If you want to deploy large data centers—social networking, search engine sites, cloud and content providers and financial services, etc.—that need high-performance computing capabilities, you can consider the Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F Ethernet Switches. They are the best ones that offer unique features of enabling critical data center architectures.
In fact, in their performance and scalability, the Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F switches are identical. And the only difference they have is airflow direction. The Cisco Catalyst 4948E provides front-to-back airflow, and the Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F provides back-to-front airflow.
Note that the Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series Switches refer to the port side as the switch front.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F switches provide the option of front-to-back airflow (Cisco Catalyst 4948E) and back-to-front airflow (Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F) in top-of-rack (RoR) switch deployments. And the following table summarizes the deployment scenarios for the Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F to help you decide which switch to use.
Deployment Decision Factors and Switch Selection
| Switch Choice | Decision Factors |
| Cisco Catalyst 4948E | ● Server-to-switch cable patch panel facing the cold aisle
● Network ports face the cold aisle ● Upgrading from traditional front-connected ToR switches |
| Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F | ● Server-to-switch cable patch panel facing the hot aisle
● Network ports face the hot aisle ● Server-to-switch connectivity is without the patch panel |
Cold-Aisle and Hot-Aisle Isolation Using Back-to-Front Airflow with Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F.
Cold-Aisle and Hot-Aisle Isolation Using Front-to-Back Airflow with Cisco Catalyst 4948E
The Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F provide strict front-to-back or back-to-front cooling with no vents on the side or top of the switch.
And you should know that Cisco Catalyst 4948E cannot be upgrade to Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F. These two switches are different orderable SKUs and cannot be upgraded from one switch to another at customer premises.
The power supplies and fan tray are also not interchangeable between the Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F. Each of these switches has unique power supply and fan tray and cannot be interchanged.
Cisco Catalyst 4948E inherits all the features of the award-winning Catalyst 4948 10Gb Ethernet Switch and also offers 10Gb Ethernet uplinks, front-to-back airflow, and IPv6 in hardware.
Cisco Catalyst 4948E support mix of AC and DC power supply in the same switch. Customers can choose this configuration for AC to DC failover resiliency.
Each Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F switch provides four nonblocking ports of SFP and SFP+ uplinks. Customers can choose to use these ports in either 1 or 10 Gigabit Ethernet mode according to their aggregation requirements.
The management port provides 10/100/1000-Gbps RJ45 connectivity on the Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F.
Both Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F switch are members of Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series.
The Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series is the industry’s most widely deployed ToR switch portfolio.
Cisco Catalyst 4948E Ethernet Switch: 48x 10/100/1000-Gbps (RJ45) plus 4x 10 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP+) ports and front-to-back cooling
Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F Switch: 48x 10/100/1000-Gbps (RJ45) plus 4x 10 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP+) ports and back-to-front cooling
Now, let’s see main features of Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F Switches
| Feature and Description | Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F Switches |
| Height | 1RU |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 1.75 x 17.5 x 19.4 in. (4.4 x 44.4 x 49.3 cm) |
| Power redundancy | 1+1 AC or DC |
| Unit weight | 19 lb (8.62 kg) |
| Hot-swappable fan | Yes |
| Average and maximum power consumption (in watts [W]) | 230W average
275W maximum |
| Airflow | Front to back (Cisco Catalyst 4948E)
Back to front (Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F) |
| Rack-mounting options | Front and rear mount
High-performance rear mount |
| Uplink optic types | SFP and SFP+ |
| Cisco® TwinGig Converter Module support | No |
| Cisco OneX Converter Module support (X2 to SFP+) | No |
| Optics | CWDM, DWDM, SR, LR, LRM, and CX4 |
| Modular half-card slots | 0 |
| Maximum 10/100/1000-Gbps ports | 48 |
| Maximum Gigabit Ethernet (fiber) ports | 4 |
| Maximum 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T) ports | 0 |
| Maximum 10 Gigabit Ethernet (fiber) ports | 4 (SFP+) |
| Switching capacity | 176 Gbps |
| Throughput | 131 mpps for IPv4
110 mpps for IPv6 |
| Routes supported | 57,000 |
| MAC addresses | 55,000 |
| Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) Protocol and VLANIDs | 4094 |
| Spanning Tree Protocol instances | 4094 |
| Switched virtual interfaces (SVIs) | 4094 |
| Active VLANs | 4094 |
| Multicast routes | 28,000 |
| Security and quality-of-service (QoS) hardware entries | 32,000 |
| Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) | 8 ingress and 8 egress |
| Shared buffer | 17.5 MB |
| CPU | 1 GHz |
| Synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) | 1 GB |
| Multilayer switching | LAN Base, IP Base, and Enterprise Services options |
| IPv6 support | Hardware switched |
| USB port | No |
| Compact flash memory support | No |
| System reset button | Yes |
| Minimum software requirements | Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(54)SG or later (Cisco Catalyst 4948E)
Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(54)WO orlater (Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F) |
In a completed third-party testing, network device test expert David Newman deemed the Cisco Catalyst 4948E “a strong, credible choice for top-of-rack service in the data center.” Refer to test report at https://networktest.com/cisco/4948E/4948E.pdf . In that test, you can get a detailed application of a Cisco 4948E switch in a network, which help you make a smart decision.
Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F Full-Featured Layer 2 and 3 Switches
Besides the two of them, what are the other switches in the Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series? Following are the switches in this series:
- Cisco Catalyst 4900M Switch: 48x 10/100/1000-Gbps (RJ45) plus 4x X2 ports and side-to-back cooling
- Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch: 48x 10/100/1000-Gbps (RJ45) plus 2x X2 ports and side-to-back cooling
- Cisco Catalyst 4928 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch: 28x 1 Gigabit Ethernet (SFP) plus 2x X2 ports and side-to-back cooling
- Cisco Catalyst 4948 Switch: 48x 10/100/1000-Gbps (RJ45) ports (the last four can be used as SFP ports) and side-to-back cooling
Ordering Information of Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F Switches at Router-switch.com
If you want to buy a Cisco 4948E or 4948E-F Switches, or get a quote, you can go to https://www.router-switch.com/Price-cisco-switches-cisco-switch-catalyst-4900_c101 to read more Cisco 4900 models…
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