Cisco Implementing and Operating Cisco Data Center Core Technologies (350‑601 DCCOR) Practice Exams
About the Cisco 350-601 DCCOR exam
Exam at a glance
Professional tier. The Core exam for both CCNP Data Center and CCIE Data Center written. 90–110 questions, 120 minutes, scaled passing score, $400 USD. Valid 3 years plus CE-credit recertification.
Dual role: CCNP and CCIE
350-601 DCCOR is uniquely positioned in Cisco's Data Center track. It satisfies two paths simultaneously:
- CCNP Data Center = DCCOR + one Concentration exam (e.g. 300-610 DCID, 300-615 DCIT, 300-620 DCACI, 300-635 DCNAUTO).
- CCIE Data Center written — pass DCCOR, then book the 8-hour lab within 3 years.
Passing 350-601 on its own also earns the standalone Cisco Certified Specialist - Data Center Core badge, so the exam delivers a credential even before you complete a full track.
Domain weighting
- Network — 25%
- Compute — 25%
- Storage Network — 20%
- Automation and Artificial Intelligence — 15%
- Security — 15%
Prerequisites
No formal prerequisites — Cisco removed the CCNA requirement for CCNP-level exams. Cisco recommends three to five years of hands-on data center experience. Most successful candidates hold a current CCNA (200-301), have spent two-plus years working with Nexus, UCS, and storage fabrics in production, and are comfortable with virtualization and FC/IP storage concepts.
Why take this certification
- Single test, two career tracks. DCCOR satisfies both the CCNP Data Center Core and the CCIE Data Center written — the most leveraged exam in Cisco's Data Center portfolio.
- Senior data-center credential. CCNP Data Center is the recognised benchmark for engineers running enterprise Nexus / ACI fabrics and UCS compute at scale.
- Gateway to CCIE Data Center. Passing 350-601 starts the 3-year clock for the CCIE Data Center lab — Cisco's highest-tier data-center expert credential.
- CE-credit value. DCCOR is worth 40 Continuing Education credits, which can keep your other Cisco professional certifications current without sitting another full exam.
What you'll learn in the 350-601 DCCOR exam
DCCOR is deliberately broad — Cisco wants senior engineers who can speak fluently across the four pillars of a modern data center: network fabric, compute, storage, and automation, with security threaded through all of them. Most questions are scenario-driven, often presenting partial configs, show-command output, fabric diagrams, or UCS service-profile snippets.
Network (largest tied-domain)
- Cisco Nexus platforms — Nexus 9000 (NX-OS standalone and ACI mode), legacy Nexus 7000 chassis awareness, Nexus 3000 / Nexus 9300 for ToR / leaf roles.
- VXLAN / EVPN architecture — VTEPs, BGP EVPN control plane, anycast gateway, EVPN route types (Type 2 MAC/IP, Type 3 IMET, Type 5 prefix), route advertisement, multi-pod and multi-site fabrics.
- FabricPath legacy awareness — what it is, when you'd still see it, and how migrations to VXLAN/EVPN are handled.
- Cisco ACI fundamentals — APIC role, tenant policy model, application profiles, EPGs (Endpoint Groups), contracts and filters, VRFs, bridge domains.
- ACI L4-L7 service insertion — service graphs, function nodes, redirect-based service insertion (PBR).
- ACI Multi-Pod and Multi-Site — IPN role, MSO/NDO orchestration, stretched vs site-local objects.
Compute
- UCS architecture — Fabric Interconnects (6400 / 6500 series), B-Series blade chassis, C-Series rack servers, the X-Series modular platform.
- UCS Manager on-prem for traditional UCS domains, and Cisco Intersight for SaaS-managed, hybrid, and edge deployments.
- Service profiles and templates — abstraction of server identity (UUID, MAC, WWN, BIOS, boot order) from physical hardware so any blade can take on any role.
- Stateless compute concepts, server pool policies, and rapid bare-metal re-provisioning.
- Hypervisor integration concepts and VIC adapter mappings (vNIC / vHBA).
Storage networking
- Fibre Channel (FC) — fabric login (FLOGI), name server, zoning (soft vs hard, smart zoning), VSANs.
