Arista DCS-7280CR3-32D4-M-FLX-F | 7280R3 32-Port 100G Switch, 4x 400G QSFP-DD, 4.8Tbps

Q: What is the difference between the M-FLX and standard variants?
A: The M designation indicates expanded memory for enhanced route scale and table sizes. The FLX-Lite license enables full routing up to 256K routes, EVPN, VXLAN, segment routing, and base MPLS LSR capabilities. The configurable fans and power supply option allows flexibility for deployment-specific airflow requirements.

Q: What breakout configurations are supported on the QSFP28 ports?
A: Each 100GbE QSFP28 port supports native 100G, 40G with QSFP+ optics, 2x50G breakout, and 4x25G or 4x10G breakout on alternate ports, providing flexibility for mixed-speed environments and migration scenarios.

Q: Is this switch suitable for spine or leaf deployment?
A: The 7280CR3-32D4 is ideally suited for spine deployments with its high port density, deep buffers for burst absorption, and 400G uplinks. The deep VOQ buffer architecture handles bursty traffic patterns common in oversubscribed leaf-spine fabrics without packet loss.

Q: Does this model support VXLAN routing and EVPN?
A: Yes, with the FLX-Lite license included, this switch supports VXLAN routing, EVPN control plane, and segment routing, making it suitable for modern data center overlay architectures and cloud-scale network virtualization.

Q: What is the advantage of the 8GB deep buffer?
A: The 8GB VOQ deep buffer eliminates head-of-line blocking and provides exceptional burst absorption for TCP incast events and bursty traffic patterns, delivering predictable performance in high-density, oversubscribed environments without early packet drops or ECN marking.