Arista DCS-7280SR3K-48YC8A-F | 7280R3 48-Port 25G Switch, 8x 100G QSFP28

Q: What is the difference between the K and A variants?
A: The K variant provides expanded routing tables with 64 GB DRAM and 120 GB SSD for FlexRoute support of 5+ million IPv4 routes, suitable for internet-scale deployments. The A suffix adds an eight-core x86 CPU for enhanced control-plane processing, enabling demanding automation, telemetry, and routing protocol tasks.

Q: Can the QSFP28 ports be used for 40G connectivity?
A: Yes, the 8 x QSFP28 ports support both 40GbE and 100GbE operation. They can also be broken out to 4 x 10GbE or 4 x 25GbE per port, providing up to 80 total logical ports for flexible network designs.

Q: What deployment scenarios is this switch designed for?
A: The DCS-7280SR3K-48YC8A-F is optimized for data center leaf-spine architectures, high-density 25G server access layers, cloud provider networks, and service provider environments requiring large routing tables. Its low latency and high throughput make it ideal for storage networks, content delivery, and east-west traffic patterns.

Q: Does this model support MPLS and Segment Routing?
A: Yes, with Arista EOS this switch supports advanced MPLS features including LDP, RSVP-TE with FRR, BGP-LU, IP-VPN, and VPLS. It also supports Segment Routing with SR-TE and TI-LFA for simplified MPLS operations and sub-50ms failure recovery.

Q: What licenses are required for Layer 3 routing?
A: The 7280R3 Series requires separate EOS licenses for advanced features. Enhanced L3 functionality (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, PIM, NAT) requires the appropriate Group 2 license, while network virtualization features (VXLAN, VMTracer) and security integrations may require additional licenses.