Arista Networks Platform Reviews

We are manufacturers for certain storage platforms and we have our own storage software for enabling GPU clustering. We work more in the video segment. We have our own solutions that we put on that particular cluster which enable a remote workspace management portal for people who are into content. We don't generally provide solutions for micro-level storage customers that are dealing with your retail data or the like. We specialize in macro-computing, video analytics, audio/video editing solutions, editing over the cloud, and remote editing of spaces. It's a very specialized platform.

We set up a private cloud architecture for customers. There are certain customers who are large-scale photo editors, video editors — companies like BBC — that are in the content business. They don't want their content to be on multi-user platforms. They want to have control of their platforms. We have a solution where they can have a YouTube-like experience, but it's totally private. We have very bespoke solutions for media-related mining.

Arista is a nice platform. It's an extremely reliable platform for the network switches we use.

We have never seen a project where people have complained that it's not working. Never.

We have found their networks to be very high-end, low-latency, and we have never had a problem scaling up.

Generally, Arista's technical support is prompt. There can be delays but they're not bad. When we go back to them, they get the job done. They are very good at support.

Overall, Arista is a good team to work with. They are very straightforward.

Arista is very expensive. Not everybody is in a position to spend $70,000 to $80,000 for one switch.

For our customers that have a budget of $4,000 to $5,000 for one switch fabric, we generally recommend NETGEAR. That is also a very good switch. If somebody wants something cheaper than that, we recommend they go for something else.

For a market like India, Africa, and Asia, people always think twice because Arista is expensive compared to the competition. Of course, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. There are no other products that you can directly compare with Arista. It's the difference between getting a V12 engine and a generic engine. You need to be able to afford a V12. Arista is not for everybody.

We have deployed many enterprise platform switches, depending on the customer's capacity to buy a given platform. We have tested the Huawei switches. For certain protocols and traffic, and especially for video transmissions, Huawei has a good platform. But it's not like Arista, which has the highest one. Cisco has a bit of delay and a lag. From a robustness perspective, you pay a premium for Arista but you get the most from it.

We don't recommend Cisco because Cisco is a very different ballgame altogether. It's more into infrastructure networking data management. Cisco is made for something very different. When you are talking about IoT, Cisco meets expectations.

I would recommend Arista for certain applications, for microbiological and molecular calculations; for supercomputing. If you are looking for an ultra-low latency network, this is the only solution. There is nothing else that is similar.

It has low-latency, stability, and scalability because it is modular. If you have the budget, go for it.

We use three different models of the 7000 series switches to make up the network in one of our data centers. We use the 7060SX as an active leaf, the 7260 as a border leaf, and the 7500 series as the spines.

The most valuable feature is the Linux shell, which is useful for troubleshooting or capturing traffic. 

The documentation for this solution needs to be improved. In the documentation, it is not easy to find the exact solution which describes the configuration step by step. It means that we've had to ask our supplier how to use certain features, and which commands to use. We can find a simple description on the website, as well as a list of the features, but a more complete description is not available. It is not clear exactly how to configure and use each of the features. For other vendors, we can find the exact configuration, with examples, that we need to deploy for any new features.

The documentation did not explain that we could not vary the speed between ports that are in the same block. For example, we cannot have 1G and 10G on the neighboring ports. All four ports have to be 1G or 10G, which was very annoying for us when we realized that we needed to change the configuration and the cabling that we had already prepared.

In the next release of this solution, we would like the option to use two switches as one virtual switch.

The CVP management platform needs to be improved.

This solution is quite stable if the configuration is done according to the best practices. We found, however, that when we made some changes, we ran into problems.

These were temporary changes for test purposes. Nowhere was it explained that making these types of changes could lead to the problems that we observed, or that we would have any trouble. One such problem was that the utilization of links was very high because of an error in our test configuration.

Generally speaking, this is a very stable solution.

In our environment it is scalable. We can find the proper models to meet our requirements. I'm not sure how it would be in the case of very large networks, but in our data center there are a few hundred switches, so it is scalable.

We have thousands of users who use this network. This includes internal and external clients for our data center.

The technical support for this solution is quite good, but the deepness of the explanation in the documentation is not as good as I expect.

Most of the equipment that I have used is Cisco, although I have also used Juniper and Cumulus. For this new type of data center architecture, however, we did not use a solution prior to this one.

The initial setup of the individual switches is simple.

Using the Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) feature with the CloudVision Portal (CVP) is not simple, and it takes quite a long time.

Each of the switches can be deployed in about ten minutes, after several restarts, using the management interface. If I deploy using the command line then it will take a minute or two.

