CiscoProfessional Level2026 Updated

Cisco CCNP Enterprise ENCOR Exam Guide 2026: Everything You Need to Pass

Updated May 1, 202612 min readWritten by Certsqill experts

Quick facts — ENCOR 350-401

Exam cost

$400 core + $300 concentration

Questions

90–120 items

Time limit

120 minutes

Passing score

825 / 1000 (scaled)

Valid for

3 years

Testing

Pearson VUE

Who this exam is for

The Cisco CCNP Enterprise ENCOR certification is designed for professionals who work with or want to work with Cisco technologies in a professional capacity. It is taken by cloud engineers, DevOps practitioners, IT administrators, and technical professionals looking to validate their expertise.

You do not need extensive prior experience to attempt it, but you will benefit from hands-on familiarity with the subject matter. The exam tests applied knowledge and architectural judgment, not just memorization. If you can reason about trade-offs and real-world scenarios, structured practice will handle the rest.

Domain breakdown

The ENCOR 350-401 exam is built around official domains, each with a fixed percentage of the question pool. This distribution should directly inform how you allocate your study time.

Domain

Weight

Focus areas

Architecture

15%

SD-Access fabric design (underlay, overlay, control plane), SD-WAN design principles, high-availability architectures, WAN design patterns, and comparing traditional vs intent-based networking.

Virtualization

10%

VRF and VRF-Lite configuration for network segmentation, GRE and IPsec tunnel overlays, LISP fundamentals for SD-Access, and virtual network function concepts.

Infrastructure

30%

OSPF (multi-area, LSA types 1–7, NSSA, virtual links), EIGRP named mode, BGP (attributes, path selection, route reflection), multicast (PIM-SM, RP election, MSDP), QoS (DSCP marking, queuing, shaping).

Network Assurance

10%

IP SLA probes, Netflow/IPFIX, SPAN and RSPAN, Cisco DNA Center network assurance, syslog, SNMP, and streaming telemetry for real-time monitoring.

Security

20%

802.1X with ISE (RADIUS, EAP types), MACsec (MKA), DMVPN phases 1–3, Cisco TrustSec (SGT, SXP), CoPP, and device access hardening best practices.

Automation

15%

Python for network automation (netmiko, nornir), RESTCONF and NETCONF with YANG models, Ansible playbooks for Cisco IOS, DNA Center APIs, and comparing EEM vs external automation.

Note the domain with the highest weight — many candidates under-invest here because it feels conceptual. In practice, this is where the exam is most precise, with scenario-based questions that test specifics.

What the exam actually tests

This is not a memorization exam. Questions require applied judgment under constraints. Almost every question includes a scenario with explicit requirements and asks you to select the most appropriate solution.

Here are examples of the question types you will encounter:

BGP attribute manipulation

"A network engineer wants traffic from ISP-A to prefer the 10.0.0.0/8 prefix. Traffic from ISP-B should be preferred for all other prefixes. Which BGP attributes should be configured and on which routers?"

BGP path selection order (weight → local-pref → AS-path → MED → eBGP preference → IGP metric) is tested heavily. Know which attributes are locally significant vs advertised to peers.

SD-Access design questions

"A company is deploying SD-Access. Which component serves as the control plane node and manages the LISP mapping system?"

Tests knowledge of the SD-Access fabric roles: Border Node, Edge Node, Control Plane Node, and Wireless LAN Controller integration.

QoS policy matching

"A network administrator needs to mark real-time voice traffic DSCP EF and business-critical traffic DSCP AF31. Which MQC class-map and policy-map configuration achieves this?"

Requires writing complete MQC policies. Know DSCP values (EF=46, AF classes, CS values) and when to use traffic shaping vs policing.

How to prepare — 4-week study plan

This plan assumes one hour per weekday and roughly 30 minutes of lighter review on weekends. It is calibrated for someone with some relevant experience. If you are starting from zero, add an extra week before Week 1 to familiarise yourself with the basics.

Week 1: Architecture + Advanced Routing

SD-Access: study the three-layer fabric (access, distribution, core) with intent-based networking concepts
SD-WAN: vEdge vs cEdge, control/data/management planes, OMP protocol
OSPF deep dive: LSA types 1–7, area types, NSSA vs stub vs totally-stubby
BGP: full path selection process, iBGP route reflection, attribute manipulation lab

Week 2: Security + Network Assurance

802.1X: EAP methods (PEAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST), RADIUS server configuration, MAB fallback
DMVPN: configure Phase 1, 2, and 3 in a lab — understand spoke-to-spoke shortcutting
TrustSec: SGT assignment (locally, via ISE), SXP protocol for propagation
IP SLA: configure ICMP, UDP jitter, and HTTP probes with threshold tracking

Week 3: Virtualization + Automation

VRF-Lite: configure multiple VRFs, inter-VRF routing with route leaking
Python automation: use netmiko to push config changes to multiple devices
RESTCONF: perform GET/PUT operations against a Cisco IOS-XE device using Postman
NETCONF: understand RPC structure, YANG model navigation

Week 4: Mock exams + Weak areas

Full 90-question timed mock exam — review every wrong answer with AI tutor
QoS lab: configure end-to-end DSCP marking, policing, and queuing policies
Second mock exam — target 85%+ before booking the real exam
Final review: BGP attributes, SD-Access roles, and 802.1X EAP type selection

Common mistakes candidates make

These patterns appear repeatedly among candidates who resit this exam. Knowing them in advance is worth several percentage points.

Treating CCNP like a harder CCNA

CCNP questions assume you already know CCNA-level fundamentals. They test design judgment and multi-feature interaction, not just configuration syntax. A question about DMVPN may also test QoS and routing — you need to analyze the combined effect.

Skipping the SD-Access and SD-WAN domains

Candidates with traditional networking backgrounds often skip architecture topics as "too conceptual." Architecture is 15% and SD-Access/SD-WAN questions are straightforward once you understand the component roles — do not give away free marks.

Not practicing Python and RESTCONF hands-on

The automation domain (15%) requires actual coding familiarity. Reading about RESTCONF is not enough. Use the DevNet sandbox to make real API calls and write Python scripts with netmiko before exam day.

Memorizing BGP commands without understanding attribute logic

The exam presents BGP scenarios and asks which attribute to modify and on which router. This requires understanding the full path selection algorithm and which attributes are locally significant (weight, local-pref) vs communicated to peers (MED, AS-path).

Is Certsqill right for you?

Honestly: Certsqill is built for candidates who have already done some studying and want to convert knowledge into exam performance. If you have never touched the subject, start with a foundational course first — then come to Certsqill when you are ready to practice.

Where Certsqill is strong: question depth, AI-powered explanations, and domain analytics. Every question is mapped to the exam blueprint. When you get something wrong, the AI tutor explains why the right answer is right and why each wrong answer fails under the specific constraints in the question.

Where Certsqill is not a replacement: video courses and hands-on labs. Use Certsqill to test and sharpen — not as your first exposure to a topic you have never encountered.

Ready to start practicing?

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