Arista SD-Branch Part 2: The 710P-16P Switch, PoE Budget and Port Layout
The 710P-16P is the access switch this whole series assumes. It is small, it runs full EOS, and its PoE budget is the number that decides how many access points one switch can carry. The figures here come from Arista’s datasheet, and I have not tested the hardware.
Port layout
| Ports | Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 12 x RJ45 | 10M/100M/1G | 802.3af/at PoE, up to 30W per port |
| 4 x RJ45 mGig | 1G/5G | 802.3bt PoE up to 60W per port on the PoE ports |
| 2 x SFP+ | 1G/10G | Uplinks |
The mGig ports are not all the same. The datasheet describes two PoE mGig ports and a pair where one port can act as both a powered device and power sourcing equipment while the other is data only. The PD/PSE port can take up to 90W (802.3bt Type 4) from an upstream switch to power this one and the devices hanging off it. Check the datasheet for the exact per-port mapping before you plan a cable schedule.
PoE budget
The budget depends on the external power supply, and both options ship with the bundled SKU.
| Power supply | PoE budget |
|---|---|
| 150W | 99W |
| 280W | 229W |
Maximum system draw excluding PoE is 51W. The switch supports continuous PoE per port, so powered devices stay up while the switch reboots. That matters for access points, because a switch upgrade does not drop the wireless network at the same time.
Sizing against access points
The Wi-Fi 7 range needs different PoE classes, per Arista’s specifications page:
| AP | PoE requirement | Uplink |
|---|---|---|
| C-460 | 802.3bt, or 802.3at with reduced functionality | 2 x 10GbE |
| C-430 | 802.3at | 2 x 5GbE |
| C-400 | 802.3at | 1 x 5GbE |
Take the worst case, which is the port ceiling. On the 229W supply, three bt ports at 60W each already total 180W, and a fourth would exceed the budget. On the 99W supply, a single 60W bt port leaves 39W for everything else. Real draw is usually lower than the ceiling, but if you size against ceilings you never get surprised by a power-denied port.
The C-460 has 10GbE ports and the 710P tops out at 5G on its mGig ports, so that AP negotiates down to 5G on this switch. That is still far above what most branches fill.
Forwarding and scale
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Throughput | 104 Gbps full duplex |
| Packet rate | 155 Mpps |
| Latency | 1.2 microseconds (RJ45) |
| MAC addresses | 32K |
| Packet buffer | 2MB |
These are comfortable for a branch. The 2MB buffer is the figure to remember if you plan to mix a 10G uplink with bursty 1G sources.
Software
The switch runs the same single-binary EOS as the rest of Arista’s range, with a minimum of EOS 4.27.2. Licensing uses EOS license group G1 and CloudVision license group G1. It supports on-prem or cloud CloudVision, and CloudVision CUE for edge-focused SaaS management. Zero touch provisioning is supported, which Part 3 covers.
First look at the CLI
Once a switch is reachable, this is the sort of orientation I would run. These are standard EOS commands from general EOS usage, not taken from a 710P-specific guide.
show version
show interfaces status
show lldp neighborsshow lldp neighbors is the useful one when you are working out which AP is on which port. Access points advertise themselves over LLDP, and CloudVision uses the same data to draw its topology.