Independent training guide · sources checked October 12, 2026

CCNP Automation: training and costs

Choose AUTOCOR and an enterprise or data-center automation concentration. Compare preparation, measured skills, training, practice access, complete-cost unknowns and related work before buying.

AUTOCOR v2.0 + one concentrationUSD 700 exam-fee floorNo formal exam prerequisite

See exam and training costs · Compare preparation options

Research and detailed planning are optional. A short request asks for your need, name, email and permission to reply.

Who it fits

Difficulty comes from coordinating the whole workflow: source of truth, tool capability, tests, delivery, logging and recovery. Choose professional feedback when you can explain a basic request but need help proving the end state or handling partial failure. A syntax-only boot camp may not address that need.

A targeted course can be useful without pursuing the complete credential. Confirm an employer’s exact award requirement before buying. Compare all CCNP tracks · Decide whether CCNP is worth it for you.

What happened to DevNet Professional?

Cisco’s transition explanation says February 3, 2026 brought a materially revised professional track—not merely the Associate name change. AUTOCOR shifts toward tool-based, end-to-end network automation and AI. Keep useful prior concepts, but compare old DEVCOR preparation with the current blueprint before buying or reusing a course.

A legacy record is historical context, not another current credential. Check your issuer account for your actual credential status; reading the transition does not establish that you personally hold an active award or that every old exam combination transfers.

Requirements & experience

Formal entry: Cisco lists no prerequisite for the core or either concentration. A prior CCNA is not required, and no mandatory employment duration is established here. Open registration does not establish readiness.

Recommended preparation: the current course includes Python, network design and configuration, APIs, Git, Linux, containers and basic AI familiarity. These are advisory foundations, not mandatory years of employment. CCNA Automation may fit a foundational software/API/network gap; it is not a required prior badge.

Starting check: explain a Python API request, a Git change and a network configuration, then test a small failure with mocked data. Compare foundation learning with guided feedback if those tasks need support. Assess each team member’s baseline separately.

Exams & specializations

The 350-901 AUTOCOR v2.0 core is 120 minutes, USD 400, English or Japanese. The credential also requires one concentration, 90 minutes and USD 300. Core alone is not the complete CCNP award.

Revision conflict: the ENAUTO exam page still labels v1.1 and mentions DevNet Professional, while Cisco’s published v2.0 blueprint identifies CCNP Automation. The overview includes ENAUTO in this track. Confirm the booking revision and purchased course mapping before paying; this page does not resolve that disagreement. DCNAUTO’s exam page and blueprint both label v2.0. A fixed question count and numerical passing percentage remain unverified here. Specialist naming differs between the overview and core exam page; passing the core earns a Specialist award, but confirm its current exact title with Cisco rather than treating conflicting wording as two awards.

Skills measured

The official AUTOCOR v2.0 blueprint assigns four weights. The tasks below are original learning examples, not actual exam questions, a complete syllabus or evidence of concentration readiness.

Network Automation · 30%

Select a platform-aware tool and explain API pagination, authentication or rate-limit failure.

Objective family 1.0 · p1

Infrastructure as Code · 30%

Trace a pipeline failure, identify the tested artifact and compare declared versus observed state.

Objective family 2.0 · pp1–2

Operations · 20%

Use synthetic logs and validation output to define a bounded recovery test.

Objective family 3.0 · p2

AI in Automation · 20%

Check generated recommendations against evidence and constrain data access and actions.

Objective family 4.0 · p2

Ask which task you will operate, what evidence the instructor reviews and how a failed test changes the next action. A generated script and a successful run are different artifacts; a successful run and a verified business outcome are different observations.

An original controlled work sample

A fictional inventory API reports three sites but returns only the first page of devices. A deployment pipeline then fails its post-check; an AI recommendation proposes rerunning every write. Specify how you would detect incomplete inventory, preserve the exact tested artifact and distinguish a harmless read retry from a potentially repeated write.

Define a nonproduction test, required observations, an accountable owner and a rollback trigger. Use mocked responses and synthetic logs or your own licensed lab. Record actual execution separately from proposed analysis; neither a concept answer nor an AI recommendation proves a safe change. Never use private employer inventory, credentials or production systems.

Costs

USD 700 is the first-attempt exam-fee floor: USD 400 core plus USD 300 for one concentration, observed October 12, 2026. This assumes both passes are needed; check an existing eligible pass before buying again. These are unequal component fees, not USD 350 per exam. Training, licensed practice, regional checkout, extra attempts and renewal are separate or unknown. Check current pricing and policies.

  • Booking: confirm region, currency, tax, voucher conditions and any Learning Credits.
  • Learning: budget tuition, licensed practice, access expiry, feedback and time away from work. AI or hosted lab usage may add charges.
  • Upkeep: price extra attempts and the selected renewal route separately; unknown costs are not zero.

Plan employer support and funding.

Training options

Official course evidence · checked 2026-10-15 UTC

Course outline, practice and provider options

Designing, Deploying and Managing Network Automation Systems

AUTOCOR · 350-901 core · Published issuer outline

The certification skills above describe assessment. This outline describes teaching; ask the seller which revision, exercises and support you receive.

Published course modules (18 topics)
  1. Automation tool selection
  2. Python task automation
  3. REST integration
  4. Ansible configuration
  5. Terraform provisioning
  6. Infrastructure-as-code workflows
  7. Git change history
  8. CI deployment pipelines
  9. CML test environments
  10. pyATS state checks
  11. Model-driven telemetry
  12. Automation fault diagnosis
  13. Secure development
  14. Docker Compose environments
  15. Trusted TLS deployment
  16. Generative AI assistance
  17. Automation agents
  18. LLM/MCP integration

Recommended course background: Cisco recommends Python, network configuration, APIs/NETCONF/RESTCONF, Git, Linux/SSH, containers and basic AI/LLM knowledge.

