Arista DCS-7280SR3A-48YC8-R | 7280R3A 48-Port 50G Switch, 6x 200G QSFP

Q: What is the difference between the 7280SR3A and the 7280SR3?
A: The 7280SR3A features 48x 50GbE SFP ports (vs 25GbE in the SR3) and supports flexible uplink configurations with up to 6x 200G QSFP or 8x 100G QSFP ports. The R3A generation provides higher bandwidth per port and enhanced routing scale options including TunnelSec encryption capabilities on certain models.

Q: What does the -R suffix mean in the model number?
A: The -R suffix indicates rear-to-front airflow, meaning air flows from the fan side to the port side. This is critical for hot-aisle/cold-aisle data center deployments. The -F variant offers front-to-rear airflow, and the # variant has configurable fans and power supplies.

Q: Can this switch support 400G connectivity?
A: While the 7280SR3A-48YC8 model has QSFP ports that are primarily configured for 100G or 200G operation, the 7280R3A series includes other models with native 400G QSFP-DD support. The 48YC8 variant focuses on 50G access ports with high-speed 100G/200G uplinks.

Q: What routing protocols and features are supported?
A: The switch supports comprehensive Layer 3 routing including BGP, OSPF, ISIS, VRRP, PIM, MPLS, VXLAN, and Segment Routing. It offers internet-scale routing tables, algorithmic ACLs supporting 100K+ rules, deep packet inspection, and advanced telemetry with sFlow and DANZ monitoring.

Q: Is this switch suitable for spine or leaf deployment?
A: Yes, the 7280SR3A-48YC8-R is ideal for both spine and leaf roles in modern data center fabrics. With 48x 50G ports it excels as a high-density leaf switch, while the 200G uplinks provide ample spine connectivity. Deep buffers and low latency make it perfect for lossless Ethernet and storage applications.