Arista DCS-7280CR3K-96 | 7280R3 96-Port 100G QSFP Switch Router, 2RU, 16GB Buffer

Q: What is the difference between the DCS-7280CR3K-96 and the non-K variant?
A: The K-variant (DCS-7280CR3K-96) supports significantly larger routing tables with over 5 million IPv4 routes via FlexRoute technology, compared to approximately 2 million routes on the standard DCS-7280CR3-96. This makes the K-variant ideal for internet peering, carrier edge, and large-scale data center interconnect applications requiring full internet routing table support.

Q: Can the QSFP28 ports be used for lower-speed connections?
A: Yes, all 96 QSFP28 ports support flexible breakout configurations to lower speeds including 50GbE, 40GbE, 25GbE, and 10GbE using appropriate breakout cables and transceivers, allowing up to 192 interfaces when fully utilized with breakout cables.

Q: What airflow and power supply options are available?
A: This SKU (DCS-7280CR3K-96#) ships with configurable fans and PSU, allowing you to specify airflow direction separately. For fixed configurations, order the -F suffix for front-to-rear airflow or -R for rear-to-front airflow, each with 2 x AC power supplies. The switch uses 2400W redundant hot-swappable PSUs and ships with C19-C20 power cables.

Q: Is this switch suitable for data center spine or leaf deployments?
A: Yes, the DCS-7280CR3K-96 is ideal for both spine and leaf architectures. Its high port density and 16GB deep buffer make it excellent for spine roles handling network-wide traffic aggregation, while the FlexRoute K-variant scaling supports both large Layer 2 leaf deployments and internet peering scenarios.

Q: What advanced features are supported for network monitoring and automation?
A: The switch supports Arista's comprehensive telemetry suite including Accelerated sFlow (line-rate sampling), LANZ (latency analyzer), DANZ monitoring fabric, CloudVision integration, Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), Python scripting, eAPI for RESTful automation, and OpenConfig/gNMI for vendor-neutral programmability.