Cisco 300-745 SDSI study guide
Cisco 300-745 SDSI · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Cisco 300-745 SDSI exam is a concentration exam in Cisco's security certification track. It validates hands-on skill with two products that are usually studied and deployed together: Cisco Secure Workload (formerly Tetration) for data-center and cloud workload segmentation, and Cisco Secure Firewall running on Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) with Firepower Management Center (FMC). The Cisco 300-745 SDSI study guide has 8 sections and about 3,466 words.
01Architecture, Components, and Deployment Models of Cisco Secure Workload
The Architecture, Components, and Deployment Models domain tests whether you can explain how Cisco Secure Workload collects telemetry, where policy is computed, and which deployment shape fits a given environment. Nearly every question reduces to one split: the control plane (controllers and the policy/analytics engine) versus the data plane (sensors and agents that see or block traffic).
428 words, about 2 min02Cisco Secure Workload Installation, Initialization, and Cluster Management
This domain tests the operational steps that turn an appliance image into a working Secure Workload cluster, plus the day-two tasks the exam expects: scale-out, upgrade, backup, and health monitoring. Time: every node needs reachable, synchronised NTP.
470 words, about 2 min03Agent-Based and Agentless Workload Visibility and Inventory
This domain tests how Secure Workload actually sees workloads: which telemetry source gives which attributes, and what each source can and cannot do. The exam likes scenarios where the correct answer is decided by a capability gap, not by preference.
418 words, about 2 min04Policy Discovery, Application Dependency Mapping, and Policy Lifecycle
This domain tests how you get from raw flow data to an enforceable policy: ADM clustering, the scope/consumer-provider model, simulation, and the staged path to enforcement. ADM analyses historical flows over a window you choose - typically one to two weeks so monthly jobs are captured - and clusters workloads that communicate into dependency groups.
405 words, about 2 min05Segmentation Enforcement, Compliance, and Forensics
This domain tests what happens after policy exists: how enforcement is applied (host or external), how you verify the estate stays compliant, and how you investigate traffic after the fact. Agent enforcement programs host firewall rules from scope policy (netfilter/nftables on Linux, WFP on Windows).
429 words, about 2 min06Cisco Secure Firewall Architecture and Deployment on FTD and FMC
This domain tests how Secure Firewall Threat Defense is built, which manager owns it, and which deployment mode matches a given insertion point. FTD is a single image combining the Lina data plane (ASA-derived) with Snort inspection and a shared management layer.
390 words, about 2 min07Secure Firewall Access Control, NAT, and Prefilter Policy
This domain tests the three policies that decide whether a packet is allowed, translated, or bypassed: prefilter, access control, and NAT. Exam questions usually hinge on evaluation order and first-match behaviour.
444 words, about 2 min08Secure Firewall Integration, Troubleshooting, and Operations
This domain tests how Secure Workload and Secure Firewall fit with the rest of the estate, and how you diagnose a flow that should work but does not. Secure Workload ↔ FMC/FTD: Secure Workload publishes segmentation intent to the firewall manager so policy can be enforced where no agent runs; the FMC is registered as an enforcement appliance and workloads map to firewall objects/scopes.
482 words, about 2 min