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DESCRIPTION
Arista DCS-7280R4K-32PE-F — 32×800GbE OSFP Switch Router with TunnelSec Encryption and Front-to-Rear Airflow
The Arista DCS-7280R4K-32PE-F is a 2RU switch router in the 7280R4 Series, delivering 25.6 Tbps of non-blocking switching capacity with 32 × 800GbE OSFP ports and 8 × 25GbE SFP25 ports. Built on Arista’s 7th-generation deep buffer VOQ ASIC platform with 32 GB of packet buffer memory and 3.8 µs store-and-forward latency, the R4K-32PE provides full Layer 2/3 switch router capabilities including BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS (LDP, RSVP-TE, BGP LU), SR-TE, EVPN, VXLAN, and 512-way ECMP. The “K” variant adds TunnelSec wire-speed encryption (MACsec, IPsec, VXLANsec) on all OSFP ports, large-scale routing with over 5M IPv4 routes via FlexRoute, and Algorithmic ACLs (400K+ rules). The platform features an Eight-Core x86 CPU with 64 GB DRAM, 480 GB SSD storage, and a field-serviceable 7001-SUP-L supervisor module.The “-F” suffix denotes front-to-rear airflow. The 7280R4K-32PE is available exclusively in front-to-rear (-F) airflow configuration.
Key Features at a Glance
32 × 800GbE OSFP ports supporting 800G, 400G (2×400G), 100G (8×100G), 50G, and 25G breakout modes — up to 256 network interfaces plus 8 SFP25
TunnelSec wire-speed encryption on all OSFP ports — MACsec (IEEE 802.1AE), IPsec (RFC 4303), and VXLANsec using AES-256-GCM, with zero performance penalty from 25G to 800G
8 × 25GbE SFP25 ports supporting 25G, 10G, and 1G line rates
2 × QSFP-LS ports for dedicated ZR/ZR+ line system optics
Hot-swappable dual PSU (1+1) and 4× N+1 fan trays; front-to-rear (-F) airflow
2RU form factor — 805W typical / 1874W maximum power draw
BrightStar Systems: Available from BrightStar Systems fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 5-year in-house warranty
Deployment Scenarios
Encrypted Data Center Interconnect (DCI)
TunnelSec wire-speed encryption on all 32 OSFP ports enables line-rate MACsec, IPsec, and VXLANsec across inter-site links without external encryption appliances
2 × QSFP-LS ports support 400G/800G ZR/ZR+ coherent DWDM optics for encrypted long-haul DCI without external transponders
VXLANsec extends encryption to overlay tunnels traversing multiple unencrypted hops between router or VTEP endpoints
Over 5M IPv4 routes via FlexRoute supports full Internet routing tables at encrypted border positions
AI/ML Data Center Spine
32 × 800GbE OSFP ports deliver 25.6 Tbps non-blocking capacity for GPU cluster interconnect fabrics requiring maximum per-port bandwidth
32 GB VOQ deep buffer absorbs the bursty, incast-heavy traffic patterns characteristic of distributed training and inference workloads
Cluster Load Balancing (CLB) provides AI-aware RDMA queue pair placement for granular global flow optimization across leaf-spine fabrics
Algorithmic ACLs (400K+ rules) enable large-scale, fine-grained security policy enforcement across multi-tenant AI infrastructure
Secure Cloud and Internet Peering
K-variant FlexRoute engine with over 5M IPv4 and IPv6 routes supports full Internet routing tables at encrypted peering positions
Line-rate MPLS with LDP, RSVP-TE, and BGP LU combined with TunnelSec provides encrypted carrier-grade transport services
SR-TE with TI-LFA provides sub-50ms convergence for traffic-engineered paths across encrypted multi-domain WAN topologies
IPsec enables encrypted IP tunnels that traverse multiple unencrypted hops between router endpoints for WAN and DCI deployments
TunnelSec Wire-Speed Encryption
The 7280R4K-32PE-F supports Arista’s TunnelSec technology, enabling line-rate, industry-standard encryption using the AES-256-GCM block cipher on all OSFP ports from 25G to 800G without a performance penalty. TunnelSec provides MACsec (IEEE 802.1AE) for point-to-point link-layer encryption, IPsec (RFC 4303) for encrypted IP tunnels traversing multiple unencrypted hops, and VXLANsec for encrypted overlay tunnels between VTEP endpoints. Encryption is an EOS licensed feature.
