CCNP Enterprise: Core Networking (ENCOR) - Scope and

Sequence
Last Updated March 13, 2020

Target Audience
The Cisco Networking Academy® CCNP Enterprise curriculum is designed for participants who are seeking professional-level jobs in
the ICT industry, or hope to fulfill prerequisites to pursue other CCNP or CCIE certifications. The entire curriculum is appropriate for
learners at many education levels and types of institutions, including career and technical schools, secondary schools, universities,
colleges and community centers.

Prerequisites
While there are no stated prerequisites for this offering, progression through this course is increased when learners have the following
skills:

• High school reading level

• CCNA or equivalent knowledge and skills

CCNP Enterprise v8 Curriculum Description

In this curriculum, Cisco Networking Academy™ participants learn, apply, and practice CCNP Enterprise knowledge and skills through
a series of in-depth hands-on experiences that reinforce their learning. The CCNP Enterprise v8 curriculum is presented in two courses
that provide integrated and comprehensive coverage of professional-level networking technologies. Upon completion of each course,
learners will be prepared to take the certification exam associated with that course. The two course are as follows:

• CCNP Enterprise: Core Networking (CCNP ENCOR v8) - aligns to the Cisco Press CCNP and CCIE Enterprise Core
ENCOR 350-401 Official Cert Guide and the Implementing Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR 350-401)
certification exam. The ENCOR course includes implementation of core enterprise network technologies including dual stack
(IPv4 and IPv6) architecture, virtualization, infrastructure, network assurance, security, and automation.

• CCNP Enterprise: Advanced Routing (CCNP ENARSI v8) - aligns to the Cisco Press CCNP Enterprise Advanced Routing
ENARSI 300-410 Official Cert Guide and the Implementing Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services (ENARSI 300-
410) certification exam. ENARSI includes implementation and troubleshooting of advanced routing technologies and services
including Layer 3, VPN services, infrastructure security, infrastructure services, and infrastructure automation.

These two courses and the corresponding certification exams align to the overall CCNP Enterprise certification. Both of these
courses provide learners extensive opportunities for hands-on practical experience and career skills development.

The CCNP Enterprise v8 curriculum includes the following features:

• Primary source of content for the learner is the Cisco Press Official Cert Guides.
• Assessments and practice activities are focused on specific certification competencies to increase retention.
• Embedded assessments provide immediate feedback to support the evaluation of knowledge and acquired skills.
• Hands-on labs help students develop critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills.
• Cisco Packet Tracer simulation-based learning activities are added as optional instructor resources to support review of
CCNA skills.
• Video demonstrations give insight into complex workflows and processes and provides exposure to advance networking tools
and operations.

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Lab Equipment Requirements
Detailed equipment information, including descriptions and part numbers is available in the CCNP Enterprise Equipment List, which is
located on the Cisco NetAcad Equipment Information site (https://www.netacad.com/portal/resources/equipment-information). The labs
in the CCNP Enterprise curriculum use the following topology and equipment:

CCNP Enterprise Baseline Physical Topology (for both ENCOR and ENARSI)

Baseline Equipment Bundle:

• 3x Cisco 4221 with SEC license (2 with NIM-2T)

• 2x Cisco Catalyst 3650 Switches (WS-C3650-24TS-E)
• 1x Cisco Catalyst 2960+ Switch (WS-C2960+24TC-L)
• Ethernet cables as shown in the topology
• 2x CAB-SS-V35MT= (10’ DTE Serial Cable)
• 2x CAB-SS-V35FC= (10’ DCE Serial Cable)
• PCs - minimum system requirements
o CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.53 GHz or equivalent •
o Operating Systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS•
o RAM: 4 GB
o Storage: 500 MB of free disk space
o Display resolution: 1024 x 768
o Language fonts supporting Unicode encoding (if viewing in languages other than English)
o Latest video card drivers and operating system updates
• Internet connection for lab and study PCs
Software:
• Cisco IOS versions:
o Routers: Version IOS-XE 16.9.4 or higher, universal feature set.
o Layer 3 Switches: Version IOS-XE 16.9.4 or higher, ipservices feature set.
o Layer 2 Switches: Version IOS 15.2.7 or higher, lanbaseK9 feature set
• Packet Tracer v7.3 (optional for CCNA skills review activities)
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 • Open-source server software for various services and protocols, such as HTTP, DHCP, FTP, TFTP, etc.
• Terminal emulation and SSH client software, such as Tera Term and PuTTy for lab PCs.
• Oracle VirtualBox, most recent version.
• Wireshark version: latest stable version
• Terminal emulation software for the installed PC operating system

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CCNP Enterprise: Core Networking (ENCOR) Outline
Listed below are the current set of chapters and their associated competencies outlined for this course. Each chapter aligns one-to-one
to a chapter in the Cisco Press CCNP and CCIE Enterprise Core ENCOR 350-401 Official Cert Guide. The size of the chapter will
depend on the depth of knowledge and skill needed to master the competencies in the associated chapter.

