CW9800L – 500 AP / 10,000 Client Capacity – 2×1/10G SFP+ Uplinks – Compact 1RU Wireless Controller
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CW9800L Description
The CW9800L is a Cisco Catalyst CW9800 Series compact wireless controller for campus equipment rooms and branch head-ends that run Cisco IOS XE. The 1RU controller manages up to 500 access points and 10,000 clients at up to 10 Gbps of throughput through two 1G/10G SFP+ uplinks. The CW9800L requires Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2 or later, and each joining access point needs its own Cisco DNA or Cisco Networking Subscription.
Quick Specs
|
Parameter |
Specification |
|---|---|
|
Product ID |
CW9800L |
|
Access point capacity |
Up to 500 APs |
|
Client capacity |
Up to 10,000 clients |
|
Maximum throughput |
10 Gbps |
|
Uplink ports |
2x 1G/10G SFP+ |
|
Supported AP generations |
Wi-Fi 5 Wave 2, Wi-Fi 6/6E, and Wi-Fi 7 |
|
AP license requirement |
One Cisco DNA or Cisco Networking Subscription per AP |
|
Redundancy |
1:1 SSO and N+1 high availability |
|
Default power supply |
C9800-AC-110W 110W AC adapter |
|
Maximum power consumption |
90W |
|
Form factor |
1RU, 2.1 kg (4.6 lb) |
|
Minimum software release |
Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2 |
Application Scenarios
In a campus equipment room, the controller anchors up to 500 access points in local mode and terminates their tunnels from a single 1RU appliance over its two 1G/10G SFP+ uplinks.
A head-end site can manage distributed branch offices in Cisco FlexConnect mode, where each branch switches client traffic locally and the controller supports up to 400 FlexConnect access points per site.
A shallow office cabinet outside a dedicated equipment room can house the controller, because its 234.7 mm depth and 29.5 dBA sound power at normal room temperature suit placement near working areas.
Product Comparison
|
Parameter |
CW9800L |
CW9800M |
CW9800H1 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Maximum number of access points |
Up to 500 APs |
Up to 3,000 APs |
Up to 6,000 APs |
|
Maximum number of clients |
Up to 10,000 |
Up to 32,000 |
Up to 64,000 |
|
Maximum throughput |
10 Gbps |
50 Gbps |
100 Gbps |
|
Uplink ports |
2x 1G/10G SFP+ |
4x 1G/10G SFP+ and 2x 25G SFP28 |
8x 1G/10G SFP+ and 4x 25G SFP28 |
|
Power supply |
C9800-AC-110W 110W AC adapter, optional redundant supply kit |
Single AC power supply, hot-swappable PEM |
Dual power supplies standard (750W AC or 950W DC) |
|
Maximum power consumption |
90W |
350W |
500W |
|
Weight |
2.1 kg (4.6 lb) |
9.3 kg (20.5 lb) |
9.3 kg (20.5 lb) |
|
Minimum software release |
Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2 |
Cisco IOS XE 17.14.1 |
Cisco IOS XE 17.14.1 |
CW9800L tops out at 500 APs, 10,000 clients and 10 Gbps, so a network that will pass about 500 APs in the controller’s service life moves to CW9800M, which reaches 3000 APs, 32,000 clients and 50 Gbps. CW9800H1 goes to 6000 APs and 100 Gbps with 8x 1/10G SFP+ plus 4x 25G SFP28 uplinks, against 2x 1G/10G SFP+ on CW9800L, which is the step for aggregation layers that need 25G. Power also splits them: CW9800L runs from one C9800-AC-110W adapter, CW9800M from one PWR-CH1-750WACR supply, and CW9800H1 ships with dual supplies. CW9800L needs IOS XE 17.18.2, while CW9800H1 runs from 17.14.1.
Ordering Checklist
- AP subscription: Add one LIC-CW-E (Essentials) or LIC-CW-A (Advantage) entitlement for each AP; unified SKUs need IOS XE 17.15.x or later, otherwise per-AP Cisco DNA subscriptions. The controller starts without a license, but each AP that joins needs its own subscription.
- SFP optics: Add optics for the 2x 1G/10G ports, for example GLC-TE, SFP-10G-SR, SFP-10G-LR or SFP-H10GB-CU2.5M. The ports accept only items on the CW9800L supported list, which differs from CW9800H1.
- Redundant power: Add CW9800L-RPS= for the redundancy supply; PWR-RPS-DC1= is the module alone. One C9800-AC-110W adapter ships by default, and without the kit the controller runs on a single adapter.
- Rack tray: Add CW9800L-RMNT to hold two CW9800L side by side in one RU; CW9800L-RMNT-R is the rear bracket. The chassis is 216 mm wide, so racking needs the tray.
- Application hosting memory: Select CW-ACC-MEM-32G, which adds 32 GB of storage, when the controller is ordered. It cannot be added later for container workloads.
