Arista Expands Leaf Switch Product Portfolio
Arista Networks today announced an expansion of its leaf switch portfolio that includes the highest density leaf switches with integrated optics and high performance, VXLAN support. Enhancements to Arista EOS (Extensible Operating System) include VXLAN for simplified deployments, by eliminating the need for multicast support in the underlay network and increased control plane scale to support the largest cloud networks. These additions in Arista’s portfolio continue Arista’s tradition of disruption within the cloud networking industry.
The 7050X series additions offer 10GbE interfaces with a choice in removable or embedded optics for tremendous flexibility in scalable two-tier network designs. The 7050X series has wire speed VXLAN with low latency and advanced features. The 7050SX Series 10GbE SFP+ and 7050TX Series 10GBASE-T systems offer up to 96 ports in a single RU with 7 different configurations for different sizes of networks. The 7050TX-128 is optimized for cloud scale server racks, combining 96 ports of 10GbE and 8 ports of 40GbE. Arista also introduced the 7010 Series optimized for 1GbE servers and management systems in a low power, compact footprint.
EOS Enhancements for Cloud-Scale Networking
Arista’s updated VXLAN implementation eliminates the need for multicast in the underlay network by using Head End Replication for forwarding broadcast, multicast and unknown unicast traffic in the VLANs that it transports. The complexity in the underlay network is minimized, making VXLAN networks easier to deploy and operate. The Arista VXLAN implementation is truly open and standards based with the ability to interoperate with a wide range of data center switches.
“This expansion of the Arista 7000 Series demonstrates the advantages of using a single common EOS to offer consistent features across a broad set of platforms,” said Martin Hull, Director of Product Management for Arista Networks. “It allows us to rapidly introduce more choices for 10GbE and 40GbE in a wide range of configurations that are optimized for demanding workloads such as cloud computing and big data. The number of unique combinations and choices that we are delivering with the 7050X Series meets most network design requirements.”
EOS 4.14 update taps into the strength of the EOS architecture to offer improved scale and convergence for large cloud deployments. Enhancements include:
1. 128-way ECMP for large leaf-spine cluster builds
2. New multicast control plane architecture that pushes the scale to 100K multicast routes and increased IP route and VRF scale.
3. High Availability integration with VMware NSX and OpenStack to minimize disruption on outages and accelerate recovery for network virtualization (VXLAN) deployments.
