Arista EOS Licensing

Arista EOS (Extensible Operating System) is the single operating system across the full Arista switching and routing portfolio, and the EOS licensing structure defines which software capabilities are available on each hardware platform. Perpetual licenses cover the core EOS feature set (Enhanced L3 routing, Virtualization, FlexRoute, and the traditional EOS platform features) and are structured into groups that align with the hardware tier of the platform being licensed. For fixed-configuration switches, licensing groups run from Group 0/1 (covering 1G and multi-gig access switches such as the 7010X series) through Group 5 (covering 400G and 800G spine platforms such as the 7060X4, 7060X5, and 7060X6). This tier structure means the software license cost scales with the hardware tier rather than being a flat per-device fee that applies equally to a 1G access switch and an 800G spine.

Modular chassis licensing uses a separate slot-based scheme that reflects the capacity and complexity of chassis-based platforms. Mod-1 (4-slot) covers smaller routing and aggregation chassis, Mod-2 (8-slot) covers mid-tier DC spine and routing chassis, Mod-3 and Mod-4 cover the 12-slot and 16-slot configurations found in the 7800R3 and 7800R4 AI spine platforms, and Mod-G covers modular PoE chassis used in campus access-aggregation roles. The slot-based scheme allows the license cost to reflect the actual chassis scale rather than the number of line cards installed, which would create a perverse incentive to under-populate chassis to reduce ongoing license cost. EOS perpetual licenses are a one-time purchase for the core software capability; the CloudVision management and automation layer is available as a separate monthly subscription (CloudVision-as-a-Service) and is not included in the EOS perpetual license.