Automation and Programmability

10% of the CCNA · blueprint 200-301 v1.1 (effective 2024-08-20)

Short answer

Domain 6.0 is 10% of the CCNA 200-301 v1.1. It covers how automation affects network management, controller-based versus traditional networking, software-defined architectures (overlay, underlay, fabric; separation of control and data planes; northbound and southbound APIs), Cisco DNA Center versus traditional campus management, REST API characteristics (CRUD, HTTP verbs, encoding), Ansible and Terraform, JSON, and — new in v1.1 — generative and predictive AI concepts.

Why it matters on this exam

Definitional questions with a few JSON-reading items. Quick wins if you know the vocabulary.

Key concepts (objectives 6.1–6.7)

Planes: data (forwarding), control (routing decisions), management (SSH/SNMP). SDN centralises the control plane in a controller.
APIs: northbound (apps → controller, usually REST/JSON), southbound (controller → devices: NETCONF/YANG, RESTCONF, OpenFlow, CLI/SNMP).
Fabric terms: underlay (physical IP routed network), overlay (VXLAN tunnels), fabric (the combination).
REST: stateless, HTTP verbs (GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE), status codes, JSON/XML, authentication via tokens/keys.
Tools: Ansible (agentless, YAML playbooks, push), Terraform (declarative, HCL, infrastructure state), Puppet/Chef mentioned historically.
JSON: objects {} with key/value pairs, arrays [], strings in double quotes, numbers/booleans unquoted.
AI (v1.1): generative AI produces content/configuration suggestions; predictive AI forecasts from telemetry (capacity, failures).

Common mistakes

Mislabelling REST as the southbound interface.
Reading a JSON array as an object.

Worked example

{"interfaces":[{"name":"Gi0/1","up":true},{"name":"Gi0/2","up":false}]} — one object with one key whose value is an array of two objects; interfaces[1].up is false.

Original practice questions

Automation and ProgrammabilityDifficulty 2/5

In a controller-based network, which interface do applications use to request services from the controller?

AData plane
BConsole
CSouthbound API
DNorthbound API

Show answer and rationale

Correct: D. Northbound APIs (typically REST with JSON) expose the controller to applications and scripts; southbound APIs (NETCONF, RESTCONF, OpenFlow, CLI) let the controller program devices.

C — Southbound faces the devices.
A — The data plane forwards packets; it is not an API.
B — The console is a management access method.

Automation and ProgrammabilityDifficulty 2/5

Given {"vlans":[{"id":10,"name":"Sales"},{"id":20,"name":"Eng"}]}, what is the value of vlans[1].name?

AEng
B20
CThe expression is invalid because vlans is an object
DSales

Show answer and rationale

Correct: A. 'vlans' is an array (square brackets) of two objects. Arrays are zero-indexed, so vlans[1] is the second object and its 'name' is "Eng".

D — That is vlans[0].name.
B — 20 is vlans[1].id.
C — Square brackets denote an array, so indexing is valid.

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Related areas: Network Fundamentals · Network Access · IP Connectivity · IP Services

Primary references

CCNA Exam v1.1 (200-301) Exam Topics — Cisco Systems · primary · retrieved 2026-09-21, verified 2026-09-21

Last reviewed: 2026-09-21Next review by: 2026-11-20Draft — pending editorial reviewHow we verify facts