Arista Networks
Encyclopedia
Arista Networks is a computer networking company headquartered in Santa Clara, California
, USA. The company designs and sells network switch
es for datacenter, high-performance computing
and high-frequency trading
environments. Arista's products include an array of 10 Gigabit Ethernet
low-latency cut-through
switches, including the 7124SX, which is currently the fastest switch using SFP+ optics with its sub-500ns latency. Arista's own Linux
-based network operating system
, EOS (Extensible OS
), runs on all Arista products.
co-founded Sun Microsystems
in 1982 and was its chief hardware designer. In 1995, David Cheriton
co-founded founded Granite Systems with Bechtolsheim, a company that developed gigabit Ethernet
products, which then got acquired by Cisco Systems
in 1996. In 1998, Stanford students Sergey Brin
and Larry Page
met with Bechtolsheim on Cheriton's front porch. At the meeting, Bechtolsheim gave them their first cheque to fund their company, Google
, and Cheriton matched the investment. In 2001, Cheriton and Bechtolsheim founded another start up, Kealia, which was acquired by Sun in 2004. From 1996 to 2003, Bechtolsheim and Cheriton occupied executive positions at Cisco, leading the development of the Catalyst
product line, along with Kenneth Duda who had been Granite Systems' first employee.
In 2004, the three then went on to found Arastra (later renamed Arista). Thanks to a good investment in Google, Bechtolsheim and Cheriton were able to fund the company themselves. In May 2008, Jayshree Ullal left Cisco after 15 years at the company, and was appointed CEO of Arista in October 2008.
. EOS runs in an unmodified Linux kernel
and in a Fedora
-based userland. More than 40 independent regular processes
, called agents, are responsible for different aspects and features of the switch, such drivers that manage the switching ASICs
, the CLI
, SNMP
, Spanning Tree Protocol
, or various routing protocols. All the state of the switch and its various protocols is centralized in another process, called Sysdb. Separating processing (carried by the agents) from the state (in Sysdb) gives EOS two important properties. The first is software fault containment, which means that when a software fault occurs, the damage is limited to a single agent. The second is stateful restarts, since the state is stored in Sysdb, when an agent restarts it picks up where it left off. Since agents are independent processes, they can also be upgraded while the switch is running (a feature called ISSU – In-Service Software Upgrade).
The fact that EOS runs Linux allows the usage of common Linux tools on the switch itself, such as tcpdump
or usual configuration management systems. EOS provides extensive APIs
to communicate with and control all aspects of the switch. As a matter of fact, its CLI is a collection of Python
scripts that simply call into these APIs, while offering a so-called industry standard CLI that resembles IOS'
. To showcase EOS' extensibility, Arista developed a module that extends the CLI to use XMPP
as a shared message bus for managing and configuring switches. This was implemented simply by integrating an existing open-source XMPP Python library with the CLI.
The low-latency of Arista switches has made the platform prevalent in high-frequency trading
environments, such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange
(largest U.S. options exchange), Lehman Brothers
or RBC Capital Markets
. As of October 2009, one third of its customers were big Wall Street
firms.
Although Arista's devices are switches, they also support a range of layer 3 protocols, such as IGMP, RIP
or BGP
. Other routing protocols supported include OSPF
, IS-IS
and, once the standard is ratified, TRILL
. The switches are also capable of doing layer 3 or layer 4 ECMP
, and applying per-port L3/L4 ACLs
, entirely in hardware.
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
, USA. The company designs and sells network switch
Network switch
A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that connects network segments.The term commonly refers to a multi-port network bridge that processes and routes data at the data link layer of the OSI model...
es for datacenter, high-performance computing
High-performance computing
High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
and high-frequency trading
High-frequency trading
High-frequency trading is the use of sophisticated technological tools to trade securities like stocks or options, and is typically characterized by several distinguishing features:...
environments. Arista's products include an array of 10 Gigabit Ethernet
10 Gigabit Ethernet
The 10 gigabit Ethernet computer networking standard was first published in 2002. It defines a version of Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10 Gbit/s , ten times faster than gigabit Ethernet.10 gigabit Ethernet defines only full duplex point to point links which are generally connected by...
low-latency cut-through
Cut-through switching
In computer networking, cut-through switching is a method for packet switching systems, wherein the switch starts forwarding a frame before the whole frame has been received, normally as soon as the destination address is processed...
switches, including the 7124SX, which is currently the fastest switch using SFP+ optics with its sub-500ns latency. Arista's own Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
-based network operating system
Network operating system
A networking operating system , also referred to as the Dialoguer, is the software that runs on a server and enables the server to manage data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions...
, EOS (Extensible OS
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
), runs on all Arista products.