No. Chapter Title Topic Objective

1 Packet Forwarding Compare hardware and software switching

mechanisms.

Network Device Explain how L2 and L3 devices forward

Communication traffic.

Forwarding Architectures Explain the process of hardware and

software Cisco Express Forwarding.

2 Spanning Tree Protocol Configure spanning tree protocol in a

switched environment.

Spanning Tree Protocol Explain the purpose of the spanning tree

(STP) Fundamentals protocol in a switched LAN environment with
redundant inter-switch links.

Rapid Spanning Tree Explain how Rapid PVST+ operates.

Protocol (RSTP)

3 Advanced Spanning Tree Configure STP with protection mechanisms.

STP Topology Tuning Explain how to modify the root bridge to

control the topology.

Additional STP Protection Configure BPDU Guard and LoopGuard to

Mechanisms protect an STP installation.

4 Multiple Spanning Tree Configure multiple versions of the spanning

Protocol tree protocol.

Multiple Spanning Tree Configure multiple versions of the spanning

Protocol (MST) tree protocol.

5 VLAN Trunks and Configure multiple versions of the spanning

EtherChannel Bundles tree protocol.

VLAN Trunking Protocol Troubleshoot VLAN and trunk configurations

(VTP) in a switched network.

Dynamic Trunking Protocol Configure Dynamic Trunking Protocol

(DTP)

EtherChannels Configure EtherChannel.

6 IP Routing Essentials Configure routers using different algorithms

to determine the best path.

Routing Protocol Overview Compare algorithms used by different

routing protocols to forward packets.

Path Selection Explain how routers determine the best

path.

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 Static Routing Configure static, default, and floating static
routes.

7 EIGRP Configure EIGRP to improve network

performance.

EIGRP Fundamentals Describe the basic features of EIGRP.

Path Metric Calculation Describe the algorithm used by EIGRP to

determine the best path.

Failure Detection and Explain how different types of packets are

Timers used to establish and maintain an EIGRP
neighbor relationship.

Summarization Configure EIGRP autosummarization.

8 OSPF Implement multiarea OSPFv2.

OSPF Fundamentals Explain the features and characteristics of

the OSPF routing protocol.

OSPF Configuration Configure single-area OSPFv2 in a point-to-

point network.

Default Route Configure OSPF to propagate a default

Advertisement route.

Common OSPF Configure OSPF to improve network

Optimizations performance.

9 Advanced OSPF Use advanced OSPF features to optimize

network performance.

Areas Explain why multiarea OSPF is used.

Link-State Announcements Explain how multiarea OSPFv2 uses link

state advertisements.

Discontiguous Network Explain how to connect discontiguous areas

in OSPFv2.

OSPF Path Selection Explain how OSPF determines the best

path.

Summarization of Routes Configure summarization between OSPF

areas.

Route Filtering Explain how to filter routes in OSPFv2 to

improve performance.

10 OSPFv3 Implement single-area OSPFv3.

OSPFv3 Fundamentals Compare the characteristics and operations

of OSPFv2 to OSPFv3.

OSPFv3 Configuration Configure single-area OSPFv3.

IPv4 Support on OSPFv3 Explain how IPv4 traffic is supported in

OSPFv3.

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 11 BGP Configure eBGP in a single-homed remote
access network.

BGP Fundamentals Describe basic BGP features.

Basic BGP Configuration Configure an eBGP branch connection.

Route Summarization Configure summarization in BGP to improve

performance.

Multiprotocol BGP for IPv6 Configure BGP to support and summarize

IPv6 traffic.

12 Advanced BGP Explain how advanced BGP features

improve performance.

BGP Multihoming Explain how BGP multihoming to ISPs

provides resilient internet service.

Conditional Matching Explain how ACLs and prefix matching

assist in fine tuning the BGP routing
process.

Route-maps Explain the purpose of Route-maps in BGP.

