The Cisco Catalyst® 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch is a wire-speed, low-latency, Layer 2 to 4, 1-rack-unit (1RU), fixed-configuration switch for rack-optimized server switching. Based on the proven Cisco® Catalyst 4500 Series hardware and software architecture, the Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch offers exceptional performance, bandwidth, and reliability for low-density, multilayer aggregation of high-performance servers and workstations. High performance and scalability of intelligent network services is made possible with dedicated specialized resources known as ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). Ample TCAM resources (64,000 entries) enable high feature capacity, providing wire-speed routing and switching performance with concurrent provisioning of services such as quality of service (QoS) and security and helping ensure scalability for today’s network requirements with ample room for future growth.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch offers 48 ports of wire-speed 10/100/1000BASE-T with 2 ports of wire-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet (X2 optics). Exceptional reliability and serviceability are delivered with optional internal AC or DC 1+1 hot-swappable power supplies and a hot-swappable fan tray with redundant fans.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch delivers wire-speed throughput with low latency for data-intensive applications using a 136-Gbps switching fabric with a forwarding rate of 102 million packets per second (mpps) in hardware for Layer 2 to 4 traffic. High-performance switching is maintained regardless of the number of route entries or Layer 3 and 4 services enabled. Hardware-based Cisco Express Forwarding routing architecture enables increased scalability and performance. X2 10 Gigabit Ethernet optics provide 20 Gigabit Ethernet wire-speed uplinks for outstanding throughput of traffic.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch provides reliability for critical applications with 1+1 redundant, hot-swappable internal AC or DC power supplies. The 1+1 power supply design provides A-to-B failover when power supplies are connected to different circuits. AC and DC power supplies can be mixed in the same unit for outstanding deployment flexibility. The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch also has a hot-swappable fan tray with four redundant fans for additional serviceability and availability.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch includes a single, dedicated 10/100 console port and a single, dedicated 10/100 management port for offline disaster recovery. Remote in-band management is available with the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Telnet client, Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP), and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). Support for local or remote out-of-band management is delivered through a terminal or modem attached to the console interface. The management port helps enable the Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch to reload a new image from a TFTP server within seconds.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch delivers a comprehensive set of management tools to provide the visibility and control required for server switching. Managed with CiscoWorks solutions and embedded CiscoWorks CiscoView, the Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch can be configured and managed to deliver device, VLAN, traffic, and policy management. These web-based management tools offer numerous services, including software deployment and quick isolation of error conditions.
Table 1 compares the features of the Cisco Catalyst 4948 Switch, Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch, and Catalyst 4900M Switch.
| Feature and Description | Cisco® Catalyst 4948 | Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet | Cisco Catalyst 4900M |
