C1-C4503-E Cisco One Catalyst 4503-E Switch Chassis

Product Overview

The Cisco C1-C4503-E Catalyst 4503-E Switch Chassis is a robust and scalable networking solution designed for enterprise-grade environments. Built by Cisco Systems, Inc., this switch chassis delivers high performance, flexibility, and reliability to support growing network infrastructures.

General Product Information

• Manufacturer: Cisco
• Part Number: C1-C4503-E
• Product Line: Catalyst
• Series: 4500
• Product Type: Network Switch Chassis

Interfaces and Expansion Capabilities

This Cisco Catalyst switch chassis is engineered for adaptability, allowing organizations to customize their network configuration as needs evolve.

Expansion Slot Configuration

• Offers 3 expansion slots for modular deployment
• Supports both Line Cards and Supervisor Engines
• Enables flexible scaling and performance optimization

I/O Expansion Specifications

The chassis design ensures efficient input/output expansion, helping businesses enhance throughput and connectivity without replacing core hardware.

Slot Details and Capacity

• Total Slots Available: 3 modular expansion slots
• Optimized for enterprise and data center environments

Network and Communication Features

The Cisco C1-C4503-E is built to support advanced networking requirements, making it suitable for complex and high-demand infrastructures.

Supported Network Layers

• Operates up to Layer 4
• Delivers advanced routing, switching, and traffic management
• Enhances network efficiency and application performance

Power Specifications and Reliability

Power efficiency and redundancy are key strengths of the Cisco Catalyst 4503-E chassis, ensuring consistent uptime.

Power Supply and Redundancy Options

• Includes a standard power supply
• Supports redundant power supplies for high availability
• Helps maintain uninterrupted network operations

Core Architecture and Scalability

The intelligent design of the C1-C4503-E chassis centers on its modularity and centralized control. The chassis itself houses the critical components that define the switch's capabilities, performance, and reliability.

Chassis Slots and Configuration Flexibility

The three available slots offer strategic flexibility for network design:

Slot 1: Dedicated for the supervisor engine, the brains of the switch.
Slots 2 and 3: Available for line cards, providing network interface connectivity. This design allows for a mix of Ethernet, Power over Ethernet (PoE), and advanced service modules to meet specific port density and functionality needs.

Backplane Performance: The VSS Capable Fabric

A key differentiator of the 4500-E series is its switch fabric. The 4503-E chassis supports high-performance fabric modules that deliver up to 320 Gbps of switching capacity per slot, ensuring non-blocking performance for even the most demanding applications. Crucially, this architecture is Virtual Switching System (VSS) ready. VSS allows two physical Catalyst 4500-E chassis to be clustered into a single logical entity, providing revolutionary improvements in availability, scalability, and operational simplicity.

Understanding VSS with the 4503-E

When two 4503-E chassis are paired in a VSS, they operate as one. This eliminates Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) blocked ports, utilizing all available links for active forwarding (multi-chassis EtherChannel). It also enables stateful switchover for non-stop communications during a supervisor failure in one chassis. The 4503-E is the ideal chassis for implementing VSS at the network edge or mid-tier.

Critical Components for the Chassis

To operationalize the C1-C4503-E chassis, several key components must be selected. These choices determine the switch's overall power, features, and port capabilities.

Supervisor Engine Selection

The supervisor engine is the command center. For the 4503-E, popular choices include the Supervisor Engine 7L-E, 8L-E, and 9L-E, each offering progressively greater performance, memory, and support for newer software features like programmable ASIC capabilities and enhanced telemetry.

Supervisor Engine Redundancy

While the 4503-E has only one dedicated supervisor slot, it supports supervisor engine redundancy with an additional supervisor installed in a line card slot (using a special adapter). This provides stateful failover, ensuring control plane and data plane continuity in the event of a supervisor hardware or software fault.

