This year at Cisco Live 2019 in San Diego, Cisco announced a major revamp to their entire certification program, from Associate Level all the way up to Expert Level. It’s not atypical for Cisco to announce changes to an individual certification track’s blueprint at Cisco Live, but to announce this level of change to the entire program is unprecedented. So, what do you, as the reader, need to know about these changes? First, DON’T PANIC! Whichever certification path you’re currently working on has a migration path into the new program.First, at the CCNA level, all the following certifications are being retired:

• CCNA Routing and Switching

• CCNA Security

• CCNA Service Provider

• CCNA Data Center

• CCNA Wireless

• CCNA Collaboration

• CCNA Industrial

• CCNA Cyber Ops

• CCDA

The replacement for all of these previous CCNA tracks is simply the core CCNA exam, number 200-301. Instead of having a wide range of CCNA tracks, the single CCNA now includes security, automation, and programmability. This one certification now covers a broad range of fundamentals for IT careers. Furthermore, there are no prerequisites for taking the CCNA 200-301 exam. This new exam begins testing on February 24 2020, which means that if you are working on one of the above certifications, you need to test before that date.

For CCNP, likewise there are lots of changes. The first of which is that CCNA is no longer a prerequisite for CCNP. Furthermore, each CCNP track now only requires two exams, the core exam, and a concentration exam which you can pick. What’s interesting as well, is that the core qualifying exam is the same exam for the CCIE Written. This means that you could take the core exam, and schedule and take the CCIE Lab Exam for that particular track. One exception to this is that the CCIE Enterprise (formerly Routing & Switching) written exam qualifies you for either CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure Lab (formerly R&S Lab Exam) or CCIE Enterprise Wireless (formerly CCIE Wireless). Beyond this, the CCNP tracks are as follows:

• CCNP Enterprise
• CCNP Data Center
• CCNP Security
• CCNP Service Provider
• CCNP Collaboration
• Cisco Certified DevNet Professional

The first of which, CCNP Enterprise, has the following “Core” exam and the following “Concentration” exams. Remember that you only need to pass the Core plus one Concentration, not all of them.

CCNP Enterprise includes the following exams:

Core exam:

• 300-401 ENCOR Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR)

Concentration exams (choose one):

• 300-410 ENARSI Implementing Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services (ENARSI)
• 300-415 ENSDWI Implementing Cisco SD-WAN Solutions (ENSDWI)
• 300-420 ENSLD Designing Cisco Enterprise Networks (ENSLD)
• 300-425 ENWLSD Designing Cisco Enterprise Wireless Networks (ENWLSD)
• 300-430 ENWLSI Implementing Cisco Enterprise Wireless Networks (ENWLSI)
• 300-435 ENAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Enterprise Solutions (ENAUTO)

For CCNP Data Center the exams are as follows:

Core exam:

• 300-601 DCCOR Implementing and Operating Cisco Data Center Core Technologies (DCCOR)

Concentration exams (choose one):

• 300-610 DCID Designing Cisco Data Center Infrastructure (DCID)
• 300-615 DCIT Troubleshooting Cisco Data Center Infrastructure (DCIT)
• 300-620 DCACI Implementing Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (DCACI)
• 300-625 DCSAN Implementing Cisco Storage Area Networking (DCSAN)
• 300-635 DCAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Data Center Solutions (DCAUTO)

For CCNP Security the exams are as follows:

Core exam:

• 300-701 SCOR - Implementing and Operating Cisco Security Core Technologies (SCOR)

Concentration exams (choose one):

• 300-710 SNCF Securing Networks with Cisco Firepower (SNCF)
• 300-715 SISE Implementing and Configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine (SISE)
• 300-720 SESA Securing Email with Cisco Email Security Appliance (SESA)
• 300-725 SWSA Securing the Web with Cisco Web Security Appliance (SWSA)
• 300-730 SVPN Implementing Secure Solutions with Virtual Private Networks (SVPN)
• 300-735 SAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Security Solutions (SAUTO)

For CCNP Service Provider the exams are as follows:

