Arista DCS-7280CR3MK-32D4S-FLX-R | 7280R3 32-Port 100G Switch, 4x 400G QSFP-DD, MACsec

Q: What license is included with the FLX-R model?
A: The FLX-R suffix indicates the switch includes the FLX-Lite license, which supports full Layer 3 routing up to 256K routes, EVPN, VXLAN, Segment Routing, and base MPLS LSR functionality. An upgrade to the full FLX license enables up to 2M routes and advanced MPLS LER/LSR features.

Q: What does the MACsec capability provide?
A: The MK designation indicates hardware-based MACsec encryption using AES-256-GCM on all 32x 100GbE QSFP ports. This provides line-rate, standards-based IEEE 802.1AE encryption for secure data center interconnect, compliance requirements, and protection against intrusion without performance loss.

Q: Can the QSFP-DD ports support 100G optics?
A: Yes, the 4x 400GbE QSFP-DD uplink ports are flexible and support 400G, 200G, and 100G QSFP optics, allowing cost-effective migration paths and interoperability with existing 100G infrastructure.

Q: What is the airflow direction and why does it matter?
A: The -R suffix indicates rear-to-front (back-to-front) airflow, where cool air enters from the rear and hot air exhausts from the front. This model should be installed with the rear panel facing the cold aisle in a hot-aisle/cold-aisle data center layout.

Q: What deployment scenarios is this switch designed for?
A: This switch is ideal for high-performance data center spine or leaf roles, secure data center interconnect (DCI), IP storage networks, content delivery networks (CDNs), internet peering, and cloud service provider environments requiring 100G/400G density with encryption and large routing tables.