Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series
Modular chassis access and distribution. The Catalyst 9400 brings redundant supervisors, high PoE density, and line-card flexibility to large campus buildings that need a resilient, future-ready aggregation point.
The Catalyst 9400 is the modular member of the campus access and distribution layer. Where a building needs non-stop operation, redundant supervisors and power, and the ability to grow capacity by swapping line cards rather than the whole switch, the 9400 fits. It is common as a large-building access aggregation point feeding stacks of 9300s, with the headroom to adopt higher-speed line cards and the 9400X supervisor as density grows.
Why Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series
- 4-, 7-, and 10-slot modular chassis with redundant supervisors and power.
- High-density PoE/UPOE line cards for dense Wi-Fi and IoT floors.
- SUP-1 and SUP-2 (9400X) supervisor options scale capacity over time.
- One platform for chassis-based access or building distribution.
What the platform brings
UADP ASIC with programmable pipeline
Runs the Cisco Unified Access Data Plane (UADP) 3.0sec ASIC on the C9400X-SUP-2/2XL supervisors and UADP 2.0 on the SUP-1 family. The ASIC offers a programmable pipeline, microengine capabilities, and template-based allocation of Layer 2, Layer 3, forwarding, ACL, and QoS entries so the platform can adopt new technologies without a hardware change.
StackWise Virtual high availability
Delivers nonstop operation through Cisco StackWise Virtual with In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU), NSF/SSO with subsecond supervisor failover, dual supervisor redundancy, and N+1/N+N power supply redundancy. StackWise Virtual also doubles effective port density by joining two chassis into one logical switch.
IEEE 802.3bt PoE up to 90W per port
Supports Cisco UPOE+ (90W, IEEE 802.3bt Type 4), Cisco UPOE (60W), PoE+ (30W), and PoE (15W) to power access points, PTZ cameras, LED lighting, IP turrets, and building gateways. The chassis allocates up to 4320W of PoE per line-card slot from the current shipping cards.
MACsec encryption and trustworthy hardware
Provides hardware-capable AES-256 and AES-128 MACsec (IEEE 802.1AE) on all ports at all speeds, plus 100G line-rate IPsec on the Catalyst 9400X. Cisco Trust Anchor technologies add image signing, Secure Boot, and a tamper-resistant Trust Anchor module for supply-chain and runtime integrity.
Cisco IOS XE programmability and telemetry
Runs open Cisco IOS XE with model-driven programmability over NETCONF, RESTCONF, and gNMI using YANG data models, on-box Python scripting, streaming telemetry via gRPC/gNMI, and container-based application hosting. Patching applies critical bug fixes without a full image upgrade.
SD-Access and embedded wireless
Acts as a foundation building block for Cisco Software-Defined Access with policy-based automation through Cisco Catalyst Center and segmentation through Cisco Identity Services Engine. The optional Catalyst 9800 embedded Wireless Controller package supports up to 200 access points and 4000 clients per controller for distributed branches and small campuses.
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series by the numbers
- Architecture
- Modular chassis switch (Catalyst 9000 family)
- System bandwidth
- Up to 9 Tbps
- Bandwidth per line-card slot
- Up to 480 Gbps (with C9400X-SUP-2XL)
- Chassis options
- C9404R (4-slot/6RU), C9407R (7-slot/10RU), C9410R (10-slot/13RU)
- Access ports
- Up to 384 (10/100/1000, mGig 5G/10G, or 1G/10G fiber)
- High-speed uplink density
- Up to 168x 25G SFP28, 96x 40G QSFP+, 32x 100G QSFP28 (SUP-2/2XL)
- Power over Ethernet
- UPOE+ 90W, UPOE 60W, PoE+ 30W, PoE 15W; up to 4320W per slot
- Supervisor ASIC
- UADP 3.0sec (SUP-2/2XL) or UADP 2.0 (SUP-1/1XL/1XL-Y)
- Flexible NetFlow scale
- Up to 384,000 flows, hardware-based
- Power supplies
- 3200W AC, 2100W AC, 3200W DC; N+1 and N+N redundancy
Figures are from the published family data sheet and vary by model and configuration. Confirm exact specs for your SKUs in a validated quote.
Find the Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series model that fits
Compare the models in this family. Open any datasheet to read the full specs right here.
Modular chassis
Catalyst 9404 / 9407 / 9410
4-, 7-, and 10-slot chassis.
- Redundant supervisors
- Redundant power
- High PoE/UPOE density
Supervisors
Supervisor 1 / 1XL / 1XL-Y
First-generation supervisors.
- Scales by chassis
- Stateful redundancy
Catalyst 9400X (SUP-2)
Next-gen capacity.
- Higher throughput
- Future line-card support
Datasheets & guides
Built for deployments like these
- Enterprise campus access layer with high-density 90W UPOE+ for APs, cameras, and lighting
- Distribution or core aggregation in small to medium campuses using 100G/40G/25G uplinks
- SD-Access fabric edge with policy-based segmentation via Catalyst Center and ISE
- Branch or small campus wireless using the Catalyst 9800 embedded controller (up to 200 APs, 4000 clients)
- Aggregation of existing fixed access switches over 1G and 10G fiber line cards
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series questions, answered
What is the maximum bandwidth and port scale of a Catalyst 9400 chassis?
The chassis architecture supports up to 9 Tbps of system bandwidth and up to 480 Gbps per line-card slot when paired with the C9400X-SUP-2XL supervisor. A single system scales to 384 access ports, and StackWise Virtual doubles that density by combining two chassis into one logical switch.
How much Power over Ethernet does it deliver?
It supports the full IEEE 802.3bt range: Cisco UPOE+ at 90W (Type 4), UPOE at 60W, PoE+ at 30W, and PoE at 15W. The chassis can allocate up to 4320W of PoE per line-card slot with current shipping cards, and on the 10-slot C9410R up to 260 ports can deliver full 90W concurrently.
Which supervisor engines and chassis are available?
There are three chassis (C9404R 4-slot, C9407R 7-slot, C9410R 10-slot) and five supervisors: C9400-SUP-1, SUP-1XL, and SUP-1XL-Y on the UADP 2.0 ASIC, plus the newer C9400X-SUP-2 and SUP-2XL on the UADP 3.0sec ASIC. The SUP-2/2XL add 100G and 25G uplink options and 100G line-rate IPsec.
Can it run wireless without a separate controller?
Yes. The Catalyst 9800 embedded Wireless Controller software package can be installed on the switch to provide controller functionality for SD-Access deployments, supporting up to 200 access points and 4000 clients per controller, with up to two controllers per site.
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