CCIE Data Center (Unified Exam Topics)
Exam Description
The Cisco CCIE Data Center Written Exam (400-151) certifies expert-level skills to plan, design, implement, operate, and troubleshoot complex Data Center infrastructure. It accesses the ability to understand the requirements of Data Centers, how different components in the Data Center interoperate, and ability to translate it into the device configurations.
The Cisco CCIE Data Center Lab Exam is an eight-hour, hands-on exam which requires a candidate to configure, diagnose, and troubleshoot a series of complex Data Center scenarios for a given specification. Knowledge of troubleshooting is an important skill and candidates are expected to diagnose and solve issues as part of the CCIE lab exam.
An Evolving Technologies section is included in the Written exam only. It will enable candidates to bridge their core technology expertise with knowledge of the evolving technologies that are being adopted at an accelerated pace, such as cloud, IoT, and network programmability.
It has been recalibrated and will consist of three subdomains and a total of five tasks for which the expected depth of knowledge will be focused on conceptual comprehension. The Evolving Technologies section will account for 10 percent of the total score while the remaining core technologies will account for 90 percent.
The following topics are general guidelines for the content likely to be included on the exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any specific delivery of the exam. In order to better reflect the contents of the exam and for clarity purposes, the guidelines below may change at any time without notice.
CCIE Data Center Unified Exam Topics v2.0
Recommended for candidates scheduled to take the exam before August 30, 2018.
Download Complete List of Topics in PDF format |
Domain | Written Exam (%) | Lab Exam (%) | |
1.0 Cisco Data Center L2/L3 Technologies | 24% | 27% | |
1.1 Design Implement and Troubleshoot Complex Layer 2 Technologies - 1.1.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Highly Available and redundant topologies for example vPC, fabricpath, STP
- 1.1.b Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Layer 2 overlays for example VXLAN, OTV, EVPN
- 1.1.c Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Network management protocols for example PTP, NTP, DNS, DHCP
- 1.1.d Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Traffic management for example queuing, policing, shaping
- 1.1.e Design, Implement and Troubleshoot layer 2 security features for example port security, MACsec, ACL, private vlans
1.2 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Complex Layer 3 Technologies - 1.2.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Routing Protocols and features for example OSPF, ISIS, MBGP, IBGP, PBR, BFD
- 1.2.b Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Layer 3 Overlay Protocols for example OTV, LISP
- 1.2.c Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Multicast protocols for example PIM, IGMP, RP, BSR
- 1.2.d Design, Implement and Troubleshoot layer 3 security features for example CoPP, ACL's, DAI, ip source guard
- 1.2.e Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Monitoring services for example Netflow
1.3 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot External Fabric Connectivity - 1.3.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot policy driven External Fabric Connectivity for example L2/L3 connectivity
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2.0 Cisco Data Center Network Services | 12% | 13% | |
2.1 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Service Insertion and Redirection - 2.1.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Service Insertion and Redirection for example LB, vPATH, ITD, RISE
2.2 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot network services - 2.2.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot network services for example policy drivenL4-L7 services
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3.0 Data Center Storage Networking and Compute | 23% | 26% | |
3.1 Configure and Troubleshoot Data Center Storage Protocols - 3.1.a Describe, Configure and Troubleshoot infrastructure to support Block Storage Protocols for example FC, FCoE, iSCSI, DCB
- 3.1.b Configure and Troubleshoot infrastructure to support File Storage Protocols for example NFS, CIFS
3.2 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Storage Networking Features - 3.2.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Storage Networking Features for example zoning, multihop technologies