BGP Route Filtering and Explain how BGP uses route filtering and
Manipulation manipulation to improve performance.

BGP Communities Explain the function and purpose of BGP

communities.

Understanding BGP Path Explain what processes are used by BGP

Selection for path selection.

13 Multicast Explain the concepts and protocols that are

required to understand multicast operation.

Multicast Fundamentals Describe the overall concepts and need for

multicasting.

Multicast Addressing (L2 & Describe the address scopes used by

L3) multicast to operate at layer 2 and layer 3.

Internet Group Explain how IGMP v2 and IGMP v3 allow

Management Protocol multicast groups to start receiving multicast
traffic.

Protocol Independent Explain the concepts, operation and

Multicast features of the multicast routing protocol
PIM.

Rendezvous Points Describe the purpose, function, and

operation of a rendezvous point in the
multicast network.

14 QoS Explain the mechanisms used by QoS to

ensure transmission quality.

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 The Need for QoS Explain how network transmission
characteristics impact quality.

QoS Models Describe the different QoS models.

Classification and Marking Describe how QoS classifies and marks

traffic based on conditioning policies.

Policing and Shaping Explain how policing and shaping algorithms

affect excess IP traffic.

Congestion Management Explain how congestion management and

and Avoidance avoidance tools are used to avoid network
congestion.

15 IP Services Configure IP services for managed networks

that provide redundancy, address
translation and synchronization.

Time Synchronization Implement NTP between an NTP client and

NTP server.

First Hop Redundancy Configure HSRP using Cisco IOS

Protocols (FHRP) commands.

Network Address Configure NAT services on the edge router

Translation (NAT) to provide IPv4 address scalability.

16 Overlay Tunnels Configure overlay tunnels to secure site-to-

site and remote access connectivity.

Generic Routing Configure a site-to-site GRE tunnel.

Encapsulation (GRE)
Tunnels

IPsec Fundamentals Explain how the IPsec framework is used to

secure network traffic.

Cisco Location/ID Explain how the routing architecture, LISP,

Separation Protocol (LISP) addresses internet routing scalability
problems.

Virtual Extensible Local Explain how a virtual extensible local area

Area Network (VXLAN) network

17 Wireless Signals and Explain the theory of wireless signals and

Modulation the methods used to carry data wirelessly.

Understanding Basic Describe the technology and characteristics

Wireless Theory of radio frequency signals

Carrying Data Over an RF Explain methods used to carry data over an

Signal RF signal.

Maintaining AP-Client Identify the standards and methods used to

Compatibility maintain AP to client compatibility.

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 Using Multiple Radios to Explain how to use multiple radio
Scale Performance components to scale performance.

Maximizing the AP-Client Explain techniques used to maximize AP to

Throughput client throughput.

18 Wireless Architecture Select appropriate wireless topologies and

Infrastructure antennas to allow APs to pair with WLCs in
an enterprise network.

Wireless LAN Topologies Compare how APs operate in autonomous

and lightweight mode.

Pairing Lightweight APs Explain how lightweight APs pair with

and WLCs WLCs.

Leveraging Antennas for Select appropriate antennas for APs based

Wireless Coverage on requirements.

19 Understanding Wireless Explain how to configure a wireless network

Roaming and Location to support and manage wireless roaming.
Services

Roaming Overview Explain how mobile clients roam between

autonomous APs and intracontrollers.

Roaming Between Explain L2 and L3 roaming strategies.

Centralized Controllers

Locating Devices in a Describe techniques and business rationale

Wireless Network for locating devices in a wireless network.

20 Authenticating Wireless Compare different methods to authenticate

Clients wireless clients before gaining access to the
wireless network.

Open Authentication Explain when wireless clients should access

a network using open authentication.

Authenticating with a Pre- Explain how to configure secure wireless

Shared Key connections on a WLAN using
authentication with a pre-shared key.

Authenticating with EAP Explain how to configure secure wireless

connections on a WLAN using
authentication with EAP.

Authenticating with Explain how to configure secure wireless

WebAuth connections on a WLAN using
authentication with WebAuth.

21 Troubleshooting Wireless Troubleshoot wireless connectivity issues

Connectivity using tools and strategies.

Troubleshooting Client Troubleshoot connectivity issues with a

Connectivity from the WLC single wireless client.

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 Troubleshooting Explain how to troubleshoot connectivity
Connectivity Problems at issues at the AP.
the AP

22 Enterprise Network Explain the characteristics of scalable

Architecture network architectures.

