Cisco Switch Naming Convention

  Understanding cisco switch naming convention can significantly simplify equipment selection, procurement processes, and network planning. Cisco’s Catalyst 9000 series switches employ a consistent naming convention that encodes key characteristics—platform family, port count and type, uplink interfaces, licensing and power—directly into the model name.

  In this demonstration, we’ll focus on the Cisco Catalyst series—because it’s the most widely deployed—but the same naming rules can be applied to other switch families as well. Let’s get started!

Catalyst Series and Model

Catalyst series switches are primarily composed of the following families:

9200: Fixed-stackable, access-layer switches.
9300: Modular, stackable, high-performance access-layer switches.
9400: Modular chassis switches with supervisor engines and line cards.
9500、9600

Within these families you’ll find models like C9300L, C9300, C9300X, etc.
A ”L” suffix (e.g., C9300L) denotes a non-modular switch with fixed uplinks—once deployed, its uplink capacity cannot be expanded if traffic grows.
No suffix (e.g., C9300) indicates a modular design that supports optional, pluggable uplink modules for flexible uplink port expansion.

“L” suffix (e.g., C9300L): Non-modular, fixed uplinks.
No suffix (e.g., C9300): Modular design, supports optional uplink modules.

L: Non-modular (fixed uplinks) design
48T: 48* 1 Gbps RJ-45 downlink ports, no PoE
4X: 4 x 10Gbps SFP+ uplinks
E: Network Essentials feature set (basic switching, automation, troubleshooting)

24P: 24 x 1Gbps RJ-45 PoE+ ports (up to 30W each)
A: Network Advantage license (advanced routing features)

By examining the two device models above, We can learn that:

Non-modular devices include an additional uplink designation (“4X”) in the switch naming convention that modular devices do not have.

The cisco switch naming convention specifies the number and type of downlink ports (“48T”, “24P”).

The cisco switch naming convention specifies the license type (“A”, “E”).

C9300: Catalyst 9300 series — modular, stackable access-layer switch
L: Non-modular, fixed uplink design
48UXG: 48*UPOE downlink ports: 12 × mGig(up to 10Gbps) + 36 × 1G copper
U: UPoE+ RJ-45 copper port, providing up to 60 W of power per port
X: Multi-gigabit (“mGig”) capability, up to 10 gig, auto-negotiating(10 G/5 G/2.5 G/1 G/100 M)
G: partial mGig(12 × 10Gps + 36 × 1Gbps RJ-45)
2Q: 2* 40 Gbps QSFP+ uplink ports
A: Network Advantage license — advanced routing, segmentation, VXLAN and more

UXM:
U: UPoE(90W)
X: mGig up to 10Gbps
M: mGig up to 2.5Gbps

C9300-48UN
        |
        +--- 48UN: 48 x UPoE mGig up to 5Gbps(48 * 5Gbps)

UN:
U: UPoE(90W)
N: mGig up to 5Gbps

C9300-24H
C9300-48S
C9300X-24Y
C9300-48UB
C9300L-48PF-4G

H: UPoE+(up to 90W each)
S: 1Gbps SFP fiber ports
Y: 10Gbps SFP
B: Enhanced packet buffer (64 MB.heavy video or IoT deployments)
PF: “Full-budget” PoE+

Downlink Port Naming Convention

T: Gigabit RJ-45 copper ports without PoE.
P: PoE+ RJ-45 copper ports (up to 30W per port).
PF: “Full-budget” PoE+ RJ-45 copper ports
U: Cisco UPOE ports (60W per port).
H: Cisco UPOE+ ports (90W per port).
X: mGig up to 10Gbps
N: mGig up to 5Gbps
M: mGig up to 2.5Gbps
S: 1 Gbps SFP fiber ports
Y: 10 Gbps SFP
B: Enhanced packet buffer (64 MB.heavy video or IoT deployments)

P models (e.g. C9300L-48P-4G-A) :
ship with a 715 W PSU, giving ~505 W PoE+—good for light-to-moderate PoE needs.

PF models (e.g. C9300L-48PF-4G-A) :
include a 1 100 W PSU, yielding ~890 W PoE+—ideal for full-port PoE+ and future growth.

Choose P to save cost when you won’t power all ports simultaneously; pick PF when you need guaranteed full-port PoE+ capacity.

U models (e.g. C9300-48U) ：
provide 48 × 1 Gb UPOE ports (up to 60 W each) with Cisco’s standard packet-buffer size—ideal for typical access-layer PoE deployments where traffic bursts are moderate.

UB models (e.g. C9300-48UB):
deliver the same UPOE capabilities but include an extra 64 MB of packet buffer—perfect for high-density or burst-sensitive environments (video, IoT, multicast) where smoothing micro-bursts and preventing drops is critical.

Uplink Port Naming Convention

Q: 40Gbps uplink
Y: 25Gbps uplink
X: 10Gbps uplink
G: 1Gbps uplink

Power over Ethernet (PoE) Standards Overview

Cisco Catalyst models embed PoE capability in their naming (e.g. “P”, “U”, “H” suffixes). Below is a concise summary of the IEEE—and Cisco-proprietary—PoE classes you can reference in your article:

Standard	IEEE Spec	Max Power	Cisco Naming	Typical Use Cases
PoE+	802.3at	30 W	P	Pan–tilt–zoom cameras, multi-radio APs
UPOE	802.3bt Type 3*	60 W	U	Video conferencing units, digital signage
UPOE+	802.3bt Type 4*	90 W	H	High-performance wireless APs, lighting

Sources

Cisco Catalyst Series Switches Support

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Datasheet