| Switching Capacity | 96 Gbps | 136 Gbps | 320 Gbps |
| Throughput | 72 mpps | 102 mpps | ΓùÅ 250 mpps for IPv4 ΓùÅ 125 mpps for IPv6 |
| IPv6 Support | In Software | In Software | In Hardware |
| Height | 1RU | 1RU | 2RU |
| Modular Half-Card Slots | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Maximum 10/100/1000 Ports | 48 | 48 | 40 |
| Maximum 10 Gigabit Ethernet Ports | 0 | 2 | 24 |
| Maximum Gigabit Ethernet (fiber) Ports | 4 | 0 | 32 (Cisco TwinGig Converter Module) |
| Cisco TwinGig Converter Module Support | No | No | Yes (half-cards only) |
| Uplink Optic Type | 4 Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) optics | 2 X2 (10 Gigabit Ethernet) optics | 8 X2 (10 Gigabit Ethernet) optics |
| Multilayer Switching | IP Base and Enterprise Services options | IP Base and Enterprise Services options | IP Base and Enterprise Services options |
| Shared Buffer | 16 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB |
| CPU | 266 MHz | 666 MHz | 1.3 GHz |
| Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM) | 256 MB | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Active VLANs | 4096 | 4096 | 4096 |
| Multicast Entries | ΓùÅ 28,000 (Layer 3) ΓùÅ 16,000 (Layer 2) | ΓùÅ 28,000 (Layer 3) ΓùÅ 16,000 (Layer 2) | ΓùÅ 56,000 for IPv4 ΓùÅ 28,000 for IPv6 |
| Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) and VLAN IDs | 4096 | 4096 | 4096 |
| Spanning Tree Protocol Instances | 10000 | 10000 | 10000 |
| Switched Virtual Interfaces (SVIs) | 2000 | 2000 | 4000 |
| Security and QoS Hardware Entries | 32,000 | 32,000 | 128,000 |
| MAC Addresses | 32,000 | 55,000 | 55,000 |
| Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) | 2 ingress and 4 egress | 2 ingress and 4 egress | 8 ingress and 8 egress |
| USB port | No | No | Yes |
| Compact Flash Memory Support | No | No | Yes |
| System Reset Button | No | No | Yes |
| Minimum Software Requirement | Cisco IOS® Software Release 12.2(20)EWA or later | Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(25)EWA or later | Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(40)XO or later |
Predictable Performance and Scalability
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch is optimized for multimedia applications with its advanced multicast support. It supports Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), Source-Specific Multicast (SSM), and Pragmatic General Multicast (PGM), providing end users with additional scalability to support multimedia applications. Also supported is Internet Engineering Task Force (IGMP) snooping in hardware, enhancing performance and reducing network traffic by allowing a switch to dynamically add and remove hosts from a multicast group.
Intelligent Network Services with QoS and Sophisticated Traffic Management
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch offers superior per-port QoS features to help ensure that network traffic is classified, prioritized, and scheduled optimally to efficiently manage bandwidth-hungry multimedia, and time-sensitive and mission-critical applications. The Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch can classify, police, and mark incoming packets, allowing the administrator to differentiate between traffic flows and enforce policies. Sharing, shaping, and strict-priority configurations determine scheduling of egress traffic. The Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch also supports Dynamic Buffer Limiting (DBL), a congestion-avoidance feature. For details about the QoS features (including DBL) on the Cisco Catalyst 4948 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch, refer to the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series supervisor engine QoS overview at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/prod_white_papers_list.html.
Features and Specifications at a Glance
Layer 2 Features
ΓùÅ Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 102 mpps
ΓùÅ Layer 2 switch ports and VLAN trunks
