Arista DCS-7280CR3K-36A-F | 7280R3 36-Port 100G Switch, 2x 400G QSFP-DD

Q: What deployment scenarios is the DCS-7280CR3K-36A-F best suited for?
A: This switch is optimized for data center spine, super-spine, border routing, and aggregation layers. It excels in high-performance environments requiring large routing tables, deep buffering for bursty traffic, and advanced features like EVPN-VXLAN, making it ideal for cloud providers, service providers, and large enterprise data centers.

Q: What is the difference between the 36A and 36S models in the 7280CR3K series?
A: The 36A model supports advanced routing with large routing table capacity and enhanced Layer 3 features, while the 36S model supports an extended host routing profile (L3-Host-XL). The 36A uses a Quad-Core x86 CPU with 64GB memory, optimized for carrier-class routing workloads and internet peering applications.

Q: Can this switch support both 100G and 400G connectivity simultaneously?
A: Yes, the DCS-7280CR3K-36A-F provides 28 ports at 100GbE, 6 ports at 200GbE, and 2 dedicated 400GbE QSFP-DD uplink ports. Ports also support flexible breakout configurations, allowing you to use 100G ports as 4x25G, 2x50G, or other combinations depending on transceiver and cabling choices.

Q: Does this switch support stacking or multi-chassis link aggregation?
A: The Arista 7280R3 Series supports MLAG (Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation), which provides redundancy and link aggregation across multiple switches without the need for physical stacking cables. This enables high-availability designs for data center fabrics.

Q: What airflow direction does the -F suffix indicate?
A: The -F suffix denotes front-to-rear airflow, which is designed for hot aisle/cold aisle data center configurations where cool air is drawn from the front and exhausted out the rear. The -R model offers rear-to-front airflow for alternative cooling requirements.