[...]... old switch on the Internet for little money Arista is a relatively new company, and finding used Arista switches will probably be tough Hopefully, by including more of what you’d see in an actual Arista switch, this book will help those curious about them Lastly, I’d like to explain why I wrote this book I don’t work for Arista, I don’t sell Arista gear, and Arista has not paid me to write this book... more about Arista switches Anyone with a CCNA or equivalent (or greater) knowledge should benefit from this book, but the person who will get the most from this book is the entrenched admin, engineer, or architect who has been tasked with building an Arista network My goal in writing Arista Warrior is to explain complex ideas in an easy-to-understand manner I’ve taught a few xi classes on Arista switches,... restrictions xviii | Preface CHAPTER 1 Why Arista? If you’re reading this book, you’ve got an interest in Arista products for any number of reasons My goal is for you to understand why Arista is here, why they should be taken seriously, and why their switches are selling like crazy So let’s get started by explaining how it all began A Brief History of Arista Arista Networks is a successful networking... writes 6 | Chapter 1: Why Arista? Arista Delivers So how does Arista deal with the requirements outlined in this chapter? Here’s a short list to whet your appetite Each one of these topics is covered in detail within this book, so here I’ll just supply a list with a brief explanation of each feature and a reference to the chapter in which the topic is covered in more detail Hardware Arista switches all have... see, Arista switches can do some pretty interesting things that aren’t available on any other switches Features aside, the OS is written so well and with such attention to detail that even without all the cool features, I think you’ll find Arista switches to be a cut above the other vendors’ offerings But enough hype, let’s dig in and learn the inner workings of Arista s switches 10 | Chapter 1: Why Arista? ... of them What’s more, this book aims to explain Arista- specific features in great detail; however, it may not go into such detail on other topics such as explaining VLANs, routers, and how to configure NTP, since I’ve covered those topics at length in Network Warrior I will go into detail if a topic is being introduced here that wasn’t covered in Network Warrior, such as Multiple Span, such as Multiple... there were no Arista books out there I felt that I could write one that people would enjoy, while doing justice to the Arista way of doing things As you read this book, I hope that you’ll get a feel for what that way is Though I’m obviously a fan, these devices are not perfect I’ll show you where I’ve found issues, and where there might be gotchas That’s the benefit of me not being paid by Arista I’ll... This book would not have been possible without the significant help from the following people at Arista Networks: Mark Berly, Andre Pech, Dave Twinam, Brad Danitz, Nick Giampa, Doug Gourlay, and Kevin McCabe I’d also like to personally thank Jayshree Ullal, CEO of Arista, for allowing me access to some of the Arista equipment used for examples in this book This book would simply not have been possible... reviewers were great about pointing out where I needed to update my examples In my defense, the Arista team works so hard on releasing killer new versions of code that I had a hard enough time keeping up with new features, most of which I’m happy to say were included in this book Hopefully, when I get to write Arista Warrior 2nd edition, I’ll get the opportunity to go through the entire book and update every... Span, such as Multiple Span ning Tree (MST), or VRRP Where possible, I have concentrated on what makes Arista switches great In short, if you want to learn about networking, pick up Network War rior If you want to know why Arista is stealing market share from all the other net If you want to know why Arista is stealing market share from all the other net working equipment vendors, buy this book This .