C9300L stack kits - Cisco versus Meraki - Stacking

[Bakalentiu]

Got a doozy here and hope  anyone can help me avoid a massive  return 

Bought a load of  C9300L-48UXG-4X-M  units and as the lead-times  were really bad and because there was stock in Distribution , and because the switches are basically the same ... I got the  C9300L-STACK-KIT=   instead of  C9300L-STAK-KIT2-M - as I was told they are the same..  but the link does not work, apparently one has V1 on it  , and the other has V2 on it and they refuse to communicate  between them . Is there  anything anyone  else came across..  anything that can be done..  some firmware updates  ? any ideas are welcome ...

[PhilipDAth]

Wow, interesting.  I don't know the answer, but I would have guessed that would have been ok.  Obviously, KIT2 has some kind of special change.

[DarrenOC]

what are support saying on this one?

[Bakalentiu]

The usual scriptic message -  that the   C9300L-STACK-KIT= is not on the compatibility list for the  C9300L-48UXG-4X-M  .. but no details on what's the diffrence and if there's a way to  make them work together .

[DarrenOC]

It’s looking likely that you’ll need to return the stacking cables to the supplier you bought them from and ask for a refund.

[GreenMan]

Did you try upgrading your 9300Ls to the latest firmware?

[Bakalentiu]

first thing  we did ..   thanks though as I should've mentioned we did that. 

[GIdenJoe · Accepted solution]

Well that is strange.  There is a difference between the two partnumbers but the older one should only be incompatible with the C9300LM versions.

This is the screenshot for the Cisco mode C9300 stacking cables.

This is also present in a Cisco community post.

So it might be that the -M variants also use a slightly different version of stackwise-320.  I would hope a Cisco engineer would explain the difference between the two.

[Bakalentiu]

Appreciate it  @GIdenJoe  ,  I'll accept this as the solution, as it does seem there is no solution.  Not one I'd  like to have ..  

It's a shame  that they mess about like that..  It's a great  business model - call it  STAK-KIT2-M  and charge an extra £300  per kit   while just changing maybe the firmware of the stack slightly for 0 extra benefits..   

[GIdenJoe]

I would still push the support engineer to escalate internally.
This is too big of an issue to just leave it alone.
I'm also curious what the technical reason would be since those switches still are regular C9300L's.

As an engineer for an MSP I'm always looking for detailed information.
I also recently had to ask the question about cross compatibility between BXD SFP's and C9300-M and regular MS switches.  Luckily I got an answer there before committing to a buy.

I do feel your pain, damn...