topic Re: Catalyst 8200/8300 - SDA Control Plane Scale in Software-Defined Access (SD-Access)

Catalyst 8200/8300 - SDA Control Plane Scale

David Milne — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 06:44:21 GMT

Hello! I'm trying to ascertain the scale limits for the Catalyst 8200/8300 platform when used as an SD-Access Control Plane node. Those stats seem to be listed in the Catalyst Center data sheet for Catalyst 9xxx and ASR/ISR platforms, found here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/cloud-systems-management/dna-center/nb-06-dna-center-data-sheet-cte-en.html#SDAccessplatformscale

I can't seem to see something similar for the Catalyst 8200/8300 routers though - does anybody know where that info might be located, or whether the ISR numbers might also apply to the C8200/8300 platforms too?

Re: Catalyst 8200/8300 - SDA Control Plane Scale

Andrii Oliinyk — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:15:56 GMT

i cant see it publicly visible. maybe @jedolphi can be of help?

Re: Catalyst 8200/8300 - SDA Control Plane Scale

jedolphi — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:18:37 GMT

It's generally recommended to use C9K switch as CP if possible, please. Switches support LISP extranet and routers do not. Switch scales are formally documented in CatC/SDA data sheet and routers are not. The theoretical max for both C8200 and C8300 CP is 50K. Best regards, Jerome

Re: Catalyst 8200/8300 - SDA Control Plane Scale

Torbjørn — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:51:23 GMT

That is interesting. Is there any reason for Cat8k not being recommended?
This should be noted in the compatabiity matrix and/or the SDA datasheet.

Re: Catalyst 8200/8300 - SDA Control Plane Scale

jedolphi — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 11:03:20 GMT

Hi. I understand your ask and don’t disagree, please raise it to you Cisco sales team. I can only speak for what is right this moment: the SDA compatibility matrix does not list feature support per platform, it just says if platform is or is not supported per SDA role. Routers do not support LISP extranet and have missing scale data in data sheet, so I recommend using switch if possible.