Cisco C9800-80-K9 Catalyst 9800-80 Modular Wireless Controller

C9800-80-K9 Large-Campus Controller Identity

C9800-80-K9 is the modular, two-rack-unit Catalyst 9800-80 hardware controller. Cisco lists scale of up to 6,000 access points, 64,000 clients and 80 Gbps throughput. Its fixed interfaces can operate as eight 10G links or six 10G plus two 1G links, and the separate modular bay supports selected 10G, 40G or 100G uplink modules.

Where the 9800-80 differs

This platform is designed for large campus and enterprise aggregation where controller scale and uplink choice justify a 2RU chassis. The modular bay is the decisive procurement boundary: a proposed bill of materials must state the selected module, optics, cabling and spare strategy. Do not transfer the 9800-40's four fixed 10G/1G interfaces or its 2,000-AP ceiling to this page.

Power, airflow and rack acceptance

Cisco documents front-to-rear airflow and redundant AC or DC supplies for the 9800-80. Record the ordered power variant, verify that both supplies use the same type for redundancy, reserve 2RU depth and validate the airflow direction against the data-center row. Receiving should reconcile chassis PID, power supplies, uplink module and transceivers before installation.

Wireless capacity validation

The published maxima are platform ceilings, not a design guarantee. Model AP count, client concurrency, traffic mix, site tags, policy/RF profiles, redundancy and failure-domain load for the chosen IOS XE release. An HA design must prove that the surviving controller can sustain the intended population during maintenance or failure.

Licensing and lifecycle

Cisco states that the controller can boot without an AP license, but each connected access point requires an applicable Cisco DNA subscription. The C9800-80 entered end-of-sale after December 31, 2025; Cisco identifies CW9800H1 and CW9800H2 as migration choices and lists December 31, 2030 as the last date of support. Confirm current support entitlement and replacement timing before buying legacy inventory.

Official sources: Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 data sheet and Cisco C9800-40/-80 lifecycle notice.