Arista DCS-7280CR3K-96-F — 96×QSFP28 Cloud Router
The
Arista DCS-7280CR3K-96-F is a 2RU, 96-port 100 Gigabit Ethernet cloud router delivering
9.6 Tbps of aggregate throughput. The K-variant includes
64GB DRAM and
120GB SSD for advanced routing scale and flexible deployment scenarios. This platform is designed for high-performance data center and service provider networks requiring dense 100G connectivity. The “
-F” suffix denotes
front-to-rear airflow, where cool air enters through the non-port side and exhausts from the port side. For rear-to-front airflow, see the
DCS-7280CR3K-96-R.
Key Features at a Glance
- 96 × QSFP28 ports supporting 100G Ethernet (native) or up to 192 × 50G Ethernet (breakout capable)
- 9.6 Tbps aggregate throughput with 14.4 Bpps forwarding rate
- 16 GB packet buffer with VOQ architecture — deep buffering for burst absorption and congestion handling
- 3.8 µs store-and-forward latency with full Layer 2/3 policy enforcement
- 64 GB DRAM and 120 GB SSD for advanced routing scale (K-variant)
- Over 5M IPv4 routes and 5M+ IPv6 routes (FlexRoute) for full Internet routing table support
- 512-way ECMP for advanced load balancing across equal-cost paths
- Full Layer 3 switch router: BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS (LDP, RSVP-TE, BGP LU), SR-MPLS, SR-TE, EVPN, VXLAN
- IEEE 1588v2 PTP and Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) for precision network timing
- Telemetry: LANZ, sFlow, Advanced Event Management (AEM), DANZ, INT, IPFIX, streaming telemetry via gNMI
- CloudVision integration, Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), Python/Bash scripting, OpenConfig
- 2RU form factor — front-to-rear (-F) airflow with redundant PSU and fan trays
- BrightStar Systems: Supplied fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 1-year in-house warranty
9.6 Tbps Non-Blocking VOQ Architecture
The DCS-7280CR3K-96-F delivers
9.6 Tbps of full-duplex, non-blocking throughput — 96 × 100 Gbps in both directions simultaneously. The
Virtual Output Queue (VOQ) ASIC architecture maintains separate queues for each input-to-output port pair, eliminating head-of-line blocking. With a
14.4 Bpps forwarding rate, the switch operates at full line rate across all port combinations regardless of traffic mix or packet size distribution. The
16 GB deep packet buffer is distributed across the VOQ structure, providing substantial burst absorption capacity. Unlike shared-memory switches with smaller buffer pools, the VOQ deep buffer architecture handles transient congestion, TCP incast events, and bursty traffic patterns without triggering early packet drops or ECN marking — delivering higher effective throughput in oversubscribed topologies.
3.8 µs Store-and-Forward Latency
The 7280CR3K-96-F operates in store-and-forward mode with a measured latency of
3.8 microseconds. The ASIC receives the complete packet, performs a full Layer 2/3 lookup, applies ACLs and QoS policies, and forwards the packet — all within 3.8 µs. This design trades the sub-microsecond latency of cut-through architectures for the ability to buffer, inspect, and apply policy at every forwarding decision, while maintaining sub-10-microsecond performance suitable for enterprise, service provider, and data center applications.
Port Configuration and Optics
The 7280CR3K-96-F provides 96 × QSFP28 uplink ports with flexible breakout options:
- 96 × QSFP28 ports (native 100G): Support for 100GBASE-SR4, LR4, DR, FR, CWDM4, ZR/ZR+, and DAC/AOC cables. Full-duplex 100 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports.
- Breakout to 50G or lower: Each QSFP28 port can be broken out to 2 × 50GbE or 4 × 25GbE via standard breakout cables, supporting up to 192 × 50G or 384 × 25G configurations.
- Management: 1 × 1 Gbps out-of-band management port + 1 × RS-232 RJ-45 console port, independent of the forwarding plane.
- Maximum port configurations: 96 × 100GbE (native), or up to 192 × 50GbE via breakout for flexible deployment scenarios.
Layer 2/3 Switch Router Capabilities
The 7280CR3K-96-F operates as a unified switch router with full Layer 2 and Layer 3 feature sets:
- BGP Full-Table Routing: Over 5M IPv4 unicast LPM routes and 5M+ IPv6 routes (FlexRoute) in the hardware FIB. Supports MP-BGP, BGP graceful restart, and 512-way ECMP for load balancing across equal-cost paths.