- FCoE — Data Center Bridging (PFC, ETS, DCBX), unified ports on Nexus / FI.
- iSCSI — initiators, targets, CHAP, multipath I/O at concept level.
- NVMe-oF — NVMe over Fabrics (FC-NVMe, NVMe/TCP, NVMe/RoCE) and where it replaces SCSI on the wire.
- Cisco MDS switches — 9000-series director / fabric switches, port channels, ISLs, IVR (Inter-VSAN Routing).
Automation
- Python SDK for ACI — Cobra / acitoolkit, REST against APIC for tenant and policy automation.
- Intersight REST API — querying inventory, driving server provisioning, integrating with CI/CD.
- Ansible for data center — official Cisco collections for ACI, NX-OS, UCS, and Intersight; idempotent fabric and server config.
- Terraform Cisco modules — declarative ACI / Intersight infrastructure-as-code.
- OpenConfig and YANG on Nexus — NETCONF / RESTCONF / gNMI for model-driven telemetry and configuration.
Security
- Cisco TrustSec — Security Group Tags (SGTs), SGACLs, propagation across the DC fabric.
- MACsec (802.1AE) for hop-by-hop wire encryption between Nexus / UCS uplinks.
- Control Plane Policing (CoPP) on NX-OS — protecting the route processor from control-plane DoS.
- ACLs on Nexus — standard, extended, port ACLs (PACLs), VLAN ACLs (VACLs), role-based CLI.
- Secure boot and image integrity — boot integrity verification, signed images, anti-counterfeit measures.
How the practice exams help
Each free question and every premium exam mirrors the scenario-driven format Cisco uses — partial configs, fabric topology context, UCS service-profile snippets, and multi-step reasoning. Detailed explanations cover not just why the right answer is right but why the distractors are wrong, so you learn the trade-offs (VXLAN/EVPN vs FabricPath, UCS Manager vs Intersight, FC vs FCoE vs NVMe-oF) rather than memorising answers.
How to prepare for the 350-601 DCCOR exam
DCCOR is a wide exam, so successful preparation balances book study with deliberate hands-on lab time across Nexus, UCS, and storage. Recommended approach for a data-center engineer with two-plus years of production Cisco experience:
- Study the five domains (8–12 weeks). Work through the official Cisco 350-601 exam topics domain by domain. The Cisco Press CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core DCCOR 350-601 Official Cert Guide is the canonical text. Network and Compute together carry half the exam — give them weighted study time.
- Hands-on labs (4–8 weeks, in parallel). Run Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) for Nexus practice — build a VXLAN/EVPN fabric with leaf-spine spines, a small ACI lab via the Cisco DevNet APIC simulator, and use the UCS Platform Emulator (UCSPE) or DevNet sandbox for UCS Manager / Intersight without buying hardware.
- Automation week (1–2 weeks). If you have never written Python or used Ansible / Terraform for infrastructure, dedicate a focused week. Cisco DevNet's free learning labs walk through ACI Python SDK, Intersight REST API, Ansible Cisco collections, and Terraform Cisco modules with working examples — exactly the surface area DCCOR tests.
- Practice exams (2–3 weeks). Take timed full-length tests and review every wrong answer with the explanation. Aim for consistent 85%+ before scheduling — the scaled passing score is unpublished, so over-shoot the bar.
Recommended timeline
16–24 weeks of focused study (10–15 hours per week) for data-center engineers with two-plus years hands-on Nexus / UCS experience. Add 4–6 weeks for engineers without recent ACI, NVMe-oF, or automation exposure.
Official resources
Start with the official Cisco 350-601 DCCOR exam topics page on the Cisco Learning Network. Pair the Cisco Press CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core DCCOR 350-601 Official Cert Guide with Cisco Modeling Labs for Nexus / NX-OS practice and Cisco DevNet sandboxes for ACI APIC, UCS Manager, and Intersight labs without owning hardware.
Frequently asked questions
Are these actual exam questions?
