400-151: CCIE Data Center Written Exam (CCIE Data Center)

Cisco CCIE Data Center certification validates the expert-level skills focused on data center and emerging technologies needed to design, implement, and manage a complex modern 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.

400-151: CCIE Data Center Written Exam (CCIE Data Center)

Cisco 400-151 Exam Overview:

Exam Name	CCIE Data Center Written Exam
Exam Number	400-151 CCIE DC
Exam Number	$450 USD
Duration	120 minutes
Number of Questions	90 - 110 Question
Passing Score	Variable (750-850 / 1000 Approx.)
Recommended Training	CCIE Data Center Learning Matrix v2.0 Written Exam Study Materials
Sample Questions	Cisco 400-151 Sample Questions
Practice Exam	Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Data Center Practice Test

Cisco 400-151 Exam Topics:

Section	Written Exam (%)	Lab Exam (%)	Objectives
Cisco Data Center L2/L3 Connectivity	25%	28%	1. Design, implement, and troubleshoot Layer 2 technologies ◈ Link aggregation ◈ Tagging/trunking ◈ Spanning Tree Protocol 2. Design, implement, and troubleshoot overlays ◈ VXLAN ◈ EVPN ◈ OTV 3. Design, implement, and troubleshoot routing protocols and features ◈ OSPF ◈ IS-IS ◈ BGP ◈ BFD ◈ FHRP 4. Design, implement, and troubleshoot multicast protocols ◈ PIM ◈ IGMP 5. Describe interfabric connectivity ◈ Multipod ◈ Multisite 6. Design, implement, and troubleshoot external fabric connectivity ◈ L2/L3Out ◈ VRF-Lite 7. Design, implement, and troubleshoot traffic management ◈ Queueing ◈ Policing ◈ Classification/marking ◈ RoCE
Cisco Data Center Network Services	15%	17%	1. Design, implement, and troubleshoot network services insertion and redirection ◈ Policy-based routing ◈ Policy-based redirection ◈ VRF stitching ◈ BD/VLAN stitching 2. Design, implement, and troubleshoot services ◈ PTP ◈ NTP ◈ DNS ◈ DHCP 3. Design, implement, and troubleshoot RBAC ◈ RADIUS ◈ TACACS+ ◈ LDAP ◈ AAA 4. Design, implement, and troubleshoot maintenance tasks ◈ Backup and restore ◈ Firmware upgrades and downgrades 5. Design, implement, and troubleshoot monitoring services ◈ Flow export ◈ SPAN ◈ SNMP ◈ Syslog 6. Design, implement, and troubleshoot security features ◈ CoPP ◈ Storm control ◈ ACLs ◈ First-hop security ◈ Contracts ◈ Port security ◈ MACsec ◈ Private VLANs
Data Center Storage Networking and Compute	18%	20%	1. Describe, configure, and troubleshoot infrastructure to support block storage protocols ◈ Fibre Channel ◈ FCoE ◈ iSCSI 2. Design, implement, and troubleshoot data center storage networking features ◈ Zoning ◈ NPV/NPIV 3. Design, implement, and troubleshoot compute policies and profiles ◈ Cisco UCS Manager ◈ Cisco Intersight 4. Design, implement, and troubleshoot data center connectivity ◈ SAN/LAN uplinks ◈ Rack server integration ◈ Fabric ports ◈ Appliance ports
Data Center Automation and Orchestration	10%	10%	1. Implement and troubleshoot data center tasks using provided Python scripts ◈ Create, read, update, delete using RESTful APIs ◈ Deploy and modify configurations ◈ Data collection and statistics 2. Describe and design data center orchestration using tools ◈ Cisco Intersight ◈ Cisco UCS Director ◈ Cisco CloudCenter
Data Center Fabric Infrastructure	22%	25%	1. Configure and troubleshoot physical fabric components ◈ Fabric discovery ◈ Controllers/network managers ◈ Switches 2. Design, implement, and troubleshoot fabric policies ◈ Access policies ◈ Layer 2/Layer 3 multitenancy ◈ Troubleshooting policies ◈ Monitoring policies 3. Design, implement, and troubleshoot tenant policies ◈ Application profiles ◈ Networking ◈ Security 4. Analyze and troubleshoot logical fabric elements ◈ Faults ◈ Events ◈ Health indicators 5. Design, implement, and troubleshoot virtual networking ◈ Cisco AVE ◈ vSphere Distributed Switch ◈ Hyper-V switch
Evolving Technologies v1.1	10%	N/A	1. Cloud - Compare and contrast public, private, hybrid, and multicloud design considerations 1. Infrastructure, platform, and software as a service (XaaS) 2. Performance, scalability, and high availability 3. Security implications, compliance, and policy 4. Workload migration - Describe cloud infrastructure and operations 1. Compute virtualization (containers and virtual machines) 2. Connectivity (virtual switches, SD-WAN and SD-Access) 3. Virtualization functions (NFVi, VNF, and L4/L6) 4. Automation and orchestration tools (CloudCenter, DNA-center, and Kubernetes) 2. Network programmability (SDN) - Describe architectural and operational considerations for a programmable network 1. Data models and structures (YANG, JSON and XML) 2. Device programmability (gRPC, NETCONF and RESTCONF) 3. Controller based network design (policy driven configuration and northbound/ southbound APIs) 4. Configuration management tools (agent and agentless) and version control systems (Git and SVN) 3. Internet of things (IoT) - Describe architectural framework and deployment considerations for IoT 1. IoT technology stack (IoT Network Hierarchy, data acquisition and flow) 2. IoT standards and protocols (characteristics within IT and OT environment) 3. IoT security (network segmentation, device profiling, and secure remote access) 4. IoT edge and fog computing (data aggregation and edge intelligence)