Arista Modular Chassis Systems - Refurbished, Used, and New

The six families at a glance

How a chassis system is built

A working system has five kinds of part, and each is sold separately here.

• Chassis: The frame, with slots for the parts below.
• Supervisor modules: They run EOS and manage the system.
• Line cards: They carry the ports.
• Fabric modules: They connect the line cards to each other, and each one is made for a specific chassis. Some have the fans built in.
• Power supplies and fans: They are redundant, so a single failed part does not take the system down.

The families in brief

7300X: The 7300 chassis come in 4-slot, 8-slot and 16-slot sizes. First-generation line cards cover 10G and 40G, and the newer 7300X3 line cards add 25G and 100G. Arista positions the family for campus cores and collapsed data center tiers.

7320X: The 7320X-32C line card brings 32 ports of 100G to the 4-slot 7324X and 8-slot 7328X systems. Its fabric modules are not interchangeable with the 7300X or 7300X3.

7368X4: A compact 4RU system with 8 module slots and one 12.8 Tbps packet processor. Modules give 16 ports of 100G, 4 ports of 400G in QSFP-DD or OSFP, or 16 ports of 25G.

7500: The 7500E generation, in 4-slot (7504) and 8-slot (7508) chassis with two supervisor slots, six fabric modules and four power supplies. Its line cards cover 10G, 40G and 100G.

7500R: Arista builds the R-Series for routing with deep buffers, in R, R2 and R3 generations up to 400G. These line cards and fabric modules go in 7504 and 7508 chassis, including the newer 7504N and 7508N.

7800R3: The largest family here, with chassis from 4 to 16 slots and line cards with 36 ports of 400G or 48 ports of 100G. The 36-port 400G cards come as OSFP (7800R3-36P) or QSFP-DD (7800R3-36D).

Which family do I need?

• You need 10G or 40G ports: Choose the 7300X or the 7500.
• You need 25G ports: Choose the 7300X3-48YC4 line card or the 7368-16S module.
• You need 100G density in a mid-sized system: Choose the 7320X, the 7300X3-32C line card or the 7500R.
• You need 400G: Choose the 7368X4 for a compact 4RU system or the 7800R3 for the largest scale, and confirm whether your optics are QSFP-DD or OSFP.
• You need deep buffers for routing: Choose the 7500R or the 7800R3.
• You are expanding a chassis you already run: Stay with the same family and generation, and match the fabric modules to the chassis size.
• You need a specific airflow: Fabric modules and fans are made for one direction, shown as -F or -R in the part number. Check the listing before you order.

Arista lifecycle

Arista has ended sale of several of these families, so many buyers here are expanding or repairing a chassis they already run. Arista lists these dates in its end of sale notices.

• 7320X line cards and fabric modules: October 2, 2021 as end of sale and October 2, 2026 as end of life.
• 7500E 36-port 40G and 48-port 10G line cards: June 20, 2019 as end of sale and June 20, 2022 as end of life.
• Original 7500R line cards: July 30, 2021 as end of sale and December 30, 2026 as end of life.
• 7500R and 7500R2 fabric modules and bundles: June 20, 2024 as end of sale and June 20, 2029 as end of life.
• First-generation 7300X line cards and fabric modules: April 1, 2023 as end of sale.

What is included

Check each listing for what ships with it. Chassis are sold as bundles with supervisors, fabric modules and power supplies, or as chassis only, and the listing says which. Line cards, supervisors, fabric modules, power supplies and fans are also sold on their own.

FAQ

Can I mix line cards and fabric modules from different generations?
Not across the 7300X, 7320X and 7300X3, because Arista does not support mixing their line cards or fabric modules in one chassis. Fabric modules are also made for one chassis size, and the 7500E, 7500R and 7800R3 each use their own. Tell us the chassis, supervisor and line cards you run, and we will check what fits and that the software is compatible before you order.

Which supervisor module do I need?
It depends on the chassis and the line cards. The 7300, 7368X4 and 7800R3 each have their own supervisor, and the 7500 family has more than one. Ask us to check the match before you order.

Should I buy a chassis or a fixed switch?
A chassis fits when you want many ports in one system, room to grow by adding line cards, and redundant supervisors and power. For a set number of ports with no growth, a fixed switch is simpler. See the high performance leaf switches and the aggregation spine switches.

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