25.6 Tbps Non-Blocking VOQ Architecture
The DCS-7280R4K-32PE-F delivers 25.6 Tbps of full-duplex, non-blocking throughput — 32 × 800 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 9.6 Bpps forwarding rate, the switch operates at full line rate across all port combinations regardless of traffic mix or packet size distribution.The 32 GB deep packet buffer is distributed across the VOQ structure, providing substantial burst absorption capacity. 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 7280R4K-32PE-F operates in store-and-forward mode with a measured latency starting from 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.
Port Configuration and Optics
The 7280R4K-32PE-F provides 32 × 800GbE OSFP ports, 8 × 25GbE SFP25 ports, and 2 × QSFP-LS ports:
32 × 800GbE OSFP: Supporting 800G native, 2×400G, 8×100G, 8×50G, and 8×25G breakout modes. TunnelSec encryption on all OSFP ports.
8 × 25GbE SFP25: Supporting 25G, 10G, and 1G line rates.
2 × QSFP-LS: Dedicated line system ports for 400G/800G ZR and ZR+ coherent DWDM optics.
Management: 1 × 100/1000 Mbps out-of-band management port + 1 × RS-232 RJ-45 console port + 1 × USB, independent of the forwarding plane.
Maximum port configurations: Up to 32 × 800G, 64 × 400G, 256 × 100G, 256 × 50G, or 256+8 × 25G interfaces. Maximum 256+8 total interfaces.
Layer 2/3 Switch Router Capabilities
The 7280R4K-32PE-F operates as a unified switch router with full Layer 2 and Layer 3 feature sets:
BGP Full-Table Routing: Over 5M IPv4 unicast routes, over 5M IPv6 routes, 384K MAC addresses in the hardware FIB via FlexRoute K-variant. 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, and BGP Labeled Unicast (BGP LU) for carrier-grade MPLS networks and VPN services.
Segment Routing: SR-TE (Segment Routing with Traffic Engineering), TI-LFA for fast convergence, OSPF-SR, ISIS-SR, and BGP-SR.
EVPN and VXLAN: VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP) and EVPN control plane for multi-tenant overlay networks, data center interconnect, and MAC mobility. EVPN Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB) for seamless L2/L3 overlays.
L2/L3 VPN Services: IP-VPN, EVPN over VXLAN and MPLS, LDP pseudowires, VPLS.
Precision Timing
PTP IEEE 1588v2: Hardware-assisted Precision Time Protocol with OCXO oscillator supporting Boundary Clock and Transparent Clock modes, with PTP profiles G.8275.1, G.8275.2, and G.8261. PPS/10M/ToD inputs for external timing reference.
SyncE: Synchronous Ethernet per ITU-T G.8264 for frequency distribution in carrier and 5G environments.
Telemetry, Monitoring, and Analytics
LANZ (Latency Analyzer): Per-port, real-time microburst detection and queue depth monitoring at microsecond granularity.
Accelerated sFlow: Hardware-accelerated sampled packet telemetry for flow analysis and capacity planning.
Inband Network Telemetry (INT): Per-flow monitoring of traffic drops, latency, congestion, and network path in real-time with no impact on switch performance.
Streaming Telemetry: Real-time counter and state export via gNMI (gRPC) and Arista eAPI (REST). Supports OpenConfig data models.
Advanced Event Management (AEM): Programmable event-driven automation within EOS.
DANZ: Arista’s telemetry fabric for advanced mirroring, SPAN/TAP aggregation, and L2/3/4 filtering.
EOS Automation and Provisioning
The 7280R4K-32PE-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.
Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP): Automatic configuration download on first power-up via DHCP.
Python and Bash: Native on-box scripting with full Linux shell access.
eAPI (JSON-RPC): RESTful programmatic interface to all configuration and operational commands.
OpenConfig and gNMI: Vendor-neutral data models and high-performance streaming RPC.
NETCONF and RESTCONF: Standards-based configuration management interfaces.
Security
TunnelSec Encryption: Wire-speed MACsec (IEEE 802.1AE), IPsec (RFC 4303), and VXLANsec on all OSFP ports using AES-256-GCM — zero performance penalty from 25G to 800G
Algorithmic ACLs: Over 400K rules combining hardware and software for scalable, policy-based access control and network telemetry
Control Plane Policing (CoPP): Rate-limiting of CPU-destined traffic to protect routing stability
Standard ACLs: Ingress/egress access control lists at L2, L3, and L4 enforced in the ASIC at line rate
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 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
Power: 805W typical / 1874W maximum; PWR-3211 AC or DC power supplies
Redundancy: Dual hot-swappable PSU (1+1) and 4 hot-swappable FAN-7022HQ fan trays (N+1)
Supervisor: Field-serviceable 7001-SUP-L module with Eight-Core x86 CPU, 64 GB DRAM, 480 GB SSD
Storage: 480 GB SSD, 1 × USB port
System Memory: 64 GB DRAM, 32 GB packet buffer
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.