Hierarchical LAN Design Describe the three layers of a hierarchical

Model network and how they are used in network
design.

Enterprise Network Explain how enterprise campus

Architecture Options architectures can be used to scale from a
small environment to a large campus-size
network.

23 Fabric Technologies Explain how fabric networks allow traditional

networks to be more manageable, flexible,
secure, and scalable.

The Need for SD-Access Explain how SD-Access is effective for

configuration and maintenance in growing
and ever-changing networks.

What is SD-Access? Describe the two main components of SD-

Access.

SD-Access Architecture Explain the functions of the four layers of

SD-Access architecture.

What is Software-Defined Describe the benefits of utilizing an SD-

WAN (SD-WAN)? WAN.

Cisco SD-WAN Architecture Describe Cisco's current solutions for SD-

WAN.

Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Explain how the SD-WAN Cloud ONRamp

OnRamp solution addresses optimal cloud SaaS
application access and IaaS connectivity.

24 Network Assurance Troubleshoot an enterprise network using

common tools and techniques.

Network Diagnostic Tools Troubleshoot common and advanced

network problems.

NetFlow Configure NetFlow to monitor traffic in a

business network.

Switched Port Analyzer Explain the features and characteristics of

(SPAN) Technologies SPAN.

Local SPAN Explain how to configure SPAN to capture

packets on local switch ports.

Remote SPAN (RSPAN) Compare the use of local SPAN and

RSPAN.

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 Encapsulated Remote Explain how to configure ERSPAN to
SPAN (ERSPAN) monitor traffic in one area of the network
and route the SPAN traffic to a traffic
analyzer in another area of the network.

IP SLA Use an ICMP echo-based IP SLA to

troubleshoot network connectivity issues.

Cisco DNA Center with Explain how Cisco DNA center enable
Assurance intent-based networking.

25 Secure Access Control Compare secure solutions for different

places in the network

Network Security Design for Describe Cisco SAFE, a security

Threat Defense architectural framework, that helps design
secure solutions for PINs.

Next-Generation Endpoint Explain how to design endpoint security that

Security will detect the rapidly evolving threats to
organizations.

Network Access Control Compare current and next generation

(NAC) network access control technologies.

26 Network Device Access Configure network access control using

Control and Infrastructure tools and features that provide device and
Security infrastructure security.

Access Control Lists (ACLs) Verify the functionality of a configured ACL

in relation to the network topology.

Terminal Lines and Explain techniques that secure and control

Password Protection access to VTY lines on network devices.

Authentication, Configure access control using the local

Authorization, and database and AAA server.
Accounting (AAA)

Zone-Based Firewalls Explain how to configure zone-based

(ZBFWs) firewalls to provide stateful network security.

Control Plane Policing "Configure ACLs with CoPP policies that

(CoPP) protect the CPU from unexpected extreme
rates of traffic.

Device Hardening Configure network devices with device

hardening features to mitigate security
threats.

27 Virtualization Explain the purpose and characteristics of

network and server virtualization.

Server Virtualization Describe the virtualization of network

devices and services.

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 Network Functions Explain how the Network Functions
Virtualization Virtualization

28 Foundational Network Explain common network programmability

Programmability Concepts concepts and programmatic methods of
management.

Command Line Interface – Explain the pros and cons of using the CLI
CLI to manage devices on a network.

Application Programming Explain how APIs enable computer to

Interface – API computer communications.

Tools and Resources Describe tools and resources related to

using APIs and REST functions.

Data Formats (XML and Compare JSON and XML data formats.
JSON)

Cisco DNA Center APIs Explain how Cisco DNA center enable
intent-based networking.

Cisco vManage APIs Compare the use of vManage APIs to Cisco

DNA Center APIs.

Data Models and Describe data models and tools used in a

Supporting Protocols programmatic approach.

Cisco DevNet Explain how DevNet encourages

communities of network programmers.

GitHub Explain how GitHub tracks changes in your

files and facilitates collaboration and code
sharing.

Basic Python Components Use Python to access and manipulate

and Scripts values in lists and dictionaries.

29 Introduction to Automation Explain the benefits and operation of

Tools various automation tools.

Embedded Event Manager Explain how the Embedded Event Manager

(EEM) is used to automate configuration,
troubleshooting, and data collection.

Agent-based vs. Agentless Compare the configuration management

Management Tools tools Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and SaltStack.

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