Cisco C6800-SUP6T-XL
Catalyst 6800 Sup6T (440G/slot) with 8x10GE, 2x40GE (XL)
Product Highlights
As campus networks scale to support thousands of endpoints, high-density Wi-Fi, and bandwidth-hungry applications, the supervisor engine at the core must keep pace. The Cisco C6800-SUP6T-XL Supervisor Engine 6T XL is the high-capacity "Heavy" variant of the Supervisor 6T family, purpose-built for the Cisco Catalyst 6807-XL and Catalyst 6500-E Series chassis.
Integrating a 6-Terabit crossbar switch fabric with 28 fabric channels, the SUP6T-XL delivers 440 Gbps of switching capacity per slot in active-standby mode — and scales to 12 Tbps when deployed in a Virtual Switching System (VSS) configuration. Eight fixed 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports and two fixed 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports provide high-bandwidth uplink connectivity directly from the supervisor, eliminating the need for a dedicated uplink line card.
The XL designation signals the PFC4-EXL forwarding engine, which quadruples the routing table capacity over the standard SUP6T: up to 1,024K IPv4 routes, 512K IPv6 routes, 256K shared ACL entries, and 1,024K Flexible NetFlow entries. Hardware-accelerated Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding at up to 780 Mpps (IPv4) ensures deterministic performance for real-time collaboration, video, and IoT traffic. With native support for MPLS, VPLS, VXLAN, MACsec (802.1ae), and Cisco TrustSec, the C6800-SUP6T-XL is an ideal fit for enterprise campus core, large distribution-layer, and multi-tenant aggregation deployments.
Note: This product has reached End-of-Sale status. The Cisco-recommended replacement is the C9600-SUP-1 (Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Supervisor 1 Module).
Features & Benefits
6-Terabit Switch Fabric
The SUP6T-XL integrates a 6 Tbps crossbar switch fabric with 28 fabric channels, enabling 440 Gbps of non-blocking switching capacity per slot on the Catalyst 6807-XL. In a VSS dual-chassis configuration, total fabric capacity scales to 12 Tbps, providing the headroom needed for growing east-west and north-south traffic demands.
Extended Forwarding Tables (PFC4-EXL)
The "XL" (Heavy) baseboard carries the PFC4-EXL forwarding engine, supporting up to 1,024K IPv4 routes and 512K IPv6 routes — four times the standard SUP6T. With 256K shared ACL/QoS entries and 1M adjacencies, the XL variant is designed for networks with large routing tables, dense VRF deployments, and complex security policies.
Integrated 10GE & 40GE Uplinks
Eight fixed 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports and two fixed 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports are built directly into the supervisor module, delivering 160 Gbps of front-panel bandwidth. This eliminates the cost and slot consumption of a separate uplink line card, freeing chassis slots for additional access or service modules.
Advanced Traffic Visibility
With 1,024K Flexible NetFlow entries per PFC4/4XL, the SUP6T-XL provides deep, hardware-based traffic analytics. Network operations teams gain granular flow-level visibility for capacity planning, anomaly detection, and compliance reporting — without impacting forwarding performance.
Hardware-Accelerated Security
The SUP6T-XL supports MACsec (IEEE 802.1ae) encryption in hardware, Cisco TrustSec with Security Group Tagging (SGT/SGACL), port security, IEEE 802.1X, and uRPF — all enforced at line rate. With 256K shared security and QoS ACL entries, policies scale to meet the demands of segmented, zero-trust campus architectures.
Virtualization & MPLS Services
Native hardware support for VSS, MPLS, VPLS, EoMPLS, VXLAN, and up to 8,192 VRFs enables the SUP6T-XL to serve as a converged campus core or service-provider edge device. GRE and NAT are also hardware-assisted, reducing CPU load and ensuring predictable performance for overlay and tunneling workloads.
Deployment Scenarios
Enterprise Campus Core / Distribution
In large campus networks supporting thousands of wired and wireless endpoints, the C6800-SUP6T-XL provides the 440 Gbps per-slot capacity and 1M+ route scale needed to aggregate traffic from multiple access-layer switches. VSS support simplifies the core topology to a single logical switch, reducing spanning-tree complexity and improving convergence times.
Multi-Tenant or Multi-VRF Aggregation
Organizations running segmented networks — whether for multi-tenancy, regulatory compliance, or departmental isolation — benefit from the SUP6T-XL's support for up to 8,192 VRFs and 1,024K forwarding entries. Hardware MPLS and VPLS enable scalable Layer 3 VPN and Layer 2 extension services without external routers.
High-Security Government or Financial Networks
Environments requiring hardware-enforced encryption and microsegmentation can leverage MACsec (802.1ae) and Cisco TrustSec at line rate. The 256K ACL entry capacity supports complex, granular security policies across thousands of interfaces without performance degradation.
General
Switching Performance
Ports & Interfaces
Scalability
Features
Chassis Compatibility
Compliance
Compatibility Notes
Chassis Compatibility
- Catalyst 6800 Series: Cisco Catalyst 6807-XL
- Catalyst 6500 E-Series: Cisco Catalyst 6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, 6513-E
Compatible Line Cards
- C6800-8P10G / C6800-8P10G-XL
- C6800-16P10G / C6800-16P10G-XL
- C6800-32P10G / C6800-32P10G-XL
- C6800-48P-SFP / C6800-48P-SFP-XL
- C6800-8P40G / C6800-8P40G-XL
Management Ports
- 1x RJ45 Serial Console
- 1x RJ45 Gigabit Management
- 1x SFP Management
- 1x USB mini Type B (console)
- 1x USB Type A
End-of-Life Notice
This product has reached End-of-Sale. Cisco's recommended replacement is the C9600-SUP-1 (Catalyst 9600 Series Supervisor 1 Module). Refer to Cisco EoL bulletin for milestone dates.
Downloads & Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
| Part Number | Product | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|
| C6800-SUP6T | Supervisor Engine 6T (Standard / Lite) | Same 6 Tbps fabric and port layout but with reduced table sizes: 256K IPv4 routes, 64K ACL entries, 512K NetFlow entries, and 256K adjacencies. |
| VS-S2T-10G-XL | Supervisor Engine 2T XL | Previous-generation supervisor for Catalyst 6500/6807-XL; lower per-slot bandwidth and older forwarding ASIC. SUP6T-XL is the direct successor. |
| C9600-SUP-1 | Catalyst 9600 Supervisor 1 Module | Cisco's recommended replacement for the SUP6T-XL; next-generation platform with Catalyst 9600 chassis, UADP 3.0 ASIC, and IOS XE. |
| VS-S2T-10G | Supervisor Engine 2T (Standard) | Older-generation supervisor with lower switching capacity per slot and smaller forwarding tables. SUP6T-XL offers significantly higher scale. |