- MPLS: Line-rate MPLS label switching with LDP, RSVP-TE with Fast Reroute (FRR), and BGP Labeled Unicast (BGP LU) for carrier-grade MPLS networks and VPN services.
- Segment Routing: SR-MPLS and Topology-Independent LFA (TI-LFA) for simplified traffic engineering without per-path LSP state in the network core.
- EVPN and VXLAN: VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP) and EVPN control plane for multi-tenant overlay networks, data center interconnect, and MAC mobility. Supports EVPN over MPLS, EVPN Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB).
- Routing Protocols: OSPF, OSPFv3, IS-IS, RIPv2, VRF, BFD, Micro BFD, uRPF, VRRP, VARP, Policy-Based Routing (PBR), BGP FlowSpec, BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP), BGP Route Origin Validation (RPKI), Prefix-Independent Convergence (PIC).
- Layer 2: 802.1w/s Spanning Tree, RPVST+, 4096 VLANs, Q-in-Q, 802.3ad LACP (256 ports/channel, 2048 groups), MLAG (512 ports per MLAG), Jumbo Frames (9216 bytes), IGMP snooping.
- VPN Services: IP VPN (RFC 2547), Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), EVPN over MPLS for comprehensive carrier-class networking.
Telemetry, Monitoring, and Analytics
- LANZ (Latency Analyzer): Per-port, real-time microburst detection and queue depth monitoring at microsecond granularity. Records egress port, queue, drop reason, and timestamp for every congestion event.
- sFlow v5: Industry-standard traffic sampling for flow analysis and capacity planning. Integrates with third-party collectors (Kentik, Splunk, Solarwinds).
- Streaming Telemetry: Real-time counter and state export via gNMI (gRPC) and Arista eAPI (REST). Supports OpenConfig data models for vendor-neutral management.
- Advanced Event Management (AEM): Programmable event-driven automation within EOS — customize alerts and actions, automate routine tasks, and respond to real-time network conditions.
- DANZ: Arista’s telemetry fabric for advanced mirroring (up to 32 sessions), port mirroring, SPAN/TAP M:N aggregation, and L2/3/4 filtering.
- In-Band Network Telemetry (INT): Packet-based telemetry collection for deep visibility into network forwarding behavior and path information.
- IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX): NetFlow-compatible flow telemetry for integration with traditional network analytics platforms.
- IEEE 1588v2 PTP: Hardware-assisted Precision Time Protocol with ITU-T G.8275.1 Telecom Profile and G.8275.2 Free-Running Profile support for synchronized network timing, supporting Boundary Clock and Transparent Clock modes.
- Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE): For clock synchronization from physical layer with minute-scale precision.
EOS Automation and Provisioning
The 7280CR3K-96-F runs
Arista EOS, a modular operating system built on a standard Linux kernel where each process runs in its own protected memory space and communicates through an in-memory state-sharing database (Sysdb). This architecture enables in-service software updates and self-healing resiliency without data plane interruption.
- CloudVision: Centralized configuration management, network-wide change control, topology visualization, and compliance monitoring across multi-site Arista deployments.
- Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP): Automatic configuration download on first power-up via DHCP — no manual CLI access required for initial deployment.
- Python and Bash: Native on-box scripting with full Linux shell access for custom event handlers and automation workflows.
- eAPI (JSON-RPC): RESTful programmatic interface to all configuration and operational commands. Integrates with Ansible, Terraform, and custom orchestration.
- NETCONF and RESTCONF: Standards-based management interfaces for configuration and operational state management.
- OpenConfig and gNMI: Vendor-neutral data models and high-performance streaming RPC for configuration and telemetry.
Security
- Control Plane Policing (CoPP): Rate-limiting of CPU-destined traffic to protect routing stability
- ACLs: Ingress/egress access control lists at L2, L3, and L4 enforced in the ASIC at line rate — up to 100K+ Algorithmic ACL entries with UDF support
- TACACS+ and RADIUS: Centralized authentication and accounting for administrative access
- Secure Boot: Cryptographic verification of bootloader and EOS image integrity
- MAC Security, DHCP Relay/Snooping, ARP trapping for Layer 2 security enforcement
Quality of Service (QoS)
- Up to 8 priority queues per port with strict priority, weighted round-robin (WRR), and weighted fair queueing (WFQ)
- 802.1p and DSCP classification and remarking
- ECN (Explicit Congestion Notification) marking for TCP-friendly congestion signaling
- PFC (Priority Flow Control) and DCBX (Data Center Bridging Exchange) for converged traffic
- Hierarchical QoS (H-QoS): Per-subscriber or per-service QoS policies for advanced traffic management
- Egress shaping and policing per-interface and per-queue
Physical Specifications and Airflow
The “
-F” airflow configuration provides
front-to-rear cooling, where cool air enters from the non-port side and exhausts from the port side. Both -F and
-R (rear-to-front) variants are electrically identical.