Line Card Portfolio for Diverse Connectivity

The true power of modularity lies in the line cards. The 4503-E supports a vast array, including:

Classic Ethernet Cards: 24-port or 48-port 10/100/1000BASE-T cards.
High-Density PoE+ Cards: 48-port GE with full IEEE 802.3at PoE+ support, ideal for powering IP phones, wireless access points, and video surveillance cameras.
10 Gigabit Ethernet Uplinks: Cards with SFP+ ports for high-speed aggregation to the network core.

Power Supply Systems: Flexibility and Redundancy

The 4503-E chassis supports AC and DC power supplies in varying wattages (e.g., 1400W, 2800W, 4200W). The choice depends on the line card PoE budget and system requirements. The chassis can be configured with N+1 or N+N power redundancy to ensure continuous operation in case of a power supply failure. The inclusion of Power Supply Logic (PSL) modules is essential for managing and distributing power intelligently across the chassis, especially for PoE planning.

Advanced Feature Set Enabled by the Chassis

The 4503-E chassis is the hardware platform that enables the comprehensive Cisco Catalyst software feature set, making it far more than a simple aggregator of traffic.

Unified Wired and Wireless with FlexConnect

When deployed with a compatible wireless LAN controller module or in a centralized controller setup, the 4503-E becomes an ideal anchor for Cisco's FlexConnect architecture. This allows for local switching and forwarding of wireless client traffic at the branch office, even if the WAN link to the central controller fails, providing unprecedented resilience for distributed wireless networks.

Comprehensive Security and Policy Enforcement

The chassis supports hardware-accelerated security features. This includes:

Identity-Based Networking (IBN) with TrustSec: Uses Security Group Tags (SGTs) to enforce policy based on user role, not just IP address.
MACsec Encryption: Provides hop-by-hop link-layer encryption for data confidentiality on point-to-point links.
ACLs and QoS: Large scale Access Control Lists and granular Quality of Service policies can be applied at line rate without performance degradation.

Network Virtualization with Software-Defined Access (SDA) Ready

With the appropriate supervisor engine and IOS XE software, the Catalyst 4503-E can function as a Software-Defined Access (SDA) Edge Node within Cisco's DNA Center architecture. This allows the switch to participate in automated, policy-driven network segmentation (Group-Based Policy) for enhanced security and simplified device onboarding.

Deployment Scenarios and Use Cases

The versatility of the Catalyst 4503-E chassis makes it suitable for a wide range of network roles.

Enterprise Wiring Closet / Branch Office Aggregation

This is its primary role. The 4503-E consolidates connectivity from end-user devices, IP phones, and wireless access points. Its PoE capabilities, high port density, and support for advanced routing protocols (OSPF, EIGRP) make it a full-featured Layer 3 aggregation switch for medium to large branch offices or campus buildings.

Mid-Size Network Core

For smaller campuses or as a core switch in a hierarchical design, a VSS pair of 4503-E chassis provides the necessary redundancy, throughput, and Layer 3 routing performance. Its ability to handle inter-VLAN routing and serve as a default gateway for thousands of devices is a key strength.

Data Center Top-of-Rack (ToR) Access

In data center environments, the 4503-E can serve as a high-performance ToR switch, connecting racks of servers. Features like VSS, low latency, and high 10GE uplink density make it suitable for virtualized server farm access.

Considerations for Acquisition and Integration

When sourcing a C1-C4503-E chassis, it is vital to plan the complete solution.

Compatibility and Lifecycle

The chassis must be paired with compatible supervisor engines, line cards, and power supplies from the Catalyst 4500-E series. It is important to check Cisco's official End-of-Life (EOL) and End-of-Sale (EOS) notices for specific components, as the platform has transitioned to newer models like the Catalyst 4500-X. However, as a robust and widely deployed system, the 4503-E remains a critical and supported asset in many operational networks, with a vast secondary market for parts and spares.

Planning for Power and Cooling

A thorough power assessment is mandatory. Calculate the total PoE budget required for all connected devices and select power supplies and PSL modules accordingly. Ensure the data cabinet or room provides adequate cooling, as a fully loaded chassis with PoE can generate significant heat.