Introduction

In the evolving world of technology, businesses are always looking for ways to make their systems better and more advanced. One big choice they have to make is purchasing the perfect network switches. One such critical decision involves the choice of the migration from Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switches to Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches, which becomes a strategic move for many enterprises.

Purpose of this Migration Guide

This document explores why companies make this switch, compares the two types, considers things like cost and whether to get a brand new or a fixed-up one, and even offers tips on where to buy them.

Understanding the Cisco 4500 Switches

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series is a game changer, known for its dependability and abundance of cool features. But, as technology advances, we all want more speed, better security, and cooler gadgets. Now, organizations have to figure out if they should keep their trusty old Cisco 4500 switches or switch things up and move to the newer Cisco 9400 series.

What are Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches?

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches are the company's leading modular enterprise switching access platform, designed for security, IoT, and the cloud. These switches serve as the foundation for Cisco's leading enterprise architecture, Software-Defined Access (SD-Access). The platform provides unrivaled investment protection with its chassis architecture, which supports up to 9 Tbps of system bandwidth and unmatched power delivery for IEEE 802.3BT (60W and 90W Power over Ethernet). Across the portfolio, redundancy is now the norm. The 9400 Series provides cutting-edge High Availability with features such as uplink resiliency and N+1/N+N power supply redundancy.

Chassis Hardware

The Cisco 4500 series switches have a strong and reliable chassis hardware design. However, the Cisco 9400 switches come with a flexible and modern hardware setup, which makes things work even better for you.

Table 1. compares the chassis hardware differences between Cisco 4500 and Cisco 9400 switches.

Feature	Cisco 4500 Series	Catalyst 9400 Series
Form Factor	Modular chassis with fixed supervisor engine slots and line card slots.	Modular chassis with fixed supervisor engine slots and line card slots.
Supervisor Engine	Supports various supervisor engines like Supervisor 8-E, Supervisor 7-E, etc.	Supports Cisco Catalyst 9400 Supervisor Engine 1 (C9400-SUP-1) and Supervisor Engine 2 (C9400-SUP-2).
Switch Fabric	Fabric-enabled chassis with a centralized switch fabric (e.g., 6 Gbps or 48 Gbps).	High-performance switch fabric with a higher throughput (e.g., 480 Gbps or higher, depending on the model).
Power Supply	Supports various AC and DC power supply options, with redundant power supply capability.	Offers dual redundant power supplies with support for AC and DC power options. Higher wattage options available.
Slot Density	Varies depending on the chassis model, ranging from 3 to 10 slots.	Fixed chassis with 7 or 10 fixed slots for line cards.
Line Card Options	Supports various line cards for different interfaces, such as Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and more.	Offers line cards with high-density 1/10/25/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet ports.
Uplink Ports	Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports available.	Higher-speed uplink ports, including 10/25/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet options.
StackWise Virtual	Not applicable.	Supports StackWise Virtual technology for virtual switching and simplified management.
Integrated Wireless Controller	Not applicable.	Some models include an integrated wireless controller for managing wireless access points.
Redundancy and Resilience	Redundant supervisor engines and power supplies for high availability.	Dual redundant supervisor engines, power supplies, and cooling fans for enhanced reliability.

Supervisor Hardware

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engines are built on Cisco's UADP ASIC and x86 CPU architecture. Supervisor Engines also offer additional internal and external storage options, allowing the device to host containers and run third-party applications and scripts natively within the switch.

The hardware of the c4500 and Cisco 9400 is compared below in Table 2.

