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200-901 study resources

Updated October 9, 2026

The most useful 200-901 resources are free: Cisco’s exam topics document, the DevNet Sandbox environments, the documentation for each Cisco API and a Linux machine on which you write Python, run Git and build a container. Add realistic practice questions to find your weak domain. Be careful with older material, because the exam was published as DevNet Associate (DEVASC) and some products in older courses have been renamed or retired.

Start with the official material

The exam topics. Cisco publishes the 200-901 CCNAAUTO exam topics as a PDF on its learning content site (learningcontent.cisco.com/documents/marketing/exam-topics/200-901-CCNAAUTO_v.1.1.pdf). It lists the six domains with weights and every sub-objective. Keep it open while you study.

The release notes. Cisco’s DevNet v1.1 release notes (learningcontent.cisco.com/documents/marketing/exam-topics/DevNet_v1.1_Release_Notes_update.pdf) explain what changed from the original blueprint. They are short, and they explain why older study material mentions products that are no longer on the exam.

The exam page. Cisco’s 200-901 CCNAAUTO page shows duration, price and languages, and lets you schedule. The topics document names a related Cisco course, Developing Applications and Automating Workflows using Cisco Core Platforms, as preparation. It is a paid course; the exam does not require it.

DevNet Sandbox. At developer.cisco.com/site/sandbox/ Cisco offers free hosted environments, some always on and some reservable, for trying Cisco APIs without hardware. Use them for domain 3 and for the RESTCONF and NETCONF objectives.

DevNet Code Exchange. developer.cisco.com/codeexchange/ is a catalogue of public projects, SDKs and sample code for Cisco platforms. Reading real scripts is good preparation for the exam objective that asks you to identify what a script automates.

Learning Labs. developer.cisco.com/learning/ hosts Cisco’s lab-style learning content. Check which labs are current, because some mention older product names.

Documentation worth reading

For each platform in domain 3, read the authentication page and the call that lists devices: Meraki Dashboard API, Catalyst Center, ACI, Catalyst SD-WAN, NSO, Webex, Intersight and UCS Manager. Also read Python’s requests quickstart, the Git documentation on branching and merging, the Docker getting-started guide and the Ansible introduction to playbooks.

Lab work is the differentiator

The exam shows you code, requests and configuration and asks what they do. Six labs cover most of it:

  1. JSON to Python. Parse the same data from JSON, YAML and XML into Python structures and write it back.
  2. Git workflow. Clone, branch, commit, merge, create and resolve a conflict, read a unified diff.
  3. REST client. A script using requests with a token header, params, a timeout, status handling and pagination.
  4. A platform call. In a sandbox, authenticate to Meraki, Catalyst Center or another platform and list devices or clients.
  5. Container and test. A small Python app with a unittest test, a Dockerfile, a build, and a run with a published port.
  6. Automation. A short Ansible playbook, a bash script that creates a directory and sets an environment variable, and a RESTCONF GET read by hand.

Practice questions

Official Cisco practice tests are not part of the pages used for this guide, so none is listed here. Use the free 20-question practice test and the five sample questions to find weak spots, then return to the matching domain guide. For networking background, the CCNA 200-301 study resources apply to domain 6. The study plan puts these resources into a four-week order.