Cisco CCNA Automation (200‑901 CCNAAUTO) Practice Exams

About the Cisco CCNA Automation 200-901 exam

Exam at a glance

Associate tier. Cisco's network automation entry credential. 100–120 questions, 120 min, scaled passing score, $300. Valid 3 years and renewable via Continuing Education credits.

Who this is for

200-901 CCNAAUTO targets network engineers learning automation, software engineers extending into networking, and DevOps engineers integrating with Cisco infrastructure. It's the developer's path into Cisco — code-first, API-first, and platform-aware.

Domain weighting

• Software Development and Design — 15%
• Understanding and Using APIs — 20%
• Cisco Platforms and Development — 15%
• Application Deployment and Security — 15%
• Infrastructure and Automation — 20%
• Network Fundamentals — 15%

Prerequisites

No formal prerequisites. Cisco recommends one or more years of hands-on application development experience on Cisco platforms plus intermediate Python skills. Prior CCNA or equivalent networking knowledge helps with the Network Fundamentals domain but is not required.

Why take this certification

• The on-ramp to network automation. 200-901 is the canonical credential signaling that you can write Python against network APIs, version code with Git, and deploy automation against Cisco infrastructure — the skill set most enterprise networking teams are urgently hiring for.
• Strong salary uplift. Network engineers who add CCNA Automation consistently report 10–20% compensation increases as they transition from manual configuration into NetDevOps roles. Glassdoor and Indeed list NetDevOps Engineers in the US at $115,000–$145,000 USD, with senior NetDevOps and SRE-style network roles reaching $160,000+.
• Free first-class study material. Unlike most vendor credentials, Cisco's DevNet Learning Labs are free, hands-on, and platform-integrated — you can practice every API in this exam against real or sandbox Cisco devices without spending a dollar on labs.
• Gateway to the Professional tier. 200-901 is the recommended stepping stone to 350-901 DEVCOR, Cisco's DevNet Professional core exam covering application design, secure development, and platform-specific automation.

What you'll learn in the 200-901 exam

CCNAAUTO validates that you can write code against network APIs, automate Cisco infrastructure, and reason about deployment and security at an entry-developer level. The exam is concept-and-code driven — most questions show a snippet, an API response, or a deployment scenario and ask you to identify the correct construct, status code, or pattern.

Python fundamentals

• Language basics: data types (str, int, list, dict, tuple, set), control flow (if/elif/else, for, while), comprehensions, exception handling.
• Functions & modules: defining functions, default and keyword arguments, importing standard library and third-party modules.
• Environments & tooling: venv virtual environments, pip dependency management, requirements.txt conventions.
• Common libraries: requests for HTTP, json for parsing, yaml via PyYAML, basic file I/O.

Source control with Git

• Core workflow: clone, add, commit, push, pull, fetch, status, log, diff.
• Branching and merging: branch, checkout, merge, conflict resolution, pull requests.
• Remote conventions: origin, upstream, GitHub and Cisco-internal repos.

REST APIs

• HTTP fundamentals: methods (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE), status codes (2xx success, 4xx client error, 401/403/404, 5xx server error), headers, request vs. response bodies.
• Authentication patterns: Basic auth, Bearer tokens, OAuth 2.0 flows, API key headers.
• Operational concerns: rate limiting (429), pagination, idempotency, webhooks, synchronous vs. asynchronous APIs.
• Data formats: JSON (objects, arrays, escape rules), YAML (indentation, anchors), XML (elements, attributes, namespaces) — parsing all three and choosing the right tool.

Cisco platform APIs

• Cisco DNA Center: intent-based networking, device inventory, command runner, network programmability via REST.
• Cisco ACI (APIC): object model, tenants, application profiles, EPGs — REST queries against the APIC controller.
• Cisco Meraki Dashboard API: organization-level and network-level endpoints, cloud-managed config-as-data.
• Cisco Webex: messaging, rooms, memberships, bots, adaptive cards, webhooks.
• Cisco IOS XE: RESTCONF, NETCONF, YANG models — programmable router/switch configuration on modern IOS XE.
• Cisco NX-OS: NX-API REST for Nexus data-center switches.
• Cisco ASA: REST API for firewall/policy automation.