Corporate history
Andy BechtolsheimAndy Bechtolsheim
Andreas von Bechtolsheim is an electrical engineer who co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and was its chief hardware designer....
co-founded Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
in 1982 and was its chief hardware designer. In 1995, David Cheriton
David Cheriton
David Ross Cheriton is a Canadian-born computer science professor at Stanford University who has investments in technology companies...
co-founded founded Granite Systems with Bechtolsheim, a company that developed gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...
products, which then got acquired by Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
in 1996. In 1998, Stanford students Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
and Larry Page
Larry Page
Lawrence "Larry" Page is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Sergey Brin, is best known as the co-founder of Google. As of April 4, 2011, he is also the chief executive of Google, as announced on January 20, 2011...
met with Bechtolsheim on Cheriton's front porch. At the meeting, Bechtolsheim gave them their first cheque to fund their company, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, and Cheriton matched the investment. In 2001, Cheriton and Bechtolsheim founded another start up, Kealia, which was acquired by Sun in 2004. From 1996 to 2003, Bechtolsheim and Cheriton occupied executive positions at Cisco, leading the development of the Catalyst
Cisco Catalyst
Catalyst is the brand name for a variety of network switches sold by Cisco Systems. While commonly associated with Ethernet switches, a number of different interfaces have been available throughout the history of the brand. Cisco acquired several different companies and rebranded their products...
product line, along with Kenneth Duda who had been Granite Systems' first employee.
In 2004, the three then went on to found Arastra (later renamed Arista). Thanks to a good investment in Google, Bechtolsheim and Cheriton were able to fund the company themselves. In May 2008, Jayshree Ullal left Cisco after 15 years at the company, and was appointed CEO of Arista in October 2008.
Extensible Operating System
EOS is Arista's single network operating systemNetwork operating system
A networking operating system , also referred to as the Dialoguer, is the software that runs on a server and enables the server to manage data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions...
. EOS runs in an unmodified Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
and in a Fedora
Fedora (operating system)
Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
-based userland. More than 40 independent regular processes
Process (computing)
In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. It contains the program code and its current activity. Depending on the operating system , a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently.A computer program is a...
, called agents, are responsible for different aspects and features of the switch, such drivers that manage the switching ASICs
Application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...
, the CLI
Command-line interface
A command-line interface is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks...
, SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol
Simple Network Management Protocol is an "Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more." It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor...
, Spanning Tree Protocol
Spanning tree protocol
The Spanning Tree Protocol is a network protocol that ensures a loop-free topology for any bridged Ethernet local area network. The basic function of STP is to prevent bridge loops and ensuing broadcast radiation...
, or various routing protocols. All the state of the switch and its various protocols is centralized in another process, called Sysdb. Separating processing (carried by the agents) from the state (in Sysdb) gives EOS two important properties. The first is software fault containment, which means that when a software fault occurs, the damage is limited to a single agent. The second is stateful restarts, since the state is stored in Sysdb, when an agent restarts it picks up where it left off. Since agents are independent processes, they can also be upgraded while the switch is running (a feature called ISSU – In-Service Software Upgrade).
The fact that EOS runs Linux allows the usage of common Linux tools on the switch itself, such as tcpdump
Tcpdump
tcpdump is a common packet analyzer that runs under the command line. It allows the user to intercept and display TCP/IP and other packets being transmitted or received over a network to which the computer is attached...
or usual configuration management systems. EOS provides extensive APIs
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
to communicate with and control all aspects of the switch. As a matter of fact, its CLI is a collection of Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
scripts that simply call into these APIs, while offering a so-called industry standard CLI that resembles IOS'
Cisco IOS
Cisco IOS is the software used on the vast majority of Cisco Systems routers and current Cisco network switches...
. To showcase EOS' extensibility, Arista developed a module that extends the CLI to use XMPP
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
as a shared message bus for managing and configuring switches. This was implemented simply by integrating an existing open-source XMPP Python library with the CLI.
Ethernet switches
Arista's product line can be separated in four groups:- 7500 series: Modular chassis with a VOQVirtual Output QueuesVirtual Output Queues are an input queuing strategy for use in telecommunications and computer network switches. It addresses a common problem known as Head-of-line blocking.-Description:...
fabric supporting up to 4 or 8 store and forwardStore and forwardStore and forward is a telecommunications technique in which information is sent to an intermediate station where it is kept and sent at a later time to the final destination or to another intermediate station. The intermediate station, or node in a networking context, verifies the integrity of...
line cardsLine cardA line card or Digital Line Card is a modular electronic circuit on a printed circuit board, the electronic circuits on the card interfacing the telecommunication lines coming from the subscribers to the rest of the telecommunications access network.A line card commonly interfaces the twisted pair...
delivering line-rate non-blocking 10GbE or 40GbE performance. The same fabric will also support 100GbE100 Gigabit Ethernet40 Gigabit Ethernet, or 40GbE, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, or 100GbE, are high-speed computer network standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers . They support sending Ethernet frames at 40 and 100 gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gbit/s or 25 Gbit/s lanes...
