N9K-C9372PX Cisco Layer3 Switch Gigabit Ethernet Expansion Slots

Cisco N9K-C9372PX Managed 48-Port Switch Overview

The Cisco N9K-C9372PX is a high-performance, rack-mountable Nexus 9372PX switch designed for enterprise and data center environments. Combining advanced Layer 3 capabilities with robust management features, it ensures seamless network operations and scalability.

Key Manufacturer Details

• Brand: Cisco
• Model/SKU: N9K-C9372PX
• Product Category: Managed Switch
• Port Count: 48 Ports

Technical Specifications

Device Type & Enclosure

• Type: Managed Layer 3 Switch
• Ports: 48 x 1/10G SFP+ and 6 x 40G QSFP+ uplinks
• Form Factor: Desktop or 1U Rack-mountable
• Subtype: 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Performance Metrics

• Bandwidth Capacity: 1.44 Tbps
• Longest Prefix Match (LPM) Entries (IPv4): 16,000
• IPv4 Host Table Entries: 208,000
• IPv4 Multicast Routes: 32,000
• Virtual Interfaces (VLANs): 4,096
• Equal-cost Multipathing (ECMP) Paths: 64
• Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol Instances: 64
• Per-VLAN Rapid Spanning Tree Plus (PVRST+) Instances: 507
• Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) Entries: 1,000
• IGMP Snooping Entries: 32,000
• Ingress ACL Entries: 4,000 | Egress ACL Entries: 1,000
• MAC Address Table: 96k entries

Core Features & Functionalities

• Advanced VLAN support for flexible network segmentation
• IGMP snooping for efficient multicast traffic handling
• Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP) and PVRST+ support
• Access Control List (ACL) implementation for network security
• Quality of Service (QoS) for optimized traffic prioritization
• Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) for high availability
• Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) for isolated routing domains
• Virtual PortChannel (vPC) for simplified link aggregation
• VXLAN Tunnel Endpoints (VTEP) for modern data center overlays

Redundancy and Reliability

• Power redundancy support ensures uninterrupted operation
• Designed for continuous uptime in critical networking environments

High-Density Data Center Switching Architecture

The Cisco N9K-C9372PX Rack Mountable Nexus 9372PX Managed Switch with 48 Ports belongs to the advanced class of data center switching platforms designed to support modern enterprise, cloud, and service provider environments. This category of switches focuses on high-density, low-latency, and highly reliable Ethernet connectivity, making it suitable for spine-and-leaf architectures as well as aggregation and top-of-rack deployments. The Nexus 9372PX series is engineered to address the growing demands of east-west traffic, virtualization, containerized workloads, and software-defined networking, ensuring consistent performance even under heavy data loads.

The rack-mountable form factor of the Cisco Nexus 9372PX aligns with standard data center rack requirements, enabling seamless integration into existing infrastructure. This category emphasizes scalability and operational efficiency, allowing organizations to expand network capacity without redesigning their entire architecture. The managed nature of the switch ensures granular control, advanced configuration capabilities, and centralized monitoring, all of which are essential in mission-critical networking environments.

48-Port High-Speed Ethernet Configuration

At the core of this category is the 48-port Ethernet configuration, which provides extensive connectivity for servers, storage systems, and network appliances. The Cisco N9K-C9372PX offers ports designed to support high-throughput data transmission, making it ideal for environments where performance consistency is critical. This category of switches is widely used in data centers that require predictable latency, high availability, and support for bandwidth-intensive applications such as virtualization platforms, databases, analytics engines, and real-time services.

The port density allows network architects to reduce the number of physical devices required in a rack, simplifying cable management and reducing overall power consumption. By consolidating connectivity into fewer devices, this category contributes to more efficient data center operations while maintaining flexibility for future expansion.

Support for Leaf and Spine Deployments

The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category is optimized for both leaf and spine roles within a data center fabric. In leaf deployments, the switch connects directly to servers and storage systems, providing high-speed access and low-latency communication. In spine deployments, it acts as a high-capacity backbone that interconnects multiple leaf switches, ensuring uniform performance across the entire fabric.

This dual-role capability makes the category highly versatile, allowing organizations to standardize on a single switch model across multiple layers of the network. Such standardization simplifies procurement, deployment, and ongoing management while reducing training requirements for IT staff.

Consistent Low-Latency Performance

Low-latency switching is a defining characteristic of this category. The Cisco N9K-C9372PX is designed to minimize packet processing delays, which is essential for applications that are sensitive to jitter and latency. This includes financial trading platforms, real-time analytics, voice and video services, and distributed databases. The architectural design of the Nexus 9372PX ensures that data packets are forwarded efficiently, even during peak usage periods.

Managed Switching Capabilities and Network Control

The managed switch category represented by the Cisco N9K-C9372PX emphasizes advanced control, configurability, and visibility. Managed switches are essential in enterprise-grade networks where security, performance optimization, and policy enforcement are critical. This category supports comprehensive management features that allow administrators to fine-tune network behavior and quickly respond to changing requirements.

Cisco Nexus switches are known for their robust operating system, which provides a consistent and feature-rich management experience. The Cisco N9K-C9372PX integrates seamlessly into centralized management frameworks, enabling administrators to monitor traffic patterns, identify bottlenecks, and enforce quality of service policies across the network.