Optional Add-ons
|
Model |
Description |
|---|---|
|
CW9800L-RPS= |
Redundant power supply kit with RPS module, 8-pin to 6-pin DC cable, and an additional power adapter |
|
PWR-RPS-DC1= |
Spare redundant power supply module only |
|
C9800-AC-110W |
110W AC power adapter with 100-240 VAC input; one ships with the appliance |
|
CW9800L-RMNT |
Rack-mount tray that fits two CW9800L controllers side by side in a single RU |
|
CW9800L-RMNT-R |
Rear rack-mount bracket for the CW9800L tray installation |
|
CW-ACC-MEM-32G |
32 GB additional storage for application hosting; configurable only at time of appliance order |
|
CW9800L-RFID-1R |
RFID asset tag recording PID, serial number, and Meraki Cloud ID |
Specifications
| Parameter | Specification | Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product ID | CW9800L | AP license requirement | One Cisco DNA or Cisco Networking Subscription per joining AP |
| Uplink ports | 2x 1G/10G SFP+ | Supported 1G optics | GLC-TE, GLC-LH-SMD, GLC-SX-MMD |
| Supported 10G modules | SFP-10G-SR, SFP-10G-SR-S, SFP-10G-SR-I, SFP-10G-LR, SFP-10G-LR-S, SFP-10G-BXD-I, SFP-10G-BXU-I, SFP-H10GB-CU2.5M/3M/5M, SFP-H10GB-ACU7M/10M, SFP-10G-AOC series (1 m to 10 m) | Supported AP generations | Wi-Fi 5 Wave 2, Wi-Fi 6/6E, Wi-Fi 7; Standard Power with AFC where available |
| Maximum throughput | 10 Gbps | Processor | Intel Icelake-D LCC, 8 cores, 2 GHz |
| Access point capacity | Up to 500 APs | Client capacity | Up to 10,000 clients |
| Product role | Compact wireless controller, Cisco Catalyst CW9800 family | WLANs | 4096 |
| Site tags | 250 | FlexConnect APs per site | 400 |
| Policy tags | 4096 | RF tags | 250 |
| RF profiles | 500 | Policy profiles | 4096 |
| Flex profiles | 250 | Wireless standards | 802.11a/b/g/d/e/h/n/k/r/u/w, 802.11ac Wave 1 and Wave 2, 802.11ax, 802.11be |
| Deployment modes | Centralized, Cisco FlexConnect, SD-Access fabric wireless | Security | WPA3, Secure Boot, image signing, run-time defenses, Trust Anchor module, Encrypted Traffic Analytics, aWIPS |
| Application hosting storage | CW-ACC-MEM-32G 32 GB option, order-time configuration only | Catalyst Center release | Cisco Catalyst Center 2.3.7.10 |
| VLANs | 4096 | Redundancy port | 1x RJ-45 RP port for SSO pairing |
| High availability | 1:1 SSO, N+1 redundancy, ISSU, SMU hot patching, rolling AP upgrade | Management port | 1x RJ-45 service port |
| Console ports | 1x RJ-45 console, 1x Micro USB console | USB port | 1x USB 3.0 Type-C for external storage |
| Management | WebUI, Cisco Catalyst Center, NETCONF/YANG, RESTCONF, model-driven telemetry, Cloud Monitoring via Meraki dashboard | Software features | Application hosting (Cisco IOx), User Defined Network Plus, Flexible NetFlow, NBAR2, QoS per BSSID and per client |
| Minimum software release | Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2 | Default power supply | C9800-AC-110W 110W AC adapter, 100-240 VAC input |
| Redundant power option | CW9800L-RPS= kit; PWR-RPS-DC1= spare module | Maximum power consumption | 90W including 4.5W USB load |
| Heat dissipation | 307.2 BTU/hr | Acoustic sound power | 29.5 dBA up to 25.6°C; 37.4 dBA at 26-39°C; 43.8 dBA at 40-49°C; 47.3 dBA at 50°C and above |
| Rack units | 1RU | Rack-mount accessories | CW9800L-RMNT tray (two units per RU), CW9800L-RMNT-R rear bracket |
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 216 x 234.7 x 40.2 mm (8.5 x 9.24 x 1.58 in) | Operating temperature | 0 to 40°C |
| Storage temperature | -25 to 70°C | Operating humidity | 5 to 95% noncondensing |
| Operating altitude | Up to 3048 m at 30°C |
Quality Certifications
Customer Reviews
Questions & Answers
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What type of compact controller is CW9800L?
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How many access points can CW9800L manage?
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How does CW9800L compare with CW9800M?
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Does CW9800L provide 10G uplinks?
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Which power adapter is standard for CW9800L?
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Where does CW9800L fit in a centralized campus design?
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Which software baseline is required for CW9800L?
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