3.3 Implement and Troubleshoot Compute resources - 3.3.a Implement and Troubleshoot Compute policies and pools for example SAN/LAN policies, boot policies, profiles
- 3.3.b Analyze and Troubleshoot Compute resources using tools such as UCS Central, UCSM
3.4 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Compute Connectivity - 3.4.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Compute Connectivity for example SAN/LAN uplinks, rack server integration, fabric ports, appliance ports
3.5 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Virtual and Physical End Point Connectivity - 3.5.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Virtual and Physical End Point Connectivity
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4.0 Data Center Automation and Orchestration | 13% | 14% | |
4.1 Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Automation - 4.1.a Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Automation using methods such as REST API implemented by scripting languages including Python
4.2 Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Orchestration Tools - 4.2.a Implement and Troubleshoot Data Center Orchestration using Tools such as UCSD, UCS Central, CPO
4.3 Integrate Cisco Cloud offerings into existing Data Center infrastructure - 4.3.a Describe and Integrate Cisco Cloud technologies into existing Data Center infrastructure using solutions such as Cisco ONE Enterprise cloud Suite
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5.0 Data Center Fabric Infrastructure | 18% | 14% | |
5.1 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot policy and non-policy driven Internal Fabric Connectivity - 5.1.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot policy and non-policy driven Internal Fabric connectivity for example ECMP, ISIS, inband mgmt, VXLAN
5.2 Design, Implement and Troubleshoot Infrastructure policies and elements - 5.2.a Design, Implement and Troubleshoot policy driven Infrastructure for example interface policies, MGMT policies
- 5.2.b Configure and Troubleshoot physical infrastructure components for example controllers, switches
- 5.2.c Analyze and Troubleshoot logical infrastructure elements using health indicators
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6.0 Evolving Technologies v1.0 | 10% | N/A | |
6.1 Cloud - 6.1.a Compare and contrast Cloud deployment models
- 6.1.a [i] Infrastructure, platform, and software services (XaaS)
- 6.1.a [ii] Performance and reliability
- 6.1.a [iii] Security and privacy
- 6.1.a [iv] Scalability and interoperability
- 6.1.b Describe Cloud implementations and operations
- 6.1.b [i] Automation and orchestration
- 6.1.b [ii] Workload mobility
- 6.1.b [iii] Troubleshooting and management
- 6.1.b [iv] OpenStack components
6.2 Network Programmability (SDN) - 6.2.a Describe functional elements of network programmability (SDN) and how they interact
- 6.2.a [i] Controllers
- 6.2.a [ii] APIs
- 6.2.a [iii] Scripting
- 6.2.a [iv] Agents
- 6.2.a [v] Northbound vs. Southbound protocols
- 6.2.b Describe aspects of virtualization and automation in network environments
- 6.2.b [i] DevOps methodologies, tools and workflows
- 6.2.b [ii] Network/application function virtualization (NFV, AFV)
- 6.2.b [iii] Service function chaining
- 6.2.b [iv] Performance, availability, and scaling considerations
6.3 Internet of Things (IoT) - 6.3.a Describe architectural framework and deployment considerations for Internet of Things
- 6.3.a [i] Performance, reliability and scalability
- 6.3.a [ii] Mobility
- 6.3.a [iii] Security and privacy
- 6.3.a [iv] Standards and compliance
- 6.3.a [v] Migration
- 6.3.a [vi] Environmental impacts on the network
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CCIE Data Center Unified Exam Topics v2.1
Recommended for candidates scheduled to take the exam ON August 30, 2018 and beyond.
Download Complete List of Topics in PDF format |
Domain | Written Exam (%) | Lab Exam (%) | |
1.0 Cisco Data Center L2/L3 Connectivity | 25% | 28% | |
1.1 Design, implement, and troubleshoot Layer 2 technologies - 1.1.a Link aggregation
- 1.1.b Tagging/trunking
- 1.1.c Spanning Tree Protocol
1.2 Design, implement, and troubleshoot overlays - 1.2.a VXLAN
- 1.2.b EVPN
- 1.2.c OTV
1.3 Design, implement, and troubleshoot routing protocols and features - 1.3.a OSPF
- 1.3.b IS-IS
- 1.3.c BGP
- 1.3.d BFD
- 1.3.e FHRP
1.4 Design, implement, and troubleshoot multicast protocols 1.5 Describe interfabric connectivity - 1.5.a Multipod
- 1.5.b Multisite
1.6 Design, implement, and troubleshoot external fabric connectivity - 1.6.a L2/L3Out
- 1.6.b VRF-Lite
1.7 Design, implement, and troubleshoot traffic management - 1.7.a Queueing