Advanced Layer 2 and Layer 3 Features

This category supports both Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking capabilities, making it suitable for complex data center topologies. Layer 2 features enable efficient switching within the same broadcast domain, while Layer 3 features support routing between different subnets and network segments. The combination allows for flexible network design, accommodating both traditional and modern architectures.

The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category is commonly deployed in environments that require segmentation for security and performance reasons. Virtual LANs and routing capabilities enable organizations to isolate workloads, control traffic flows, and implement multi-tenant architectures without sacrificing performance.

Policy-Based Network Management

Policy-based management is a key aspect of this category, allowing administrators to define network behavior through high-level policies rather than device-by-device configurations. This approach reduces operational complexity and minimizes the risk of configuration errors. The Cisco Nexus 9372PX supports integration with software-defined networking solutions, enabling automated provisioning and dynamic policy enforcement.

Operational Visibility and Analytics

Visibility into network operations is critical for maintaining performance and reliability. This category includes features that provide detailed insights into traffic flows, port utilization, and error conditions. By leveraging these capabilities, administrators can proactively address issues before they impact users or applications, ensuring consistent service delivery.

Scalability and Future-Ready Design

The Cisco N9K-C9372PX Rack Mountable Nexus 9372PX Managed Switch with 48 Ports is part of a category designed with long-term scalability in mind. As data center demands continue to grow, organizations require network infrastructure that can scale without significant disruption. This category addresses that need by offering high port density, robust throughput, and support for evolving networking standards.

Scalability in this category is not limited to hardware capacity. It also includes software scalability, allowing organizations to adopt new features, protocols, and management tools as their requirements evolve. This ensures that investments in Cisco Nexus switches remain valuable over an extended lifecycle.

Support for Virtualized and Cloud Environments

Modern data centers increasingly rely on virtualization and cloud technologies to optimize resource utilization and improve agility. The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category is designed to support these environments by providing consistent network performance across virtual machines and containers. The switch architecture ensures that network policies are applied uniformly, regardless of where workloads are hosted.

This category is particularly well-suited for private cloud deployments, hybrid cloud architectures, and service provider environments where multi-tenancy and dynamic workload placement are common. The ability to scale network resources alongside compute and storage resources is a key advantage of this switch category.

Integration with Automation Frameworks

Automation is a critical component of modern IT operations. The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category supports integration with automation and orchestration frameworks, enabling rapid provisioning and configuration changes. This reduces manual intervention and accelerates deployment timelines, allowing organizations to respond quickly to business needs.

Investment Protection and Longevity

Investment protection is a major consideration in data center infrastructure decisions. This category is designed to provide long-term value by supporting a wide range of use cases and deployment models. Organizations can deploy the Cisco Nexus 9372PX with confidence, knowing that it can adapt to future requirements through software updates and architectural flexibility.

Reliability, Availability, and Data Center Readiness

Reliability and availability are foundational attributes of the Cisco N9K-C9372PX category. Data centers operate around the clock, and network downtime can have significant financial and operational consequences. This category emphasizes resilient design, ensuring that network services remain available even in the face of component failures or unexpected traffic spikes.

The rack-mountable design facilitates proper airflow and cooling, which is essential for maintaining stable operation in high-density environments. This category is engineered to operate efficiently under continuous load, making it suitable for enterprise data centers and colocation facilities.

High Availability Design Principles

High availability is achieved through a combination of hardware resilience and software intelligence. The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category supports features that enable rapid recovery from failures, minimizing service disruption. These capabilities are essential for applications that require continuous connectivity and minimal downtime.

Consistent Performance Under Load

One of the defining characteristics of this category is its ability to maintain consistent performance under heavy traffic conditions. The Cisco N9K-C9372PX is designed to handle simultaneous data flows without degradation, ensuring predictable network behavior even during peak usage periods.

Enterprise and Service Provider Use Cases

This category is widely adopted in enterprise and service provider environments where reliability and scalability are paramount. Use cases include large-scale virtualization platforms, cloud service delivery, high-performance computing clusters, and enterprise core networks. The versatility of the Cisco Nexus 9372PX category makes it a reliable foundation for a wide range of networking scenarios.

Security and Network Segmentation Capabilities

Security is an integral aspect of the Cisco N9K-C9372PX Rack Mountable Nexus 9372PX Managed Switch with 48 Ports category. As data center networks become more complex, the need for robust security and segmentation increases. This category supports advanced security mechanisms that help protect sensitive data and maintain compliance with organizational policies.

Network segmentation is achieved through logical isolation, allowing different applications or tenants to coexist on the same physical infrastructure without compromising security. This is particularly important in multi-tenant environments and cloud deployments.

Traffic Isolation and Control

The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category provides mechanisms for isolating traffic flows and controlling access between network segments. This helps prevent unauthorized access and limits the impact of potential security incidents. Administrators can define granular policies that govern how traffic is forwarded within the network.

Support for Secure Data Center Architectures

Secure data center architectures rely on consistent enforcement of security policies across all network devices. This category supports integration with centralized security frameworks, ensuring that policies are applied uniformly and consistently. This reduces the risk of configuration drift and enhances overall security posture.

Compliance and Governance Readiness

Organizations operating in regulated industries require network infrastructure that supports compliance and governance requirements. The Cisco Nexus 9372PX category provides the necessary controls and visibility to support auditing, monitoring, and reporting, making it suitable for environments with strict regulatory obligations.