No. All Nex Arc Cisco 350-601 DCCOR practice questions are original content based on the provider's published exam blueprint, official documentation, and real-world scenarios across every topic the exam covers. We do not offer brain dumps, leaked questions, or actual exam content. Using or distributing real exam questions violates certification provider agreements and can result in certification revocation.
How many questions are in the Cisco 350-601 DCCOR exam?
Cisco does not publish an exact question count for the 350-601 DCCOR exam, but candidates typically report 90 to 110 questions delivered in 120 minutes. Item types include multiple choice, multiple response, drag-and-drop, and simlets / testlets. Once you move past a question Cisco does not let you go back, so commit to each answer before clicking next.
What's the 350-601 DCCOR passing score?
Cisco does not publish a fixed passing score for 350-601. Scoring is scaled and the cut score is set by Cisco using statistical analysis of item difficulty. Aim for consistent 85%+ on full-length practice tests with detailed explanations — that gives a comfortable safety margin against the unknown scaled cut.
How do I access the full 350-601 DCCOR practice exam?
Click the Buy Now button in the sidebar to purchase the complete Cisco 350-601 DCCOR course. After payment you get instant access to 10 practice exams with detailed explanations on every option, and lifetime access to updates.
What are the prerequisites for the 350-601 DCCOR exam?
There are no formal prerequisites — Cisco removed the CCNA requirement for CCNP-level exams several years ago. That said, Cisco recommends three to five years of hands-on experience implementing data center solutions before attempting DCCOR. Most successful candidates hold a current CCNA (200-301), have worked with Nexus switches, UCS compute, and storage fabrics in production, and understand virtualization and storage networking at an operator level.
How long is the 350-601 DCCOR certification valid?
Passing 350-601 grants the Cisco Certified Specialist - Data Center Core badge plus the Core component toward CCNP Data Center / CCIE Data Center — all valid for three years. You can recertify by retaking 350-601, passing a higher-level Cisco exam, or earning Continuing Education (CE) credits through Cisco's CE program. DCCOR is worth 40 CE credits when used to recertify other Cisco professional-level certifications.
What's the exam cost and can I retake it if I fail?
The 350-601 DCCOR exam costs $400 USD (plus local taxes), delivered through Pearson VUE at testing centres or via online proctoring. If you fail, Cisco enforces a five-day waiting period before your next attempt, and after four failed attempts you must wait six months. Each retake is full price — Cisco does not offer fail-and-retake discount vouchers. Practice thoroughly before your first attempt.
What does DCCOR cover and what topics are most heavily tested?
DCCOR is the broad Data Center Core exam covering five domains: Network (~25%), Compute (~25%), Storage Network (~20%), Automation (~15%), and Security (~15%). Network and Compute together are half the exam — expect heavy emphasis on Nexus 9K platforms, VXLAN / EVPN fabric design (VTEPs, anycast gateway, EVPN route types, multi-pod, multi-site), ACI APIC fundamentals (tenant policy model, EPGs, contracts), and UCS architecture (Fabric Interconnects, B-Series / C-Series / X-Series, UCS Manager, Intersight, service profiles). Storage covers FC, FCoE, iSCSI, NVMe-oF and Cisco MDS; Automation tests Python / Ansible / Terraform against ACI APIC, Intersight, and NX-OS.
Does 350-601 DCCOR give me CCNP Data Center on its own?
No — CCNP Data Center requires passing two exams: the 350-601 DCCOR Core plus one Concentration exam of your choice (e.g. 300-610 DCID for design, 300-615 DCIT for troubleshooting, 300-620 DCACI for ACI implementation, or 300-635 DCNAUTO for automation). Passing just 350-601 still earns you the standalone Cisco Certified Specialist - Data Center Core badge, so the exam delivers value even if you delay the Concentration.
How does 350-601 DCCOR relate to the CCIE Data Center certification?
350-601 DCCOR is also the qualifying written exam for CCIE Data Center. After passing 350-601 you have three years to schedule and pass the 8-hour CCIE Data Center lab exam. The lab books up months in advance and costs $1,600 USD per attempt, so most candidates use the CCNP Data Center path (DCCOR + Concentration) as a credentialed checkpoint while preparing for the lab.