Cisco C-NIM-8M | 8-Port 2.5G Multigigabit Module, 90W UPoE+, L2/L3

Q: Which ports on the C-NIM-8M support UPoE+ power delivery?
A: The C-NIM-8M supports UPOE+ (802.3bt) up to 90W on four ports: ports 4, 5, 6, and 7. These ports are backward compatible with PoE, PoE+, and UPOE standards, making them ideal for powering high-performance Wi-Fi 6 access points and other demanding devices.

Q: Can I use the C-NIM-8M for both switching and routing?
A: Yes. The C-NIM-8M supports Layer 2 switching across all eight ports. Additionally, ports 6 and 7 can be configured as native Layer 3 WAN ports with full feature parity to the router's embedded WAN interfaces, enabling flexible branch network architectures.

Q: Is the C-NIM-8M compatible with all Catalyst 8000 Series platforms?
A: The C-NIM-8M is supported on Cisco Catalyst 8200 and 8300 Series Edge Platforms, including the 8200L. It requires installation in a NIM slot and is not supported in the SM-NIM Carrier Adapter. Minimum software version required is Cisco IOS XE Dublin 17.12.2 or later.

Q: What speed standards does the C-NIM-8M support?
A: The C-NIM-8M supports 100BASE-T, 1000BASE-T (1 Gbps), and 2.5GBASE-T (2.5 Gbps) Multigigabit connections. Note that 10BASE-T (10 Mbps) is not supported on this module, making it optimized for modern, high-bandwidth branch applications.

Q: Does the C-NIM-8M support encryption for secure branch connectivity?
A: Yes. The C-NIM-8M supports IEEE 802.1AE MACsec for both LAN and WAN (on Layer 3 ports), providing hardware-based encryption for secure branch links. It also supports Cisco TrustSec Security Group Tagging (SGT) for policy-based network segmentation.