Arista DCS-7280SR3E-40YC6-M-F | 7280R3 40-Port 25G Switch, 800Gbps, 6x 100G, SyncE

Q: What encryption capabilities does this model provide?
A: The DCS-7280SR3E-40YC6-M-F includes hardware-accelerated line-rate MACsec encryption using AES-256-GCM cipher for secure point-to-point Layer 2 connectivity at full wire speed across all ports without performance degradation.

Q: What is the difference between the E and M suffixes in the model number?
A: The E suffix indicates Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) support for telecom-grade timing distribution. The M suffix denotes expandable memory capability from 8GB to 64GB DRAM to support large-scale Internet routing tables with over 2 million IPv4 routes.

Q: Can this switch be used as both a leaf and spine in data center fabrics?
A: Yes, the 7280SR3E-40YC6-M-F is designed as a universal leaf/spine platform. The 40x 25GbE SFP ports serve as high-density server access ports in leaf deployments, while the 6x 100GbE QSFP28 uplinks provide spine connectivity. It can also function as a compact spine for smaller fabrics or as a data center interconnect edge router.

Q: What is the purpose of front-to-rear airflow designation?
A: Front-to-rear (F suffix) means air enters from the port side and exhausts from the fan side, designed for standard hot-aisle/cold-aisle data center deployments. This airflow direction must match the rest of your infrastructure for efficient cooling. Rear-to-front models are also available with the R suffix.

Q: Does this switch support EVPN-VXLAN overlay networks?
A: Yes, the 7280SR3E-40YC6-M-F provides full hardware-accelerated EVPN-VXLAN support including IRB (Integrated Routing and Bridging), EVPN-MPLS gateway functionality, and 512-way ECMP for highly scalable Layer 2 and Layer 3 overlay fabrics. It supports VXLAN routing and bridging at full line rate with the deep buffer architecture ideal for bursty data center traffic.