The Cisco Catalyst 4948 offers 48 ports of wire-speed 10/100/1000BASE-T with four alternative wired ports that can accommodate optional 1000BASE-X Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) 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 delivers wire-speed throughput with low latency for data-intensive applications, using a 96-Gbps switching fabric with a forwarding rate of 72 million packets per second (mpps) in hardware for Layer 2 to 4 traffic. Switching performance remains high 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.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 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 also has a hot-swappable fan tray with four redundant fans for additional serviceability and availability.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 delivers wire-speed throughput with low latency for data-intensive applications, using a 96-Gbps switching fabric with a forwarding rate of 72 million packets per second (mpps) in hardware for Layer 2 to 4 traffic. Switching performance remains high 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.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 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 also has a hot-swappable fan tray with four redundant fans for additional serviceability and availability.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 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 to reload a new image from a TFTP server within seconds.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 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 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 Comparison
| 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 | |
| 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 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 | | | |
| Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) and VLAN IDs | 4096 | 4096 | 4096 |
| Spanning Tree Protocol instances | 1500 | 1500 | 3000 |
| 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 |
Features and Specifications at a Glance
Performance and Switching
ΓùÅ 96 Gbps nonblocking switch fabric
ΓùÅ 72 mpps Layer 2 forwarding (hardware)
ΓùÅ 72 mpps Layer 3 and 4 forwarding: IP routing and Cisco Express Forwarding (hardware)
ΓùÅ Layer 2 to 4 hardware-based switch engine (application-specific integrated circuit [ASIC]-based)
ΓùÅ Unicast and multicast routing entries: 32,000
ΓùÅ Support for 4096 active VLANs and 4096 VLAN IDs per switch
ΓùÅ Layer 2 multicast addresses: 16,384
ΓùÅ MAC addresses: 32,768
ΓùÅ Policers: 512 ingress and 512 egress
ΓùÅ Access control list (ACL) and QoS entries: 32,000
ΓùÅ Uplinks: 4 alternatively wired SFP ports with Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel support
ΓùÅ Latency: 6 microseconds for 64-byte packets
ΓùÅ SVIs: 2048
ΓùÅ Spanning Tree Protocol instances: 1500
ΓùÅ Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping entries: 16,000
Layer 2 Features
ΓùÅ Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 72 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 PVST+ and Per-VLAN Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (PVRST)
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 Version 1 and 2
ΓùÅ IGMPv1, v2, and v3
ΓùÅ Cisco EtherChannel technology, Cisco Fast EtherChannel technology, and Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel technology support
ΓùÅ Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP)
ΓùÅ Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
ΓùÅ Unidirectional Link Detection Protocol (UDLD) and aggressive UDLD on the SFP ports
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1 Q-in-Q in hardware
ΓùÅ Layer 2 protocol tunneling
ΓùÅ Jumbo frames on all ports (up to 9216 bytes)
ΓùÅ Baby giants (up to 1600 bytes)
ΓùÅ Unidirectional Ethernet
ΓùÅ Hardware-based storm control (formerly known as broadcast and multicast suppression)
ΓùÅ Community private VLANs (PVLANs)
ΓùÅ Forced 10/100 autonegotiation
ΓùÅ Web Cache 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 72 mpps
ΓùÅ Static IP routing
ΓùÅ IP routing protocols: EIGRP, OSPF, RIP, and RIPv2
ΓùÅ BGPv4 and Multicast Border Gateway Protocol (MBGP)
ΓùÅ Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) awareness
ΓùÅ Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) v1 and v2
ΓùÅ Software routing of 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: Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), Source-Specific Multicast (SSM), and Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP)
ΓùÅ Auto rendezvous point (Auto-RP)
ΓùÅ Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP)
ΓùÅ Pragmatic General Multicast (PGM)
ΓùÅ Cisco Group Management Protocol (GMP) 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 switching support
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 Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) awareness
ΓùÅ WCCPv2
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 Per-port and per-VLAN QoS
ΓùÅ Support for four queues per port in hardware
ΓùÅ Strict priority queuing
ΓùÅ IP differentiated services code point (DSCP) and IP precedence
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 (IP only)
ΓùÅ Input and output policing based on Layer 3 and 4 headers (IP only)
ΓùÅ Support for 512 policers on ingress and 512 policers on egress configured as aggregate or individual
ΓùÅ Shaping and sharing output queue management
ΓùÅ Dynamic Buffer Limiting (DBL) advanced congestion-avoidance feature
ΓùÅ No performance penalty for granular QoS functions
ΓùÅ Matched CoS for non-IPv4 traffic
Predictable Performance
ΓùÅ 96-Gbps switching fabric
ΓùÅ Layer 2 hardware forwarding at 72 mpps
ΓùÅ Layer 3 hardware-based IP Cisco Express Forwarding routing at 72 mpps
ΓùÅ Layer 4 TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) hardware-based filtering at 72 mpps
ΓùÅ No performance penalty with advanced Layer 3 and 4 services enabled
ΓùÅ Software-based learning at a sustained rate of 500 hosts per second
ΓùÅ Support for 32,768 MAC addresses
ΓùÅ Support for 32,000 entries in routing table (shared between unicast and multicast)
ΓùÅ Support for 512 ingress policers and 512 egress policers
ΓùÅ Support for 32,000 ACL and QoS entries
ΓùÅ Scalability to 2048 virtual ports (VLAN port instances)
ΓùÅ Scalability to 8000 IGMP snooping entries
ΓùÅ Scalability to 1500 Spanning Tree Protocol instances
ΓùÅ Bandwidth aggregation up to 16 Gbps through Cisco Gigabit EtherChannel technology
ΓùÅ Hardware-based wire-speed multicast management
ΓùÅ Hardware-based wire-speed ACLs
Comprehensive Management
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 Manageable through Cisco Network Assistant
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 (SPAN) 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 Smartports macros
ΓùÅ SPAN ACL filtering
ΓùÅ Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client autoconfiguration
ΓùÅ IfIndex persistence
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 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, port security, voice VLAN, and guest VLAN 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 Router ACLs (RACLs) on all ports (no performance penalty)
ΓùÅ VLAN ACLs (VACLs)
ΓùÅ Port ACLs (PACLs)
ΓùÅ 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 Trunk port security
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 switch and restriction of unauthorized users from altering the configuration
ΓùÅ IP Source Guard
ΓùÅ Community PVLAN
ΓùÅ Control plane policing
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1X unidirectional controlled port
ΓùÅ Voice VLAN sticky port security
ΓùÅ Secure Copy Protocol (SCP)
ΓùÅ IEEE 802.1X inaccessible authentication bypass
ΓùÅ MAC authentication bypass
ΓùÅ Cis
Volume Discount 