Published practice and lab work
  • Build and validate automated network changes.
  • Use simulated environments, telemetry and secure communication.
  • Review agent/MCP integration with explicit access boundaries.

Edition and access: AUTOCOR is broader than the older DEVCOR course. Require an actual delivered-outline mapping before treating a DEVCOR offer as equivalent. Published exercises do not establish CML, API, LLM or other license entitlements.

Official concentration-course references

Choose the concentration around your work, then read its own syllabus and recommended background. Course names can differ from current exam names; a reference is not an included package or confirmed delivery.

  • ENAUTO: Enterprise automation instruction.
  • DCNAUTO: Data-center automation instruction; confirm current exam mapping and course revision.

Start with the issuer’s Cisco U. path and published course formats. For partner instruction, Cisco’s Americas directory lists NetCom Learning, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers Inc., Fast Lane and the legacy name Skillsoft Global Knowledge. Match your seller, region, delivering organization and exact course before buying.

For the same official course and revision, compare instructor access, personally operated labs, feedback, timetable, recordings, access expiry and total cost. A shared syllabus does not make packages interchangeable. Use Cisco’s learning locator.

Browse all dated training prices. Compare the exact course and complete package rather than treating a format price gap as like-for-like savings.

Free scope and internal practice

Start with the public blueprint and Cisco Learning Network resources. Free scope and community navigation are not a complete free professional course, licensed platform access or a pass prediction.

Cisco U. and instructor-led training

The current AUTOCOR course offers Cisco U. and instructor-led routes with 32 CE credits. Its course overview covers Python, Ansible, Terraform, CI/CD, CML/pyATS validation, telemetry, containers and LLM/MCP workflows. Published exercises are broader evidence than a course title, but still do not establish your package’s actual access or feedback.

Self-paced study

Consider Cisco U. when you need flexible sequencing and can maintain your own practice schedule. Confirm the specific learning path, included labs, assessment feedback and access period before paying.

Instructor-led learning

Consider live virtual or classroom delivery when you need scheduled practice or feedback on failed workflows. Confirm the instructor, time zone, individual lab access and what happens when you fall behind.

Check the delivered package

Ask for the tested platform versions, personally operated exercises, topology recovery, instructor feedback and support for failed pipelines. For AI exercises, confirm whether execution is local or hosted, what data leaves the environment, who supplies credentials and whether API or cloud charges can arise. Do not infer free usage or a licensed lab from an outline.

Tuition, duration, start dates, meeting time zones, seats, recordings, access period, voucher, retake and cancellation terms remain unknown. Verify the exact delivery entity through the Cisco authorization checklist. Partner status is not a provider ranking or proof every authorized offer has identical courseware, support or inclusions.

For a team, specify the target platform, workflow, learner baselines, chosen concentration and deadline. Compare internal review of a permitted test workflow with paid feedback on the particular gap. AUTOCOR prepares for the core; it does not establish included concentration instruction. Team learning decisions.

Jobs & salary context

Network automation engineering, network reliability and infrastructure integration can involve these tasks. Actual roles and authority vary. A portfolio should show platform-aware choices, tests, incident reasoning and communication—not an exam pass presented as demonstrated system operation.

BLS reports a U.S. May 2025 median annual wage of USD 99,130 for network and computer systems administrators, with typical bachelor’s-level entry education. That broad occupation is not a CCNP Automation salary, every automation role, an entry offer or a causal credential premium. Read the occupation scope, checked October 12, 2026.

Network automation engineer

Connect APIs, configuration intent and tested delivery. Show a reviewed change, its checks and what happened when a dependency failed.

Network reliability or operations

Use telemetry, logs and validation to explain an incident and recovery decision. Confirm actual on-call duties, supervision and change authority.

Infrastructure integration or NetDevOps

Connect version control, pipelines and platform interfaces. Explain artifact identity, access boundaries and how the team reviews changes.

These are Learnerside’s task associations, not separate salary estimates or job eligibility promises. Employer requirements, communication and demonstrated work remain separate from an exam result.

Renewal

Validity is three years. One professional renewal route requires 80 CE credits; the course’s 32 alone are insufficient. Your deadline, completion and route costs require confirmation. The failed professional-exam wait is five calendar days starting the next day, not a free retake. Read renewal and retest policy.

Sources & next steps

Sources checked October 12, 2026: credential, prerequisites, fees and validity; AUTOCOR exam; the linked concentration exam pages and v2.0 blueprints; AUTOCOR v2.0 objectives, pp1–2; course preparation, outline and labs; the linked course PDF, transition explanation, BLS occupation and renewal policy. ENAUTO revision and Specialist naming disagreements remain visible above; confirm account and appointment details with Cisco.

All Cisco guides · All vendors.

Research, the private brief and the short request are independent options. Reply permission is separate from later consent naming any provider who would receive your details.

Optional: check professional automation concepts

Eight original fictional choices cover four core families and retain their earlier evidence dates. They do not assess performed system delivery or concentration readiness, or predict an exam pass.

Readiness check · ~2 min · no score · no email

Not sure if CCNP Automation is the right next step for you?

Answer a few quick questions and we’ll map your background against the exam’s published domains and the vendor’s recommended prep — a study order and a sequencing read, not a score or a pass prediction. Everything you need to decide is already above; open this only if you want a personalized plan.

  • Network Automation30%
  • Infrastructure as Code30%
  • Operations20%
  • AI in Automation20%