(content by Jasmine S)
Cisco Certified DevNet Associate is a credential designed to validate the skills and knowledge of the professionals in the development and maintenance of applications that are built on the Cisco platform. DevNet is a new track in the Cisco certification program and is aimed at the software developers, automation specialists, DevOps engineers, as well as other experts developing and working with software.
This certificate confirms the critical technical skills of the next-generation IT professionals. It also empowers enterprises to embrace all these applications, infrastructure, and automation in the areas of IoT, network, Cloud, and DevOps. To earn this associate-level credential, a candidate is required to pass a single exam – 200-901 DEVASC.
Cisco 200-901:Exam Details & Topics
Cisco 200-901 is a 120-minute test with about 100 questions that covers the basics of software development and design for the Cisco platform. It also evaluates your understanding and skills in using application security & development, APIs, Cisco platforms & development, and automation along with infrastructure. This certification exam is administered through Pearson VUE, which means you have to register for it via this platform.
The Devent 200-901 Exam 200-901 DEVASC test, as well as the whole credential, has no official prerequisites. However, it is recommended that the students have an in-depth understanding of the exam topics before attempting it. In addition to this, it is ideal for the examinees to have at least one year of work experience in software development that also includes their skills in Python programming.
This Cisco exam comes with six broad topics that you should explore before preparing for this certification test. Here they are:
1) Software Development & Design (15%)
This objective includes your ability to do the following tasks:
– Compare various data formats that includeXML, JSON, as well as YAML;
– Explain common data format parsing;
– Explain test-driven development concepts;
– Compare different software development techniques, including Waterfall, Agile, and Lean;
– Describe the advantages of code organizations into functions/methods, modules, and classes;
– Recognize the benefits of common design patterns;
– Describe the pros of version control;
– Use basic version control operations in combination with Git, such as Clone, Commit, Add/Remove, Branch, Handling Conflicts, Push/Pull, as well as Merge.
2) Understanding & Usage of APIs (20%)
The knowledge areas covered within this topic include the following:
– Construct REST API requests to perform specified API documentation tasks;
– Explain basic usage patterns associated with webhooks;
– Highlight constraints associated with APIs consumption;
– Describe basic HTTP response codes as they relate to REST APIs;
– Use basic API authentication mechanisms such as custom token and API keys;
– Construct Python script for REST API with the use of a request library;
– Highlight HTTP response parts, such as response code, body, and headers;
– Compare basic API styles, including synchronous, asynchronous, RPC, and REST
3) Cisco Platforms & Development (15%)
The exam questions from this domain will evaluate your level of knowledge of how to perform the following tasks:
– Construct Python script with the use of Cisco SDK and specified SDK documentation;
– Explain the potential of APIs with Cisco network management platforms, Exam-labs Cisco compute management platforms, Cisco collaboration platforms, and Cisco security platforms;
– Explain dynamic interfaces for NX-OS and IOS XE;
– Highlight suitable DevNet resources for specific scenarios;
– Apply different theories of model-driven programmability in a given Cisco environment;
– Construct code to carry out certain operations based on specific prerequisites and specified API reference documentation.
4) Application Deployment & Security (15%)
The candidates for Cisco 200-901 are required to develop competence to carry out the following:
– Explain the advantages of edge computing;
– Highlight features of various application deployment models, such as private Cloud, public Cloud, edge, and hybrid Cloud;
– Highlight features of application deployment types, including bare metal, virtual machines, and containers;
– Explain components for CI/CD pipeline with application deployments;
– Construct Python unit tests;
– Highlight application security concerns associated with encryption, data handling, and secret protection;
– Describe how reverse proxy, firewall, DNS, and load balancers function in application deployment;
– Explain major OWASP threats, such asCSRF, XSS, and SQL injections;
– Use Bash commands;
– Highlight standards of DevOps practices.
5) Infrastructure & Automation (20%)
The applicants will be evaluated based on their ability to perform the following functions:
– Explain the significance of mode-driven programmability designed for infrastructure automation;
– Compare device-level to controller-level management;
– Explain the usage and functions of test tools and network simulation;
– Describe the benefits and components of CI/CD pipeline within infrastructure automation;
– Explain standards of infrastructure as a code;
– Clarify the capacities of automation tools, such as Cisco NSO, Chef, Ansible, and Puppet;
– Highlight workflow automated by Ansible playbook, bash script, and Python script that utilizes Cisco APIs;
– Interpret results of NETCONF OR RESTCONF query,unified diff, YANG models, and sequence diagram including API calls;
– Define the benefits and principles of the code review process.
6) Network Fundamentals (15%)
This topic area measures the students’ skills and competence in performing the following technical tasks:
– Explain the usage and purpose of VLANs and MAC addresses, routes, gateways, IP addresses, prefix/subnet masks;
– Clarify the role of basic networking components, including firewalls, load balancers, switches, and routers;
– Know the role of data, control planes, and management in network device;
– Define the functionality of IP Services, such as DNS, DHCP, NTP, NAT, and SNMP;
– Identify standard protocol port values;
– Recognize the basics of application connectivity concerns;
– Describe the effects of network limitations on applications.
Cisco 200-901 Exam: Preparation Options
When it comes to preparation,you can find numerous resources available at your disposal. First of all, you can start with the official training course. Cisco offers all the interested candidates to take it with the full coverage of the exam topics. You can choose one of the learning options: instructor-led training in a classroom, virtual training with an instructor, or e-learning.
However, for some students, it may seem that one option from the official site is not enough. That is why we recommend that you add the ExamSnap premium file with 103 practice questions to your list of useful preparation tools. It can help you improve your current knowledge, and also assess it to find possible loopholes that can have a negative impact on the real exam.
Final Thoughts
To sum it all up, you need to master all the required objectives of Cisco 200-901 in order to get high results in it. Otherwise, you will not be certified and all your efforts may go in vain. Therefore, before you start your preparation, take time to go through the official exam blueprint to understand the depth of topics and subtopics that you are required to explore, develop a study plan, and learn everything you don’t know.