ΓùÅ IEEE 802. 1Q VLAN encapsulation
ΓùÅ Inter-Switch Link (ISL) VLAN encapsulation
ΓùÅ Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP)
ΓùÅ VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) and VTP domains
ΓùÅ Support for 4096 VLANs per switch
ΓùÅ PVST and PVST+
ΓùÅ Flexlink
ΓùÅ Spanning Tree PortFast and PortFast Guard
ΓùÅ Spanning Tree UplinkFast and BackboneFast
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1s
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1w
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.3ad
ΓùÅ Spanning Tree Root Guard
ΓùÅ Cisco Discovery Protocol Versions 1 and 2
ΓùÅ IGMPv1, v2, and v3 snooping
ΓùÅ Cisco EtherChannel technology, Cisco Fast EtherChannel technology, and Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel technology
ΓùÅ Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP)
ΓùÅ Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
ΓùÅ Unidirectional link detection (UDLD) and aggressive UDLD
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1 QinQ in hardware
ΓùÅ Layer 2 protocol tunneling
ΓùÅ Multilayer jumbo frames (up to 9216 bytes)
ΓùÅ Baby giants (up to 1600 bytes)
ΓùÅ Unidirectional Ethernet
ΓùÅ Storm control (formally known as broadcast and multicast suppression)
ΓùÅ Community private VLANs (PVLANs)
ΓùÅ Forced 10/100 autonegotiation
ΓùÅ Web Content Communication Protocol (WCCP) Version 2 Layer 2 redirect
ΓùÅ Private VLAN promiscuous trunk
ΓùÅ Layer 2 promiscuous trunk over trunk port (L2PT)
ΓùÅ Class-of-service (CoS) mutation
ΓùÅ E-OAM 802.3ah and CFM: 802.1ag
Layer 3 Features
ΓùÅ Jumbo frames on all ports (up to 9216 bytes)
ΓùÅ Hardware-based IP Cisco Express Forwarding routing at 102 mpps
ΓùÅ IP routing protocols: EIGRP, OSPF, RIP, and RIP2
ΓùÅ BGP4 and Multicast Border Gateway Protocol (MBGP)
ΓùÅ Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) awareness
ΓùÅ Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) v1 and v2
ΓùÅ Software routing of Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) and AppleTalk
ΓùÅ IS-IS routing protocol
ΓùÅ IGMPv1, v2, and v3
ΓùÅ IGMP filtering on access and trunk ports
ΓùÅ IP Multicast routing protocols: PIM, SSM, and Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP)
ΓùÅ Auto rendezvous point (Auto-RP)
ΓùÅ Pragmatic General Multicast (PGM)
ΓùÅ Cisco Group Multicast Protocol server
ΓùÅ Full Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) support
ΓùÅ ICMP Router Discovery Protocol
ΓùÅ Policy-based routing (PBR)
ΓùÅ Virtual Route Forwarding lite (VRF-lite)
ΓùÅ VRF-aware IP services
ΓùÅ IPv6 (software switched)
ΓùÅ OSPF fast convergence
ΓùÅ OSPF and EIGRP fast-convergence protection
ΓùÅ EIGRP stub
ΓùÅ Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
ΓùÅ IP unnumbered for SVI
ΓùÅ NSF (Non-Stop Forwarding) Awareness
ΓùÅ WCCPv2 (Web Cache Communications Protocol)
ΓùÅ Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP)
High-Availability Features
ΓùÅ 1+1 hot swappable AC or DC power supplies
ΓùÅ Hot-swappable field-replaceable fan tray with redundant fans
ΓùÅ HSRP v1 and v2
ΓùÅ VRRP
ΓùÅ Cisco IOS Embedded Event Manager (EEM)
ΓùÅ Cisco Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD)
ΓùÅ Smart Call Home
Sophisticated QoS and Traffic Management
ΓùÅ Per-port QoS configuration
ΓùÅ Support for four queues per port
ΓùÅ Strict priority queuing
ΓùÅ IP differentiated services code point (DSCP)
ΓùÅ Classification and marking based on IP type of service (ToS) or DSCP
ΓùÅ Classification and marking based on full Layer 3 and 4 headers
ΓùÅ Input and output policing based on Layer 3 and 4 headers
ΓùÅ Support for 512 policers on ingress and 512 policers on egress
ΓùÅ Shaping and sharing output queue management
ΓùÅ DBL congestion-avoidance feature
ΓùÅ No performance penalty for granular QoS functions
ΓùÅ Per-port, per-VLAN QoS
ΓùÅ Match class of service (CoS) for non-IPv4 traffic
Predictable Performance
ΓùÅ 136-Gbps switching fabric
ΓùÅ Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 102 mpps