Application deployment & security

• Deployment models: on-premises, hybrid, cloud, edge — trade-offs and when each fits.
• CI/CD basics: pipeline stages (build, test, deploy), automated testing, blue/green and canary patterns at concept level.
• Containers: Docker basics — images, containers, Dockerfile, container lifecycle, why containers vs. VMs for app deployment.
• Security: secret management (don't hard-code credentials), encryption at rest and in transit, OWASP Top 10 awareness, least-privilege API tokens.

Infrastructure as code & automation

• IaC tools (conceptual): Ansible playbooks, Puppet manifests, Chef recipes, Terraform plans — recognize syntax, idempotency, and use cases.
• Network automation use cases: config compliance audits, zero-touch provisioning, day-2 ops automation, change-control workflows.
• Testing & validation: unit tests for automation code, dry runs, idempotency checks before production rollout.

Network fundamentals (CCNA-adjacent)

• OSI / TCP-IP layering, IPv4 and IPv6 addressing basics, subnetting essentials.
• Common protocols: HTTP/HTTPS, DNS, DHCP, NTP, SSH, TLS.
• Device roles: routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, SDN controllers — at a level that lets you write automation against them.

How the practice exams help

Each free question and every premium exam mirrors the concept-and-code style Cisco uses for CCNAAUTO — short scenarios, Python or HTTP snippets, four to five options with one or two correct. Detailed explanations cover not just why the right answer is right but why each distractor fails, so you build durable understanding of APIs and platforms rather than memorizing answer keys.

How to prepare for the 200-901 exam

A successful CCNAAUTO preparation strategy combines Python practice, Cisco platform familiarity, and exam-style scenario drills. Recommended approach:

1. Build a Python baseline (3–4 weeks). If you're a network engineer with little coding background, allocate the first month to Python: data types, control flow, functions, modules, and virtual environments. Work through the free Cisco DevNet Getting Started learning track, plus an introductory Python course of your choice. Be comfortable reading and writing scripts that call REST APIs with the requests library.
2. Hands-on APIs and Git (3–4 weeks). Spin up free Cisco DevNet sandboxes for DNA Center, Meraki, IOS XE, and Webex. Make real API calls. Manage your scripts in Git with a public GitHub repo — practice commit, branch, merge until it's muscle memory. Parse JSON, YAML, and XML responses programmatically.
3. Cisco platforms and IaC (2–3 weeks). Work through DevNet Learning Labs for each platform in the blueprint. You don't need expertise in every platform — you need to recognize which API to reach for, read a sample request/response, and answer scenario questions correctly. Add a short Ansible-against-IOS-XE exercise to round out the Infrastructure and Automation domain.
4. Practice exams (2 weeks). Take timed practice tests to identify weak areas — typically Cisco platforms, OAuth 2.0 nuances, and IaC tool differences. Detailed explanations on every answer option help you learn the trade-offs. Aim for consistent 85%+ scores before scheduling your exam.

Recommended timeline

12–16 weeks of focused study (10–15 hours per week) for network engineers new to coding. Software engineers with strong Python and REST API experience can compress to 6–8 weeks by focusing on Cisco-specific platforms and Network Fundamentals.

Official resources

Download the official 200-901 CCNAAUTO exam topics and work through the free Cisco DevNet Learning Labs end-to-end. The book Cisco CCNA Automation CCNAAUTO 200-901 Official Cert Guide (Cisco Press) is a strong all-in-one reference. Pair it with the DevNet Sandbox for unlimited, free, real-API practice against every Cisco platform on the blueprint.

Frequently asked questions