The CVP is supposed to be automated, but it is rather complicated and takes time.

For the initial deployment, we needed the help of our local supplier, the Arista representative. It was very helpful for us because we could not find good examples on the website. The best practices were descriptive from a very high-level view and did not contain detailed configuration examples.

I think that it would be very hard to prepare the whole configuration for the data center architecture without the help of our local supplier and Arista engineers.

This solution was my first experience with the new, modern data center architecture.

My advice to anybody who is implementing this series of switches is to carefully check the features that are supported on each model. Some new features are not supported on all platforms. I know that Arista still sells some old models that do not support the newest features.

This is a good solution, but the documentation needs to be improved. More detailed configuration examples are definitely needed.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

It's our main platform. We centralize all network functionalities inside of our hospital network in two locations. From the data center to the distribution level.

In the past year, we have implemented this solution in two new hospitals. Arista is on the core and distribution layer, so our experience is approximately six core units and 36 lead switches of Arista and the pooling layer three overlays that they are providing.

We are using the most recent version, the release tracks had some overlap. Arista is suggesting a change to the release track.

Arista has been in our network since we started the new hospital building in August.

We are striving to exchange all existing hardware with Arista.

What we like most is its performance to price ratio. We also like the standard-based approach in contrast to other vendors in the network market, and the constant and timely support.

Some new features are needed.

Arista is technology-driven by themselves. At times they are limited by standards that are not formally closed. 

I would like to see more integration with one of the providers from each intent-based network for compliance documentation and IT security purposes. For future development of the product, being able to manage the security or relevant paths with intent-based networking is important. The intent-based network is a management that is on our security level.

The intent-based networking management, together with the provider of these solutions that are already free, would be beneficial.

I don't worry that there is a time gap between finalizing as triple E standards before integrating with the future release.

We have been using this solution for one year

This solution is stable, it is rock solid.

It is scalable up to a point where we don't have enough requirements so far.

For each location, we have approximately 30,000 clients, so approximately 60,000 total.

For the network, we are the IT solution provider for the hospital. The workgroup section has six staff members, but we will increase it to eight because we added more wireless capabilities and real-time location services.

In a hospital network, you have to sometimes support old systems. For instance, patient entertainment with an old fashioned multicast structure, they seem able to provide us with the proper solution within two days. 

They set up our environment back in California and they'll be able to provide us next Monday morning with a proper solution.

We would rate the technical support a ten out of ten. We can't complain and we are always surprised about the proficiency of the speed.

The initial setup is complex because our environment is complex. The hardware setup itself is quite straightforward.

We had implementation support by a gold partner here in Germany who are closely attached to Arista. We never ran into any issues where we had to go back to another point.

We are a publicly funded hospital in North Germany, so we are limited in what we would like to add to our infrastructure.

If you are looking for a future-proof solution, you just need to ask questions about the scalability and stability. You should do a proof of concept with Arista.

Get in contact with them to see how they solve problems. This is a beneficial experience. Even if somebody chooses another vendor, they should base a valid opinion about Arista.

I would strongly recommend this solution. 

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Arista Networks Platform is designed for next-generation data centers. They support asymmetric IRB, symmetric IRB, flood and learn types, EVPN types two, five, three, overlay and underlay. When Juniper first came out, they did not support symmetrical IRB. They only supported CRB, central routing and bridging, and asymmetrical IRB.

So, to make it work, we had to do IBGP for the overlay, EBGP for the underlay, and then use the IBP as a route reflector so that the spine could be the server and the top-of-rack could be the client. So it reflects the route down for all of the overlay. When you deal with internal activities, it's hard to troubleshoot, which is why we like the Arista Networks Platform. Unfortunately, Juniper doesn't support CRB anymore.

They support open standard features, and they have one feature that is proprietary and is marked VARP. That is the way for any cash routing. You can do that at the top of the rack layers. Juniper doesn't support this, and they don't have a chipset. Juniper claims that they have a feature where they can do symmetrical IRB, but their product hasn't been tested. Arista Networks Platform is widely used for all data centers.

Arista has done a pretty good job, but there's room for improvement. They should have a more stable code. Their code is a lot better than Juniper, but there are a lot of bugs, issues that arise and memory leaks.

We have been using this solution for 12 years and are using the new release. It can be deployed both on-premises and on cloud. For example, if you use their CVP (cloud vision portal), you can deploy it using their orchestration management. You can also deploy it manually, and I prefer doing it that way because you can see all the features being enabled.