- 1.7.b Policing
- 1.7.c Classification/marking
- 1.7.d RoCE
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2.0 Cisco Data Center Network Services | 15% | 17% | |
2.1 Design, implement, and troubleshoot network services insertion and redirection - 2.1.a Policy-based routing
- 2.1.b Policy-based redirection
- 2.1.c VRF stitching
- 2.1.d BD/VLAN stitching
2.2 Design, implement, and troubleshoot services - 2.2.a PTP
- 2.2.b NTP
- 2.2.c DNS
- 2.2.d DHCP
2.3 Design, implement, and troubleshoot RBAC - 2.3.a RADIUS
- 2.3.b TACACS+
- 2.3.c LDAP
- 2.3.d AAA
2.4 Design, implement, and troubleshoot maintenance tasks - 2.4.a Backup and restore
- 2.4.b Firmware upgrades and downgrades
2.5 Design, implement, and troubleshoot monitoring services - 2.5.a Flow export
- 2.5.b SPAN
- 2.5.c SNMP
- 2.5.d Syslog
2.6 Design, implement, and troubleshoot security features - 2.6.a CoPP
- 2.6.b Storm control
- 2.6.c ACLs
- 2.6.d First-hop security
- 2.6.e Contracts
- 2.6.f Port security
- 2.6.g MACsec
- 2.6.h Private VLANs
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3.0 Data Center Storage Networking and Compute | 18% | 20% | |
3.1 Describe, configure, and troubleshoot infrastructure to support block storage protocols - 3.1.a Fibre Channel
- 3.1.b FCoE
- 3.1.c iSCSI
3.2 Design, implement, and troubleshoot data center storage networking features - 3.2.a Zoning
- 3.2.b NPV/NPIV
3.3 Design, implement, and troubleshoot compute policies and profiles - 3.3.a Cisco UCS Manager
- 3.3.b Cisco Intersight
3.4 Design, implement, and troubleshoot data center connectivity - 3.4.a SAN/LAN uplinks
- 3.4.b Rack server integration
- 3.4.c Fabric ports
- 3.4.d Appliance ports
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4.0 Data Center Automation and Orchestration | 10% | 10% | |
4.1 Implement and troubleshoot data center tasks using provided Python scripts - 4.1.a Create, read, update, delete using RESTful APIs
- 4.1.b Deploy and modify configurations
- 4.1.c Data collection and statistics
4.2 Describe and design data center orchestration using tools - 4.2.a Cisco Intersight
- 4.2.b Cisco UCS Director
- 4.2.c Cisco CloudCenter
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5.0 Data Center Fabric Infrastructure | 22% | 25% | |
5.1 Configure and troubleshoot physical fabric components - 5.1.a Fabric discovery
- 5.1.b Controllers/network managers
- 5.1.c Switches
5.2 Design, implement, and troubleshoot fabric policies - 5.2.a Access policies
- 5.2.b Layer 2/Layer 3 multitenancy
- 5.2.c Troubleshooting policies
- 5.2.d Monitoring policies
5.3 Design, implement, and troubleshoot tenant policies - 5.3.a Application profiles
- 5.3.b Networking
- 5.3.c Security
5.4 Analyze and troubleshoot logical fabric elements - 5.4.a Faults
- 5.4.b Events
- 5.4.c Health indicators
5.5 Design, implement, and troubleshoot virtual networking - 5.5.a Cisco AVE
- 5.5.b vSphere Distributed Switch
- 5.5.c Hyper-V switch
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6.0 Evolving Technologies v1.1 | 10% | N/A | |
6.1. Cloud - 6.1.a Compare and contrast public, private, hybrid, and multicloud design considerations
- 6.1.a (i) Infrastructure, platform, and software as a service (XaaS)
- 6.1.a (ii) Performance, scalability, and high availability
- 6.1.a (iii) Security implications, compliance, and policy
- 6.1.a (iv) Workload migration
- 6.1.b Describe cloud infrastructure and operations
- 6.1.b (i) Compute virtualization (containers and virtual machines)
- 6.1.b (ii) Connectivity (virtual switches, SD-WAN and SD-Access)
- 6.1.b (iii) Virtualization functions (NFVi, VNF, and L4/L6)
- 6.1.b (iv) Automation and orchestration tools (CloudCenter, DNA-center, and Kubernetes)
6.2 Network programmability (SDN) - 6.2.a Describe architectural and operational considerations for a programmable network
- 6.2.a (i) Data models and structures (YANG, JSON and XML)
- 6.2.a (ii) Device programmability (gRPC, NETCONF and RESTCONF)
- 6.2.a (iii) Controller based network design (policy driven configuration and northbound/ southbound APIs)
- 6.2.a (iv) Configuration management tools (agent and agentless) and version control systems (Git and SVN)
6.3 Internet of things (IoT) - 6.3.a Describe architectural framework and deployment considerations for IoT
- 6.3.a (i) IoT technology stack (IoT Network Hierarchy, data acquisition and flow)
- 6.3.a (ii) IoT standards and protocols (characteristics within IT and OT environment)
- 6.3.a (iii) IoT security (network segmentation, device profiling, and secure remote access)
- 6.3.a (iv) IoT edge and fog computing (data aggregation and edge intelligence)
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