- Form Factor: 2RU — 19 × 3.5 × 24 inches (48.3 × 8.9 × 61 cm)
- Weight: Approximately 58 lbs (26.3 kg)
- Power: Typical 740W / Maximum 850W; 1000W AC or 1000W DC power supplies
- Redundancy: Dual hot-swappable PSU (1+1) and multiple hot-swappable fan trays (N+1)
- Storage: 120 GB SSD (K-variant), 4 GB Flash, 2 × USB ports
- Memory: 64 GB DRAM (K-variant) for advanced routing scale
- Compliance: FCC Class A, CE, RoHS, WEEE
Routing and Forwarding Scale (K-Variant)
- MAC Addresses: Up to 384K
- IPv4 Routes: Over 5M with full Internet routing table support
- IPv6 Routes: 5M+ (FlexRoute technology for dynamic table allocation)
- Algorithmic ACLs: 100K+ entries with User-Defined Field (UDF) support
- ECMP: 512-way load balancing across equal-cost paths
- Packet Buffer: 16 GB distributed across VOQ architecture
- Forwarding Rate: 14.4 Bpps (billion packets per second)
Lifecycle and Reliability
- Self-Healing Software: EOS includes Stateful Fault Repair (SFR) for automatic recovery from software faults without data plane impact, and Stateful Fault Containment (SFC) for fault isolation.
- In-Service Software Updates: Dual-partition boot with Smart System Upgrade (SSU) and Accelerated Software Update (ASU) for planned upgrades with minimal disruption.
- Configuration Rollback: Instant rollback to previous configuration snapshots via EOS configuration replace.
- BrightStar Systems 1-Year Warranty: Supplied fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 1-year in-house warranty.
Similar Arista Models to Consider
- DCS-7280CR3K-32P4-F: 32x QSFP28 + 4x OSFP, 4.8 Tbps aggregate throughput for mid-range cloud router deployments.
- DCS-7280CR3-36S-F: 36x QSFP with flexible speed support (200G/100G/50G), 2.4 Tbps aggregate throughput for flexible cloud router deployments.
- DCS-7280SR3K-48YC8-F: 48x 25G + 8x 100G, 2 Tbps aggregate throughput for mixed-speed deployment scenarios.
Related 7280R3 Series Resources
For comprehensive technical documentation and comparative model information across the Arista 7280R3 family, visit
In-depth technical overview of the Arista 7280R3 series.
Summary
The Arista DCS-7280CR3K-96-F is a 2RU cloud router combining 96 × QSFP28 ports supporting native 100G Ethernet or breakout to lower speeds, 9.6 Tbps non-blocking throughput, 16 GB VOQ deep packet buffer, 64 GB DRAM, 120 GB SSD, and full Layer 2/3 capabilities including BGP with 5M+ route support, MPLS, SR-MPLS, SR-TE, EVPN, and VXLAN. Running Arista EOS with CloudVision integration, ZTP, comprehensive telemetry (LANZ, sFlow, AEM, DANZ, INT, IPFIX), and precision timing (IEEE 1588v2 PTP, SyncE), the 7280CR3K-96-F is available from BrightStar Systems fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 1-year in-house warranty.
Q. What kind of businesses should consider the Arista DCS-7280CR3K-96-F?
A: Enterprises with large-scale data centers, cloud service providers, and businesses handling mission-critical applications will benefit the most from this router.
Q. How does the Arista EOS improve network management?
A: Arista EOS enables advanced automation and programmability, streamlining network management, reducing operational complexities, and improving efficiency.
Q. What is the cooling mechanism of the switch?
A: The switch features front-to-back airflow, optimizing power consumption and ensuring efficient cooling, crucial for high-performance environments.
Q. Can the switch handle high-density network demands?
A: Yes, with 96 ports of 100G QSFP, this switch can easily handle the high-density demands of large networks without sacrificing performance.
Q. Does it offer hot-swappable components?
A: Yes, the Arista DCS-7280CR3K-96-F features hot-swappable power supplies and fans for seamless maintenance without network disruption.