Feature	Cisco 4500 Series	Catalyst 9400 Series
Form Factor	Chassis-based modular design	Chassis-based modular design
Supervisor Engine	Various options (e.g., Supervisor 7-E, Supervisor 8-E)	Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Supervisor Engines (e.g., Supervisor 1, Supervisor 1XL)
Line Cards	Various line card options (e.g., Classic, E-Series)	Various line card options (e.g., 9400 Series Line Cards)
Switching Capacity	Up to 848 Gbps (e.g., Cisco 4510R+E)	Up to 960 Gbps (e.g., Catalyst 9404R)
Maximum PoE Power	Up to 4200W	Up to 7200W
Stackable	No (Traditionally not stackable)	Yes, StackWise Virtual for stacking up to eight switches
Uplink Ports	Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet options	1/10/25/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet options
Redundancy Options	Power Supply, Supervisor Engine, and Fan redundancy	Power Supply, Supervisor Engine, and Fan redundancy
Fabric Architecture	Shared switch fabric architecture	Centralized switch fabric architecture
Modular Power Supplies	Yes	Yes
Scalability	Limited scalability compared to newer models	Designed for higher scalability and performance

System Default Behaviors

The Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series' system default behaviors are very similar to those of the 4500E Series. Interfaces, for example, are set to Layer 2 switch port mode by default, IP routing is enabled, the management interface is assigned to a dedicated Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) instance, and so on. However, there are some distinctions.

Control Plane Policing (CoPP): CoPP is enabled on the Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series, with different traffic classes having different policing rates. These policing rates are tailored to a typical campus setting. To meet the needs of various application environments, the policing rates can be changed or disabled. CoPP is not enabled by default on the Cisco Catalyst 4500E, but the system provides a macro to create the different classes, and the user can specify the policing rate for each class.

Link-status logging is enabled by default on the Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series, and the behavior can be changed per interface in the configuration. Logging for link-status changes is disabled by default on the 4500E Series, but it can be enabled globally. See Table 3.

Feature	Cisco 4500 Series	Catalyst 9400 Series
Chassis Options	4503, 4506, 4507R, 4510R	C9404R, C9407R, C9410R, C9400-SUP1
Supervisor Engines	Supervisor Engine 7-E, 8-E, 9-E	Catalyst 9400 Series Supervisor Engines (e.g., C9400-SUP1)
Line Cards	Various line cards supported	Various line cards supported
Maximum Ports	Up to 384 Gigabit ports (with line cards)	Up to 384 Gigabit ports (with line cards)
Maximum 10/100/1000 Ports	Up to 384 Gigabit ports (with line cards)	Up to 384 Gigabit ports (with line cards)
Maximum 10 Gbps Ports	Up to 48 10 Gigabit ports	Up to 48 10 Gigabit ports
Maximum 40 Gbps Ports	Up to 12 40 Gigabit ports	Up to 12 40 Gigabit ports
Maximum 100 Gbps Ports	Up to 6 100 Gigabit ports	Up to 6 100 Gigabit ports
Power Supply Options	AC and DC options available	AC and DC options available
Redundant Power Supplies	Supported	Supported
Redundant Supervisors	Supported	Supported
Modular Slots	Yes, for line cards and modules	Yes, for line cards and modules
Stackable	No	Yes, with StackWise Virtual
Switching Capacity	Up to 848 Gbps	Up to 480 Gbps
Forwarding Rate	Up to 250 Mpps	Up to 288 Mpps
Form Factor	Rack-mountable	Rack-mountable
Hot-Swappable Modules	Yes	Yes
Integrated Wireless Support	No	Yes, with optional modules
Integrated Security Features	Yes	Yes
Virtualization Support	VSS (Virtual Switching System)	VSS (Virtual Switching System)
Software Support	Cisco IOS Software	Cisco IOS XE Software
IPv6 Support	Yes	Yes
MPLS Support	Yes	Yes

Power Redundancy

The Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series has eight power supply slots in the 9407R and 9410R models, compared to two in the 4500E Series. These eight power supply slots can be used in one of three ways:

Combined mode: This is the default setting. The system's power supply modules are all active and sharing power.

N+1 redundant mode: N is the number of active power supply modules, and there is one standby power supply module. In the event that any of the active power supply modules fails, the standby power supply takes over.