Field-Serviceable Supervisor: The 7001-SUP-L supervisor module can be replaced in minutes by a single engineer without disconnecting network cabling or removing the chassis from the rack.
BrightStar Systems 5-Year Warranty: Supplied fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 5-year in-house warranty.
Scalability and Table Sizes
MAC Addresses: 384K
IPv4 Unicast Routes: Over 5M (FlexRoute K-variant)
IPv6 Unicast Routes: Over 5M (FlexRoute K-variant)
Algorithmic ACLs: Over 400K rules
ECMP: 512-way
Minimum EOS: 4.35.0
EOS Feature License: Group 5
Similar Arista Models to Consider
DCS-7280R4-32PE-F: Standard R4 variant without TunnelSec encryption; same 25.6 Tbps throughput and 32 GB buffer for deployments that do not require encryption
DCS-7280R4K-32DE-F: K-variant QSFP-DD form factor with TunnelSec on all QSFP-DD ports; same throughput and encryption for QSFP-DD optics environments
DCS-7280R4K-64QC-10PE-F: Mixed-density K-variant with 64 × 100GbE QSFP28 + 10 × 800GbE OSFP ports with TunnelSec encryption
DCS-7280CR3K-96-F: R3 Series with 96 × 100GbE QSFP28 ports; 9.6 Tbps throughput; 16 GB packet buffer
Related 7280R4 Series Resources
For comprehensive technical documentation and comparative model information across the Arista 7280 family, visit Arista 7280 Series Overview.
Summary
The Arista DCS-7280R4K-32PE-F is a 2RU switch router combining 32 × 800GbE OSFP ports with TunnelSec wire-speed encryption (MACsec, IPsec, VXLANsec) on all OSFP ports, 8 × 25GbE SFP25 ports, 2 × QSFP-LS ports, 25.6 Tbps non-blocking throughput, 32 GB VOQ deep packet buffer, and full Layer 2/3 capabilities including BGP, MPLS, SR-TE, EVPN, and VXLAN. The K-variant provides over 5M IPv4/IPv6 routes via FlexRoute and Algorithmic ACLs with 400K+ rules. Featuring a field-serviceable 7001-SUP-L supervisor module, PTP with OCXO and SyncE precision timing, and comprehensive telemetry, the 7280R4K-32PE-F is available from BrightStar Systems fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 5-year in-house warranty.
QoS: Up to 8 queues per port; 802.1p and DSCP classification; ECN; strict priority, WRR, and WFQ scheduling; policing/shaping; ACL-based marking
Table Sizes and FlexRoute
MAC Addresses: 384K
IPv4 Unicast Routes: Over 5M (FlexRoute K-variant)
IPv6 Unicast Routes: Over 5M (FlexRoute K-variant)
Algorithmic ACLs: Over 400K rules
ECMP: 512-way
Precision Timing
PTP IEEE 1588v2: Hardware-assisted Boundary Clock and Transparent Clock modes with OCXO; PTP profiles G.8275.1, G.8275.2, G.8261; PPS/10M/ToD inputs
SyncE: Synchronous Ethernet per ITU-T G.8264 for frequency distribution in carrier and 5G environments
Security Features
TunnelSec Encryption: Wire-speed MACsec (IEEE 802.1AE), IPsec (RFC 4303), and VXLANsec on all OSFP ports using AES-256-GCM; zero performance penalty from 25G to 800G; EOS licensed feature
Algorithmic ACLs: Over 400K rules combining hardware and software for scalable policy-based access control
Access Control: IPv4/IPv6 ingress and egress ACLs (L2/L3/L4 fields), MAC ACLs, ACL drop logging and counters, Service ACLs
Secure Boot: Digitally signed EOS images ensure trusted software boot process
Authentication: TACACS+, RADIUS, SSHv2; Role-Based Access Control (RBAC); AAA
Control Plane Protection: Control Plane Policing (CoPP), DHCP relay/snooping, MAC Security, ARP trapping, uRPF
