Cisco CCNA 200-301 Automation and Programmability Practice Questions

Free CCNA 200-301 Automation and Programmability practice test questions

8 questions from this domain with answers and explanations - different from the samples on the main Cisco CCNA 200-301 page. Sign up free to practice the full set.

1. Question 1Automation and Programmability

   Which data format uses key-value pairs enclosed in curly braces and is commonly used in REST API responses?

   • AYAML
   • BXML
   • CCSV
   • DJSONCorrect
   ✓ Correct answer: D

   JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) uses key-value pairs enclosed in curly braces '{}' for objects and square brackets '[]' for arrays. It is lightweight, human-readable, and natively supported by most programming languages and REST APIs. REST APIs commonly return JSON-formatted responses because it is easy to parse programmatically and is the de facto standard for modern web services and network automation platforms like Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center).

   Why the other options are wrong

   • AYAML uses indentation-based hierarchy with colons and hyphens rather than curly braces - while YAML is human-friendly and used in tools like Ansible, it is not the format most commonly associated with REST API responses.
   • BXML uses angle-bracket tags to define hierarchical data structures - it is verbose and less commonly used in modern REST APIs compared to JSON, though it remains in use with SOAP-based services.
   • CCSV (Comma-Separated Values) stores tabular data as plain text with commas as delimiters - it has no support for nested structures or key-value pairs and is not used in REST API responses.
2. Question 2Automation and Programmability

   Which Cisco platform provides a sandbox environment for developers to test and interact with network APIs?

   • ACisco Meraki
   • BCisco Umbrella
   • CCisco DevNetCorrect
   • DCisco ISE
   ✓ Correct answer: C

   Cisco DevNet is Cisco's developer program and platform that offers free sandbox environments, learning labs, code samples, and documentation so developers and network engineers can experiment with Cisco APIs - including Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center), Meraki, IOS XE, and others - without needing physical hardware. DevNet sandboxes can be reserved on demand or used as always-on environments.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • ACisco Meraki is a cloud-managed networking product line (switches, APs, firewalls) - it has its own API but is not the sandbox platform designed for broad API testing and developer learning.
   • BCisco Umbrella is a cloud-based DNS security and SASE platform - it does not serve as a developer sandbox for network API experimentation.
   • DCisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is a network access control and policy platform - it is not the environment Cisco provides for API sandboxing and developer learning.
3. Question 3Automation and Programmability

   Which component of the Cisco intent-based networking architecture is responsible for translating business intent into network policies and deploying them across the infrastructure?

   • ANetwork controller (Cisco Catalyst Center)Correct
   • BSNMP manager
   • CAccess points
   • DIndividual router CLI sessions
   ✓ Correct answer: A

   In Cisco's intent-based networking architecture, the Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center) controller serves as the brain: it accepts high-level business intent (such as segmentation policies or QoS requirements), translates that intent into specific device configurations and policies, and then automatically deploys those policies across all devices in the network fabric via its southbound APIs. This eliminates the need for engineers to manually configure each device to achieve a business outcome.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • BAn SNMP manager monitors network devices by polling MIBs and receiving traps - it can make limited configuration changes but cannot translate high-level business intent into comprehensive network policies.
   • CAccess points are wireless infrastructure devices that provide Wi-Fi connectivity - they are endpoints that receive policies, not the component that generates or deploys them.
   • DConfiguring routers one CLI session at a time is the model intent-based networking replaces.
4. Question 4Automation and Programmability

   A network architect at Velox Digital is comparing RESTCONF to NETCONF. Which transport protocol and data encoding does RESTCONF use?

   • AHTTPS with JSON or XMLCorrect
   • BTLS with Protobuf
   • CHTTP with YAML
   • DSSH with XML only
   ✓ Correct answer: A

   RESTCONF (RFC 8040) is a REST-style protocol for accessing YANG-defined network data. It runs exclusively over HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) to ensure transport security, and it supports both JSON and XML as data encoding formats. This makes RESTCONF more accessible to web developers and modern tooling compared to NETCONF, which uses SSH and XML only.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • BTLS with Protobuf describes the transport used by gRPC-based model-driven telemetry, not RESTCONF - RESTCONF uses HTTP methods over HTTPS, not raw TLS with Protocol Buffers.
   • CHTTP with YAML is not correct - RESTCONF requires HTTPS (not plain HTTP) for security, and YAML is not a supported encoding for RESTCONF; only JSON and XML are defined in RFC 8040.
   • DSSH with XML only describes NETCONF, not RESTCONF - RESTCONF uses HTTPS as its transport, not SSH, and supports both JSON and XML encodings.
5. Question 5Automation and Programmability

   Which automation tool uses a declarative, agentless approach with YAML playbooks to configure network devices?

