Predictika · Cisco Catalyst 9300 agent action control
An AI network agent prepares a change to a Catalyst 9300 switch stack: more ACL entries, more routed ports, a new stack member or a license change. Before the change is released to the network management tool, the agent sends it to Predictika, which checks it against a declarative model of the limits in Cisco's public Catalyst 9300 data sheet and the customer's own change policy, and returns a verdict, every reason and the figures it computed. Execution is allowed only when the verdict is allow, or after an approval.
This sits beside Cisco AgenticOps Trusted Validation, which Cisco describes as evaluating proposed changes against the live topology, configuration and telemetry before execution and verifying the outcome afterward. It is not a rebuild of it. This validator checks the request itself against published product limits and the customer's change policy, and holds the release gate.
This validator handles any change to a Catalyst 9300 stack that touches the rules below — not just the scenarios pictured here.
Not covered: which features need which license tier, minimum IOS XE releases, MAC address scale, power budgets and other Catalyst 9300 data-sheet entries that are inconsistent or not modeled. Cisco's data sheet also says any combination of Catalyst 9300 models can form a stack, which contradicts its own stacking table; this validator follows the specific table rules. Stack inventory, current counts, license levels and the change window come from the customer's own systems and are not Cisco facts.
8 scenarios in 4 groups · each group runs from the agent’s first attempt to the outcome · click one to switch
Illustrative agent statement. The validator receives the structured request below.
Proposing agent: AI network agent (scripted)
Before sending, the agent must call Recorded run
What this means
Our assessment of what a typical rules-based CPQ (product rules, price rules and validation rules) does with the same cases. It is a judgment about effort and reliability, not a claim that nothing can be built.
| What the validator caught | Typical rules-based CPQ | Predictika |
|---|---|---|
| A limit that depends on the stack type (ACL entries 5,120, 8,000 or 18,000; routed ports 448 or 416) applied to the total after the change, not to the added amount | Only with workarounds A CPQ rule knows the added quantity. The current inventory has to be fetched, added and compared with a limit that changes with the model family. | Current and added values travel with the request; the total is computed and compared with the limit for that stack type. |
| Which models may share a stack: 9300L with 9300L only, higher-scale models only with each other, a license level shared by all members, at most 8 switches | Only with workarounds Each mixing rule reads the stack and the new member together. Rules multiply with every model family and every change to Cisco's table is a rule edit. | Stack type, new member and license are checked together on every call. |
| A total stated by an outside AI agent (ACL entries, routed ports, stack size) compared with the inventory plus the change | Not what it is built for A rules-based tool computes its own figures; it has no field for a number an agent asserts, so a wrong statement is never compared. | The stated figure is a field of the request and is compared with the computed total on every call. |
| The customer's own change freeze and change-ticket policy kept apart from Cisco's published limits | Only with care Policy and product facts end up in one rule set, so a policy change looks like a product change and the source of a block is unclear. | Customer policy findings are labeled as the customer's rule and routed to approval; Cisco limits are labeled as Cisco's. |
| Where Cisco does not publish the limit (mixed Catalyst 9300 and 9300X stack scale) the answer is "ask a person", not a guess | Only when vigilant A rule either blocks or allows. Routing a missing published limit to an approver means an approval path next to each such rule. | The gap is a needs-approval finding with the reason spelled out. |
| Every problem returned in one answer | Only with workarounds Rules tend to fire as a step is completed, so a requester fixes one error and meets the next. | All findings come back together, whatever order the choices arrived in. |
Every rule is checked on every call, in any order the choices arrive; one problem never hides another. Blocking findings stop the request; approval findings need a person to sign off; everything else is computed.
| 1 | 5,121 ACL entries exceed the 5,120 entries this stack type supports. |
| 2 | SUMMARY: switched virtual interfaces after the change: 1,001 of 1,000 supported. |
| 3 | 449 routed ports exceed the 448 routed ports supported per stack of this type. |
| 4 | a stack of 9 members exceeds the 8 members a Catalyst 9,300 stack supports. |
| 5 | fixed-uplink Catalyst 9,300L switches cannot stack with modular-uplink Catalyst 9,300 models. |
| 6 | higher-scale Catalyst 9,300 models stack only with other higher-scale models, not with standard C9,300 or C9,300X. |
| 7 | stack members must share one license level; the new member has Essentials and the stack has Advantage. |
| 8 | stack members must share one license level; changing Advantage to Essentials on a single member of a 6-member stack is not allowed. |
| 9 | StackPower is supported only on the modular-uplink Catalyst 9,300 and 9,300X models, not the fixed-uplink 9,300L. |
| 10 | a StackPower stack of 5 switches needs the XPS-2,200 appliance and supports at most 8; without it the limit is 4. |
| 11 | the request states 400 routed ports after the change; 380 plus 60 gives 440. |
| 12 | Cisco supports mixing C9,300 and C9,300X in one stack at StackWise-480 speed but does not publish the scale limits of a mixed stack; confirm the ACL, routed-port and MAC limits. |
| 13 | this change falls inside a change freeze set by the customer own policy; it needs the customer approver (a customer rule, not a Cisco rule). |
| 14 | the customer own policy requires a change ticket for this change and none is linked (a customer rule, not a Cisco rule). |
The recorded result of the validator for each scenario on this page: the request the AI agent sent, the verdict, and every finding, in the order they appear above.
The agent's request. Please add a Catalyst 9300L switch with the Essentials license to the Catalyst 9300 stack of 6 switches, which runs the Advantage license. The stack will then have 7 switches. It is ready to run.
Verdict: Blocked.
The agent's request. Please add a Catalyst 9300 switch with the Advantage license to the Catalyst 9300 stack of 6 switches, which runs the Advantage license. The stack will then have 7 switches. It is ready to run.
Verdict: Allowed.
The agent's request. Please add 2,300 ACL entries to the Catalyst 9300 stack of 4 switches, which holds 3,900 ACL entries now. The change results in 6,200 ACL entries in the stack. It is ready to run.
Verdict: Blocked.
The agent's request. Please add 1,200 ACL entries to the Catalyst 9300 stack of 4 switches, which holds 3,900 ACL entries now. The change results in 5,100 ACL entries in the stack. It is ready to run.
Verdict: Allowed.
The agent's request. Please add 60 routed ports to the Catalyst 9300X stack of 8 switches, which has 380 routed ports now. The change results in 400 routed ports in the stack. It is scheduled inside the current change freeze.
Verdict: Blocked.
The agent's request. Please add 60 routed ports to the Catalyst 9300X stack of 8 switches, which has 380 routed ports now. The change results in 440 routed ports in the stack. It is scheduled inside the current change freeze.
Verdict: Needs approval.
The agent's request. Please add 60 routed ports to the Catalyst 9300X stack of 8 switches, which has 380 routed ports now. The change results in 440 routed ports in the stack. It is scheduled inside the current change freeze.
Verdict: Allowed.
The agent's request. Please change the license on one switch of the Catalyst 9300 stack of 6 switches from Advantage to Essentials. It is ready to run.
Verdict: Blocked.
The text of the narrated walkthrough, step by step.