-703I6.1 |
Table 3 lists the performance and scalability specifications for the Cisco Nexus 9300-EX series switches. (Check the software release notes for feature support information.)