It is a stable solution as long as the top of the rack and the spine are at the same code level. For example, if you use the same code level and run 4.21 on the spine, then run 4.21 on all the top racks, and it will be stable.

Their technical support is very good, and I rate them an eight out of ten.

Positive

I've used Cisco and Juniper. I built a network in Juniper, CRP, leaf and spine design, and the same in Cisco using leaf and spine design. I've also used their ACI, which is very cumbersome and complex.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. They have a zero-touch feature where as long as there's a DATP service somewhere, you can grab an IP address, take over the switch and then automatically configure the switches for it.

The time for deployment depends on the environment. It could take a couple of hours to deploy 50 switches or even 30 minutes to deploy three or four switches. We completed the deployment in-house. We have ten of thousands of users, and we are always scaling.

We have seen a return on investment, which is worth the price. Unfortunately, the pricing is a little out of touch because most companies do not have the budget. Arista Networks Platform is about 40% more expensive than Cisco and about 70% more than Juniper. Juniper gives you their hardware for free, but they get you on the backend for support, maintenance, and service contracts.

Arista Networks Platform is the most expensive of all the platforms.

We evaluated LinkedIn, Cumulus, Big Switch, and Mellanox as smaller players. There are only four major players, Brocade, Cisco, Arista and Juniper, but the three most prominent are Cisco, Arista and Juniper.

I rate this solution a nine out of ten. I would recommend Arista Networks Platform for next-generation data centers because it is very stable. They have stable hardware and code, which is better than Cisco and Juniper. However, it has one operating system for all platforms, which could lead to problems because you're running on one code.

We use the solution for networking infrastructure and network detection.

Arista is a good performer in terms of networking and has been rated as one of the leaders in Gartner.

The solution’s pricing could be better.

I have been using Arista Networks Platform for two years.

The product’s stability is excellent.

The solution is scalable.

There are about four or five customers in my region.

Arista has excellent tech support distributed around the world.

The initial setup is easy and depends from scenario to scenario.

The product is expensive and has a yearly subscription.

Three people, including admins, are required for the solution’s maintenance.

I recommend the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

What we're frequently using in Arista Networks Platform is CloudVision. It's what we found most valuable.

An area for improvement we see in Arista Networks Platform is its integration, e.g. it needs to have more integration with its new products. It should have good integration with multiple wireless, security, and other products they recently acquired. Everybody needs just one dashboard, e.g. we are looking at where we can monitor all the other products which Arista Networks Platform has recently acquired.

Incorporating more security and cloud in terms of the journey to digital transformation is also another area for improvement in Arista Networks Platform, because more and more companies would like to have the incorporation of both cloud and security into their firmware.

An additional feature we'd like to see in the next release of Arista Networks Platform has everything to do with permissions. If you're looking at interfacing with other vendors, they need to have open protocols like API, so that it becomes easier for threat backing integration.

We've been dealing with Arista Networks Platform over the last four years.

Arista Networks Platform provides good support.

The deployment of Arista Networks Platform was very straightforward.

We're using both Arista Networks Platform and Aruba switches. We use Aruba switches mainly for wireless and campus, while Arista Networks Platform we are using more for the data center.

We are a distributor for Arista and Aruba.

Deployment for Arista Networks Platform is on-premises, with a bit of public cloud, but most of the deployment is on-premises.

I would put Arista Networks Platform at a ten out of ten rating, particularly because of their support and their features.

We use the Arista Networks Platform for our data center features.

The most valuable features of the Arista Networks Platform are the EVPN and VXLAN. It has comprehensive features.

The overall price of the Arista Networks Platform is expensive. It should be reduced.

I have been using the Arista Networks Platform for approximately four years.

Arista Networks Platform is stable.

The scalability of the Arista Networks Platform is good.

I was satisfied with the technical support.

We used Extreme previously.

The initial setup of the Arista Networks Platform is straightforward. It took use approximately a half-day to complete.

We did the implementation in-house.

The price of the Arista Networks Platform could be less expensive for the hardware and license.

My advice to others is to learn from the Arista team to have better knowledge and understanding before deployment. It does help.

I rate Arista Networks Platform a nine out of ten.

Arista Networks Platform has a feature that helps with monitoring and management. 

I want the solution to include a unified controller. 

I have been working with the solution for three years. 

The product is very stable. It has a high stability point. 

Arista Networks Platform is scalable. 

Arista Networks Platform's technical support is very effective. 

The tool's setup is easy. We rely on two people for deployment. 

Arista Networks Platform is a flexible, scalable and easy-to-manage solution. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.