Today, we are doing something we have not done since our 2019 Cisco UCS C4200 review: we are reviewing a Cisco product. The Cisco Catalyst C1300-8FP-2G is the company’s managed 1GbE switch that offers PoE+ capabilities, a CLI, a web management interface, and much more. We are taking this one for a spin. It is one of the lower-cost C1300 switches, but it is also very different from the ultra-low-cost switches we have seen. We are generally going to focus on 10G options next in the C1300/ C1300X stack, but we wanted to start with this one.
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Cisco Catalyst C1300-8FP-2G External Hardware Overview
First off, this is a 1U rackmountable switch. At this point, you might think it is just a standard-looking 1U switch box, but give it a few seconds.
On the front, we have many ways to get to a CLI, because this is a Cisco switch. On higher-end C1300 models, we have seen out-of-band management ports. On this one, we get many CLI interfaces. Also, it should be noted that this is a major difference between this switch and lower-end options, as well as switches like the HPE Aruba Instant On 1960 24G 2XGT 2SFP+ switch we reviewed.
The next eight ports are 1GbE ports with PoE+ capabilities. We will test these later in the review.
Next, we get ports 9 and 10, which are non-PoE+ ports and are also wired a bit differently, as we will show in our internal overview.
Another big difference with these ports is that they are combo ports with SFP options.
Let us get to why this not just a simple 1U switch. You might be able to tell by the vent on the side.
Or perhaps the vent on the other side.
If not those, then certainly in the rear, you can see something different.
First, there is a lock point since these are edge switches.
There is also an AC input for an internal power supply. The PSU is quite neat, so we will get to that as we get inside the switch.
Then there is the rear heatsink. This is actually really cool. The white top cover comes off and is fitted around these fins. If you were thinking that these fins were to cool the switch chip, you would be incorrect.
On top, we can see a large vent.
On the bottom, we get a few mounting options. You can certainly imagine this hanging on a wall and being a silent switch.
Next, let us get inside the switch where Cisco’s engineers did some cool things.