Core exam:

• 300-501 SPCOR Implementing and Operating Cisco Service Provider Network Core Technologies (SPCOR)

Concentration exams (choose one):

• 300-510 SPRI Implementing Cisco Service Provider Advanced Routing Solutions (SPRI)
• 300-515 SPVI Implementing Cisco Service Provider VPN Services (SVPI)
• 300-535 SPAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Service Provider Solutions (SPAUTO)

For CCNP Collaboration the exams are as follows:

Core exam

• 300-801 CLCOR Implementing and Operating Cisco Collaboration Core Technologies (CLCOR)

Concentration exams (choose one)

• 300-810 CLICA Implementing Cisco Collaboration Applications (CLICA)
• 300-815 CLACCM Implementing Cisco Advanced Call Control and Mobility Services (CLACCM)
• 300-820 CLCEI Implementing Cisco Collaboration Cloud and Edge Solutions (CLCEI)
• 300-835 CLAUTO Automating Cisco Collaboration Solutions (CLAUTO)

Lastly, a brand new track that Cisco has announced is the “Cisco Certified DevNet Professional” Not much information has been published about this track or the exams yet, however they did release the core exam and concentration exam names, which are as follows:

Core exam:

• 300-901 DEVCOR Developing Applications Using Cisco Core Platforms and APIs (DEVCOR)

Concentration exams (choose one):

• 300-435 ENAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Enterprise Solutions (ENAUTO)
• 300-835 CLAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Collaboration Solutions (CLAUTO)
• 300-635 DCAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Data Center Solutions (DCAUTO)
• 300-535 SPAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Service Provider Solutions (SPAUTO)
• 300-735 SAUTO Automating and Programming Cisco Security Solutions (SAUTO)
• 300-910 DEVOPS Implementing DevOps Solutions and Practices using Cisco Platforms (DEVOPS)
• 300-915 DEVIOT Developing Solutions using Cisco IoT and Edge Platforms (DEVIOT)
• 300-920 DEVWBX Developing Applications for Cisco Webex and Webex Devices (DEVWBX)

More detail will be published about the DevNet Professional certifications when available.

Finally last, but not least, we have the CCIE tracks.

For CCIE, every track has a blueprint update. This is the first time in the history of the program that this many changes have been implemented at once. Let’s start with Routing & Switching. We will explore the specific changes to each track in different write-ups. Here we’re exploring just the changes to the formatting of the exams.

First, our favorite and longest running track - CCIE Routing & Switching - is getting a rebranding. It is now called the CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure certification 

The “written” or “qualification” exam for CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure is now the same one as CCNP Enterprise, specifically Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR 300-401). The CCIE Lab Exam is now split into two discrete portions, Design and Implementation.

The first section is 3 hours long, and uses a web delivery engine to present a scenario in which you must, per cisco “translate customer requirements into solutions and assess the network readiness to support proposed solutions.” In my opinion this sounds vaguely familiar to the CCDE testing engine, but ultimately we’ll have to wait until Feb 2020 to find out!

The second section is 5 hours long, and uses a hybrid virtual/physical environment where candidates will build the network to a design spec, customer requirements, restrictions, and will operate and optimize given network technologies and solutions.

In short, this sounds fairly identical to the current format of the exam, but we’ll have to wait until Feb 2020 to see! Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available, and for more specifics on each of the individual CCIE tracks!

About Brian McGahan, CCIE #8593, CCDE #2013::13

At the age of 20, Brian McGahan earned his first CCIE in Routing & Switching, and became known as the “youngest engineer in the world.” He continued on to earn CCIE certifications in Security, Service Provider, and Data Center. Brian has developed and taught for INE since 2002, setting the bar for CCIE training and helping thousands of engineers obtain their own certifications--we’re proud to have such an accomplished and driven instructor on the INE team. When he is not developing new products for INE, he consults with large ISPs and enterprise customers. You may contact Brian McGahan at bmcgahan@ine.com or find him helping others in INE’s IEOC Community Forum.