CCNA Exam v1.1 (200-301)

The CCNA 200-301 exam assesses foundational professional skills in designing, deploying, operating, and troubleshooting modern IP networks. Candidates are expected to demonstrate practical understanding of common network components and how they interact in small to medium environments, including routers, Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches, next-generation firewalls, access points and controllers, endpoints and servers, and power-over-Ethernet devices. The assessment emphasizes network topology reasoning across two-tier, three-tier, spine-leaf and WAN architectures as well as hybrid on-premises and cloud scenarios. Candidates must show competence in cabling and physical interfaces, link issues and diagnostics, and wireless fundamentals such as RF, channel planning, and basic encryption principles. Addressing and routing skills are a core focus: candidates should be able to design and verify IPv4 and IPv6 addressing and subnetting schemes, understand address types and prefix behavior, interpret routing tables, and configure static routes and single-area OSPF to support predictable forwarding decisions. Switching and Layer 2 operations are covered through VLAN and interswitch configuration, trunking, spanning tree concepts and loop prevention mechanisms. The exam evaluates IP services knowledge including NAT, DHCP, DNS, NTP, SNMP, syslog, remote device access, file transfer utilities, and QoS concepts needed to manage performance and reliability. Security fundamentals require understanding threat concepts, device access control, authentication and authorization models, ACLs, Layer 2 protections, VPN basics, and wireless security options. Automation and programmability topics cover controller-based architectures, separation of control and data planes, northbound and southbound interfaces, REST API basics, JSON data handling, and recognition of configuration management tools such as Ansible and Terraform. Practical abilities measured include configuration, verification, interpretation of GUIs and CLIs, and troubleshooting workflows rather than deep vendor internals. The exam scope stops short of advanced routing protocols and large-scale carrier designs; it expects working knowledge and the ability to apply core practices for secure, reliable, and maintainable network operations. Cross-cutting themes such as security, operational reliability, performance optimization, and the use of automation to reduce human error are woven throughout the domains to reflect real-world responsibilities and governance-aware practices.