PSE: GNSS on IE-5000 / Catalyst IE-9300 In Stacked Configurations

[BrianSekleckiGE]

Pre-Sales Engineering Question:

When the IE-5000 ( H-Stacked ) and/or the Catalyst IE-9300 (IE-9320-22S2C4X with GPS/GNSS, StackWise) are Stacked, how does the combined switch IOS-XE instance deal with the presence of two GNSS receivers?

For simplicity-sake, presume a 2-switch stack (limitation of the IE-5000 H-Stack anyway).

• Under normal operations scenario: Are they both available and if the signal is lost in one, the other takes over feeding NTP and PTP refclock?  How does it pick which one to use?
• Hardware Fault Scenario: If the StackWise Master's GNS/GPS is being used under normal operations, and the Master switch crashes, does it automatically fail over to the GNS/GPS in another switch in the stack?
• Lastly PTP: Any chance they can operate independently, with the combined IOS-XE OS stack announcing PTP Grandmaster with two different priorities, one PTP instance associated with one receiver?

Thanks, ~Brian

[BrianSekleckiGE]

Well, I may have answered one of my own questions:

Apparently Stackwise stacking disabled protocols PTP, PRP, and CIP on the IE-9300.  At least in the current firmware.

[Michael-Fusco]

We are having the same Industrial Protocols over IE9300 conversation with Cisco.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/cisco_ie9300/software/17_7/redundancy-protocol-config-ie93xx.html

When IE9300s are Stacked they lose a bunch of Industrial Protocols [as of 2025]: HRP, PTP, PRP, Fast Rep, MRP, yada.... 
 - Not I also believe Stackwise is Licensed on the IE9300 (C2960 Stack Cables) vs. H-Stack on IE5000 (Inband Ports)
 - "Release notes" are you best point for "features" as its all IOS-XE now (Catalyst)

 - IE5000s are EOL 2029ish so hopefully software development in Catalyst imports all the Industrial Protocols. 

[Albert Mitchell · Accepted solution]

PTP over IE9320 stack is on the roadmap.  No time frame for release.

will ensure dual GNSS receiver is covered and if not it will be documented.

PS: thanks for reading the documentation. 

[BrianSekleckiGE]

At CiscoLive!, I spoke to a staff member that the PTP on Stacked IE-9300 is coming imminently.

What they did not know was how that will work in combination with dual GNSS receivers (will there be a way to designate one a the primary PTP/NTP "refclock" source, and the other GNSS receiver in the other chassis in the stack as the backup/secondary/standby?)

They did not know, but I imagine we'll see an announcement very soon.

NOTE: What is not foreseen - PRP on an IE-9300 stack, this will never be supported (there is a very low level hardware engineering reason why having to do with ASICs and individual control + individual data planes -- better to let Cisco articulate the explanation).  The best work-around for this is to follow the new CPWE / Cisco / Rockwell recommended network architecture:

* Catalyst 9500 as IDC Core

* Catalyst IE-9300 as IDC Distribution Layer

* IE-3500 / Stratix 5800 as PRP Boundary / Ring Edge 

* IE-3500 / Stratix 5200 as REP / DLR Ring switches

Cisco Rockwell Panduit CPWE Reference Platform 2025 - CiscoLive