Cisco C9500 with DNA Advantage

Core switching with the licensing explained: hardware, network stack, and Advantage tier.

The Catalyst 9500 is Cisco’s fixed core and aggregation switch. Its commercial structure has three parts – the switch hardware, a perpetual Network Stack licence, and a software subscription in Essentials or Advantage tier – and the Advantage tier is where the difference between the Catalyst and DNA subscriptions matters.

Three-part structure: hardware, perpetual network stack licence, subscription
Catalyst Advantage includes hardware support and ISE licences; DNA does not
Ten ISE endpoint sessions per Catalyst Advantage licence on the 9500

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SPECIFICATIONS

Platform Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series, fixed core and aggregation

Structure Hardware + perpetual Network Stack licence + subscription

Tiers Essentials or Advantage

Software Cisco IOS XE with the Network Stack software

Subscription Cisco Catalyst or Cisco DNA - they differ, see below

Description

The Catalyst 9500 is the switch you put at the centre of a site: the aggregation or core layer that every access switch uplinks into, and therefore the one whose failure or misconfiguration affects everything. Technically it is the fixed-configuration high-performance member of the Catalyst 9000 family, running Cisco IOS XE with the Network Stack software.

What deserves explaining is the commercial structure, because it is the part that surprises people and this catalogue line names a specific tier. Cisco state the offer has three main components: the switch hardware, a Network Stack perpetual licence, and a choice between a Cisco Catalyst Software Subscription or a Cisco DNA subscription. The subscription - which itself comes with a perpetual licence - is required with a hardware purchase. It is not optional, so a quotation showing hardware alone is not a complete price.

The choice between the two subscription types is the decision worth getting right, and Cisco are explicit about the difference. The Catalyst Software Subscription for Switching includes base software and hardware support at both the Essentials and Advantage tiers - and if you take Advantage, it also includes Identity Services Engine licences, with the quantity depending on the switch model. For the Catalyst 9500, that is ten endpoint sessions per Catalyst Advantage licence. The Cisco DNA software subscription, by contrast, includes base support for software only and not hardware, delivering a one-hour TAC response objective for severity 1 and 2 service requests, and it does not include ISE licences at all.

Read that carefully, because it inverts an intuition. The DNA subscription buys a faster software support response; the Catalyst subscription buys hardware support and identity licences. Cisco note that the feature content and the tier levels - Essentials and Advantage - are the same either way. So the question is not which gives more features but which support and licensing package you actually need: if the site has no separate hardware support contract, the Catalyst subscription is covering something the DNA one does not, and if the site is deploying 802.1X or network access control, those bundled ISE sessions have real value.

Both options include the switch hardware coupled with Cisco IOS XE and the Network Stack software, and both are ordered through Cisco Commerce Workspace as an Essentials or Advantage subscription. We set this out line by line in a quotation - hardware, network stack, subscription type and tier, term, and what support each part carries - so the renewal in three years is not a surprise. Model, port configuration and uplink type are specified against the aggregation requirement and the access switch count.

Features

Three components, all required. Hardware, a perpetual Network Stack licence, and a subscription - hardware alone is not a complete order.
Catalyst Advantage includes hardware support. The DNA subscription covers software support only.
ISE licences bundled with Catalyst Advantage. Ten endpoint sessions per licence on the Catalyst 9500; none with DNA.
One-hour TAC objective on DNA. For severity 1 and 2 requests, which is what that subscription buys instead.
Same features either way. Cisco confirm feature content and the Essentials and Advantage tiers are identical between the two.
Cisco IOS XE throughout. Same operating system as the access layer and the wireless controller.
Quoted line by line. So the term, the tier and the renewal are visible before you commit.

Applications

Core and aggregation switching, where the whole network converges.

Site core. Aggregating every access switch on a facility.
Data centre and server aggregation. High-throughput fixed configuration.
Campus distribution. Between building access switches and the core.
Networks deploying 802.1X. Where the bundled ISE sessions of Catalyst Advantage are directly useful.
Segmented industrial networks. Core switching either side of an IDMZ.
Core refreshes. Replacing end-of-life aggregation switching on an existing estate.

Support & Documents

PT Vivo Asia Teknologi Indonesia supplies network infrastructure as a designed and commissioned system rather than as a box of hardware. Our scope typically covers:

Requirements review: port counts, uplinks, resilience and growth headroom.
Wireless predictive design and, where warranted, an on-site survey.
Selection of industrial or enterprise hardware to suit the environment.
Supply, installation, structured cabling, termination and commissioning.
Configuration: VLANs, routing, segmentation and security policy.
Documentation, handover and ongoing support and maintenance.

Model availability, licensing and electrical details vary by variant and are confirmed against the current manufacturer datasheet at quotation stage. Tell us the site layout, the device count and any segregation you have to observe between control and business networks, and we will come back with a design and a full bill of materials.

Use the enquiry button above for a datasheet, a specification or a project quotation.