N+N redundant mode: The system is configured with an equal number of active and standby power supply modules in this mode.

Table 4. compares the power redundancy features of both Cisco 4500 switches and Cisco Catalyst 9400 switches.

Feature	Cisco Catalyst 4500	Cisco Catalyst 9400
Power Supply Redundancy	Dual, redundant power supplies	Dual, redundant power supplies
Power Supply Types	AC and DC power supply options	AC and DC power supply options
Hot Swappable Power Supplies	Yes	Yes
Power Sharing Across Supplies	No	Yes
Power Capacity (Per Supply)	Varies by model and type	Varies by model and type
Overall Power Budget	Higher capacity in some models	Higher capacity in some models
Power Stack Technology	No	Yes, through StackPower
Power Efficiency Features	Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE)	Cisco UPOE+ for higher efficiency
Power Management Features	Cisco EnergyWise	Cisco EnergyWise
Redundant Power Supply Modules	Available for certain models	Available for certain models

Specifications

Table 5. Below summarizes the specification differences between Cisco 4500 and Cisco 9400 switches below.

Feature	Cisco 4500 Series	Catalyst 9400 Series
Switch Models	Cisco 4503, 4506, 4507R, 4510R	Catalyst 9404R, 9407R, 9410R
Maximum Throughput	Up to 480 Gbps (4507R-E)	Up to 960 Gbps
Maximum Ports	Up to 384 10/100/1000 ports (4507R-E)	Up to 384 10/100/1000 ports
Uplink Modules	Supports various line cards and modules	Up to 6 line cards per chassis
Chassis Redundancy	Yes	Yes
Power Supply Options	AC and DC options available	AC and DC options available
Supervisor Engine Options	Supervisor 7-E, 7L-E, 8-E	Supervisor 1, 1XL, 2, 3, 3XL, 4, 5, 6
Modular Slots	3 to 10 slots depending on the model	4 slots for line cards
Virtual Switching System (VSS)	Supported with specific models	Not supported
StackWise Technology	StackWise Plus supported	StackWise-480 supported
Multigigabit Ethernet Support	Limited support in some models	Available in specific line cards
Network Module Support	Yes	Yes
Integrated Wireless Controller	No	Available in certain models
Redundant Power Supply Support	Yes	Yes
Network Virtualization (VRF)	Yes	Yes
Software-Defined Access (SD-Access)	Support with specific software versions	Supported
Cisco DNA Center Compatibility	Limited support	Fully supported
Energy-Efficient Design	EnergyWise support	EnergyWise support

Bandwidth Specifications

Differences between bandwidth specifications of the two series switches are mentioned below in Table 6.

Specification	Cisco Catalyst 4500	Cisco Catalyst 9400
Switch Series	Catalyst 4500 Series	Catalyst 9400 Series
Available Chassis Models	4503-E, 4506-E, 4507R-E, 4510R-E	C9404R, C9407R, C9410R, C9410R (Modular)
Maximum Bandwidth	Up to 848 Gbps (Supervisor 8-E)	Up to 960 Gbps (Supervisor 1)
Fabric Speed	48 Gbps per slot (Supervisor 8-E)	48 Gbps per slot (Supervisor 1)
Number of Slots	Up to 10 slots (4507R-E)	Up to 10 slots (C9410R)
Supervisor Engine Options	Supervisor 8-E (Standard), Supervisor 9-E	Supervisor 1 (Standard)
Uplink Module Options	Various options including 1G, 10G, 40G, 100G	Various options including 1G, 10G, 40G, 100G
Power Supply Options	AC and DC options available	AC and DC options available
Modular Uplinks	Yes (with appropriate modules)	Yes (with appropriate modules)
Multigigabit and UPOE Support	Yes (with appropriate line cards)	Yes (with appropriate line cards)
Redundancy Features	Dual Supervisor support, power supplies,	Dual Supervisor support, power supplies,
	and fan trays for high availability	and fan trays for high availability