ΓùÅ Layer 3 hardware-based IP Cisco Express Forwarding routing at 102 mpps
ΓùÅ Layer 4 TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) hardware-based filtering at 102 mpps
ΓùÅ No performance penalty with advanced Layer 3 and 4 services enabled
ΓùÅ Software-based learning at a sustained rate of 3000 hosts per second
ΓùÅ Support for 55,000 unicast and 16000 multicast MAC addresses
ΓùÅ Support for 32,000 entries in routing table (shared between unicast and multicast)
ΓùÅ Scalability to 2000 virtual ports ( SVIs )
ΓùÅ Bandwidth aggregation up to 40 Gbps using Cisco Gigabit Ethernet EtherChannel technology
ΓùÅ Hardware-based multicast management
ΓùÅ Hardware-based access control lists (ACLs), router ACLs (RACLs), and VLAN ACLs (VACLs)
Comprehensive management
ΓùÅ Manageable through Cisco Network Assistant (CNA)
ΓùÅ Single console port and single IP address to manage all system features
ΓùÅ Software configuration management, including local and remote storage
ΓùÅ Manageable through CiscoWorks Windows network-management software on a per-port and per-switch basis, providing a common management interface for Cisco routers, switches, and hubs
ΓùÅ SNMPv1, v2, and v3 instrumentation, delivering comprehensive in-band management
ΓùÅ Command-line interface (CLI) based management console to provide detailed out-of-band management
ΓùÅ Remote Monitoring (RMON) software agent to support four RMON groups (history, statistics, alarms, and events) for enhanced traffic management, monitoring, and analysis
ΓùÅ Support for all nine RMON groups through the use of a Cisco SwitchProbe analyzer (Switched Port Analyzer [SPAN])
ΓùÅ port, which permits traffic monitoring of a single port, a group of ports, or the entire switch from a single network analyzer or RMON probe
ΓùÅ Analysis support, including ingress port, egress port, and VLAN SPAN
ΓùÅ Layer 2 traceroute
ΓùÅ Remote SPAN (RSPAN)
ΓùÅ Cisco SmartPort macros
ΓùÅ SPAN ACL filtering
ΓùÅ Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client autoconfiguration
ΓùÅ Enhanced SNMP MIB support
ΓùÅ HTTPS
ΓùÅ Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR)
ΓùÅ MAC address notification
ΓùÅ Onboard failure logging (OBFL)
ΓùÅ Network Mobility Service Protocol (NMSP)
Advanced Security
ΓùÅ TACACS+ and RADIUS, which help enable centralized control of the switch and restrict unauthorized users from altering the configuration
ΓùÅ Standard and extended ACLs on all ports
ΓùÅ IEEE 802. 1x user authentication (with VLAN assignment, voice VLAN, port security, guest VLAN, private guest VLAN, private VLAN, and RADIUS-supplied session timeout extensions)
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1x accounting
ΓùÅ IEEE 802. 1x authentication failure
ΓùÅ IEEE 802. 1x private VLAN assignment
ΓùÅ IEEE 802. 1x private guest VLAN
ΓùÅ IEEE 802. 1x RADIUS-supplied timeout
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1x Mac-Auth-Bypass
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1x inaccessible authentication bypass
ΓùÅ Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) Layer 2 IEEE 802.1x
ΓùÅ Cisco NAC Layer 2 IP
ΓùÅ Cisco NAC Layer 2 IP inaccessible authentication bypass
ΓùÅ Trusted boundary
ΓùÅ RACLs on all ports (no performance penalty)
ΓùÅ VACLs
ΓùÅ Port ACLs (PACLs)
ΓùÅ Private VLANs (PVLANs) on access and trunk ports
ΓùÅ VTPv3
ΓùÅ DHCP snooping
ΓùÅ DHCP Option 82
ΓùÅ DHCP Option 82 insertion
ΓùÅ DHCP Option 82 pass-through
ΓùÅ Port security
ΓùÅ Port security for PVLAN ports
ΓùÅ Sticky port security
ΓùÅ Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Versions 1 and 2
ΓùÅ VLAN Management Policy Server (VMPS) client
ΓùÅ Unicast MAC filtering
ΓùÅ Unicast port flood blocking
ΓùÅ Dynamic Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) inspection
ΓùÅ IP Source Guard
ΓùÅ Community PVLANs
ΓùÅ Trunk port security
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1x inaccessible authentication bypass
ΓùÅ MAC authentica
Volume Discount 