   • AChef
   • BSaltStack
   • CAnsibleCorrect
   • DPuppet
   ✓ Correct answer: C

   Ansible is a configuration management and automation tool that operates agentlessly, meaning it does not require any software to be installed on managed nodes - it uses SSH (or WinRM for Windows) to push configuration. Automation tasks are defined in YAML-formatted playbooks that describe the desired state declaratively. Ansible is widely used for network device automation across Cisco IOS, NX-OS, and other platforms.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • AChef uses a Ruby-based DSL and requires a chef-client agent on managed nodes, making it an agent-based tool that does not use YAML playbooks.
   • BSaltStack can operate in both agent-based (Salt Minion) and agentless modes, and primarily uses YAML state files but is not universally described as agentless - Ansible is the canonical agentless YAML playbook tool.
   • DPuppet uses its own declarative DSL with .pp manifest files and requires an agent on managed nodes, so it does not match the agentless YAML playbook description.
6. Question 6Automation and Programmability

   Which Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center) feature provides intent-based networking by translating business intent into network configuration?

   • ACisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
   • BCatalyst Center Assurance
   • CCatalyst Center Automation (Design and Policy)Correct
   • DCisco Secure Network Analytics
   ✓ Correct answer: C

   Cisco Catalyst Center's Automation features - specifically the Design and Policy workflows - are what enable intent-based networking by allowing engineers to define high-level business policies (such as segmentation, QoS, and access policies) that the system automatically translates into device-level configurations across the network. This is the core value proposition of intent-based networking: abstracting away CLI complexity so that business intent drives network behavior.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • ACisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) handles identity and access policy, not intent translation.
   • BCatalyst Center Assurance reports on how the network is behaving; it does not author configuration.
   • DCisco Secure Network Analytics (formerly Cisco Secure Network Analytics) does flow-based threat detection.
7. Question 7Automation and Programmability

   A developer needs to retrieve a list of devices from Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center) without changing any configuration. Which HTTP method should the REST API call use?

   • APOST
   • BPUT
   • CGETCorrect
   • DDELETE
   ✓ Correct answer: C

   GET is a safe, idempotent HTTP method used to read or retrieve a representation of a resource. Because it does not alter data on the server, it is the appropriate choice for listing devices from the Catalyst Center inventory.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • APOST creates a new resource and changes server state, which is not needed for a read.
   • BPUT replaces or updates an existing resource rather than simply retrieving data.
   • DDELETE removes a resource and is clearly not used for reading a list.
8. Question 8Automation and ProgrammabilitySelect all that apply

   Which two HTTP methods are considered idempotent, meaning repeating the same request produces the same resulting state on the server? (Choose two.)

   • AGETCorrect
   • BPOST
   • CDELETECorrect
   • DPATCH
   ✓ Correct answer: A, C

   A GET request only retrieves a resource and never changes state, so repeating it is always safe. A DELETE is idempotent because once a resource is removed, additional identical DELETE requests leave the resource absent, producing the same end state.

   Why the other options are wrong

   • BPOST is generally non-idempotent because repeating it can create multiple resources.
   • DPATCH applies partial modifications and is not guaranteed to be idempotent for repeated requests.

How Automation and Programmability is tested

This domain holds 70 of the 705 questions in the CCNA 200-301 bank, about 10%. The mix is 59 single-answer multiple choice and 11 multiple-response, so it is worth practising the formats as well as the content.

Once you have a few attempts recorded, CertGrid scores every domain separately and points you at the weakest one, so you can drill Automation and Programmability on its own rather than re-running full-length mocks.

Other CCNA 200-301 exam domains

• Network Fundamentals148 questions
• Network Access137 questions
• IP Connectivity175 questions
• IP Services70 questions
• Security Fundamentals105 questions
• All CCNA 200-301 practice questions705 total
• Automation and Programmability study notesKey concepts
• Cisco practice examsAll Cisco

CCNA 200-301 Automation and Programmability FAQ