when line cards become available. - 7100 series: 1U ultra-low latency cut-throughCut-through switchingIn computer networking, cut-through switching is a method for packet switching systems, wherein the switch starts forwarding a frame before the whole frame has been received, normally as soon as the destination address is processed...
line-rate 10Gb switches. The 7124SX has the lowest port-to-port latency on the market (sub 500ns), regardless of the frameEthernet frameA data packet on an Ethernet link is called an Ethernet frame. A frame begins with Preamble and Start Frame Delimiter. Following which, each Ethernet frame continues with an Ethernet header featuring destination and source MAC addresses. The middle section of the frame is payload data including any...
size. - 7050 series: 1U low-latency cut-throughCut-through switchingIn computer networking, cut-through switching is a method for packet switching systems, wherein the switch starts forwarding a frame before the whole frame has been received, normally as soon as the destination address is processed...
line-rate 10Gb and 40Gb switches. This product line offers a higher port density than the 7100 series, with a minimum of 52 x 10GbE ports, at the expense of slightly increased latency (1.2µs or less). - 7048 series: 1U store and forwardStore and forwardStore and forward is a telecommunications technique in which information is sent to an intermediate station where it is kept and sent at a later time to the final destination or to another intermediate station. The intermediate station, or node in a networking context, verifies the integrity of...
line-rate 1Gb top-of-rack switch, with 4x10Gb uplinks. These switches use a Deep Buffer architecture, with 768MB of packet memory.
The low-latency of Arista switches has made the platform prevalent in high-frequency trading
High-frequency trading
High-frequency trading is the use of sophisticated technological tools to trade securities like stocks or options, and is typically characterized by several distinguishing features:...
environments, such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange
Chicago Board Options Exchange
The Chicago Board Options Exchange , located at 400 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with annual trading volume that hovered around one billion contracts at the end of 2007...
(largest U.S. options exchange), Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
or RBC Capital Markets
RBC Capital Markets
RBC Capital Markets is a Canadian investment bank with assets of $711 billion. It is part of the Royal Bank of Canada and has one of the highest credit ratings in the world by Moody's and Standard & Poor's.,According to Bloomberg, RBCCM is consistently ranked among the top 20 global investment...
. As of October 2009, one third of its customers were big Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
firms.
Although Arista's devices are switches, they also support a range of layer 3 protocols, such as IGMP, RIP
Routing Information Protocol
The Routing Information Protocol is a distance-vector routing protocol, which employs the hop count as a routing metric. RIP prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops allowed for RIP is 15....
or BGP
Border Gateway Protocol
The Border Gateway Protocol is the protocol backing the core routing decisions on the Internet. It maintains a table of IP networks or 'prefixes' which designate network reachability among autonomous systems . It is described as a path vector protocol...
. Other routing protocols supported include OSPF
Open Shortest Path First
Open Shortest Path First is an adaptive routing protocol for Internet Protocol networks. It uses a link state routing algorithm and falls into the group of interior routing protocols, operating within a single autonomous system . It is defined as OSPF Version 2 in RFC 2328 for IPv4...
, IS-IS
IS-IS
Intermediate System To Intermediate System , is a routing protocol designed to move information efficiently within a computer network, a group of physically connected computers or similar devices....
and, once the standard is ratified, TRILL
Trill
Trill may refer to:* Trill , a type of musical ornament* Trill consonant, a type of sound used in some languages*Trill, a type of bird food-Fiction:* Trill , two symbiotic races of aliens in the fictional Star Trek universe...
. The switches are also capable of doing layer 3 or layer 4 ECMP
Equal-cost multi-path routing
Equal-cost multi-path routing is a routing strategy where next-hop packet forwarding to a single destination can occur over multiple "best paths" which tie for top place in routing metric calculations. Multipath routing can be used in conjunction with most routing protocols, since it is a per-hop...
, and applying per-port L3/L4 ACLs
Access control list
An access control list , with respect to a computer file system, is a list of permissions attached to an object. An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed on given objects. Each entry in a typical ACL specifies a subject...
, entirely in hardware.
Major competitors
- Brocade Communications SystemsBrocade Communications SystemsBrocade Communications Systems, Inc. , based in Silicon Valley , is a vendor of storage area network hardware and software. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells networking products and management applications for local, metro, and wide area networks...
- Cisco SystemsCisco SystemsCisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
- DellDellDell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
(following acquisition of Force10Force10Force10 Networks , is a United States company which develops and markets 10 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet switches for computer networking to corporate, educational, and governmental customers. It has offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.In 2011 Dell announced that they...
) - Extreme NetworksExtreme NetworksExtreme Networks, founded in 1996, is a publicly listed company that designs, builds, and installs Ethernet network solutions for enterprise and Carrier Class networks.-Corporate History:Extreme Networks is located in Santa Clara, California...
- Juniper NetworksJuniper NetworksJuniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...