Cisco DCCOR (350-601) study plan
Cisco DCCOR (350-601) · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Network
Map the DCCOR blueprint against your current Nexus and ACI experience, then write down the three subtopics you know least well.
Build a lab topology with two Nexus 9000v switches in VXLAN EVPN fabric mode and one out-of-band management path, and verify it boots cleanly.
Configure and verify vPC between the two switches, including peer-keepalive over a separate VRF, and capture the show command outputs that prove the domain is healthy.
Explain the difference between vPC, VSS, and StackWise Virtual in writing, naming the failure scenarios each one handles differently.
Your checkpoint
A one-page lab topology diagram plus a saved text file of the vPC verification outputs (show vpc, show vpc consistency-parameters) with a short note on what each field confirms.
Network
Configure VXLAN EVPN with a BGP underlay and an MP-BGP EVPN overlay, then advertise and verify two tenant VLANs across the fabric.
Trace a packet from a leaf to a remote leaf using show commands and describe where the VXLAN encapsulation is added and removed.
Configure an L3Out and verify route redistribution between the fabric and an external router.
Compare traditional spanning-tree-based campus design against a VXLAN EVPN spine-leaf design, listing at least four operational differences.
Your checkpoint
A working two-leaf VXLAN EVPN fabric in your lab where a host on leaf 1 pings a host on leaf 2, documented with the show bgp l2vpn evpn output showing the type-2 and type-5 routes.
Compute
Configure Cisco UCS Manager fabric interconnects in cluster mode and verify cluster HA and management connectivity.
Create a service profile from a template and associate it with a blade, then verify the association completes without faults.
Configure LAN and SAN pin groups and explain the difference between uplink pinning and port-channel-based fabric interconnect connectivity.
Set up a UCS chassis discovery policy and verify all eight links to the IOM come up as expected.
Your checkpoint
A UCS Manager lab with one chassis, one service profile successfully associated, and an exported tech-support bundle plus a fault summary showing zero critical faults.
Compute
Configure Cisco Intersight device connectors and claim a target, then verify the claim status and licensed features.
Describe the UCS X-Series architecture and how it differs from the B-Series and C-Series in terms of management and fabric connectivity.
Configure firmware policies for both fabric interconnects and blades, and stage an upgrade in a maintenance window simulation.
Explain Cisco UCS stateless computing: what lives in the service profile, what stays on the blade, and what breaks if a profile is re-associated to different hardware.
Your checkpoint
A written comparison table of B-Series, C-Series, and X-Series covering management path, fabric connectivity, and firmware upgrade method, plus a staged firmware policy configuration screenshot-free description of the resulting bundle versions.
Storage Network
Configure VSANs on a Nexus switch, zone a host to a storage array using single-initiator single-target zoning, and verify the zone set is active.
Configure NPV and NPIV modes and explain when each is appropriate, including the fabric login behavior of each.
Verify FCoE end-to-end on a unified fabric, including the VLAN-to-VSAN mapping and the FIP snooping bridge behavior.
Describe Fibre Channel flow control and buffer-to-buffer credits, and explain what symptom appears when credits are exhausted.
Your checkpoint
A zoned VSAN in your lab where an initiator sees exactly the intended target LUNs and nothing else, evidenced by show flogi database, show zoneset active, and show fcns database output.
Storage Network & Security
Configure device aliases and persistent FCIDs, and verify they survive a fabric rebuild.
Configure Cisco TrustSec or MACsec on the data center fabric and verify encryption is active on the link.
Configure AAA with TACACS+ for device administration, including command authorization, and test a read-only versus read-write role.
Configure first-hop security features such as DHCP snooping and dynamic ARP inspection on a data center VLAN and verify a spoofed ARP is dropped.
Your checkpoint
A security configuration appendix listing every command you applied for AAA, RBAC, and first-hop security, with the verification command output that proves each control is enforcing as intended.
Security & Automation
Configure NX-OS features using both the CLI and a declarative tool such as Ansible or Terraform, and compare the two workflows.
Write an Ansible playbook that creates a VLAN and a vPC domain on two switches idempotently, and run it twice to prove no changes occur on the second run.
Configure Cisco NX-API or REST API access and retrieve interface counters programmatically.
Describe how Cisco Intersight and the NX-OS API fit into a CI/CD pipeline, naming where validation and rollback happen.
Your checkpoint
A working Ansible playbook in a git repository with a README showing the first run changing devices and the second run reporting zero changes, plus the API call output retrieved from NX-API.
Network & Compute & Storage Network & Security & Automation
Take a full-length timed practice exam and score it by domain to find remaining weak areas.
Revisit every missed question and write a one-sentence reason for the correct answer without looking at the explanation.
Re-run your lab end-to-end from a clean configuration to prove you can rebuild the fabric, UCS domain, and VSAN without notes.
Review the official exam topics list one final time and confirm you can speak to each bullet for at least thirty seconds.
Your checkpoint
A scored practice exam report with a per-domain breakdown, a list of remaining weak subtopics with a remediation action for each, and a dated exam-day checklist.
Milestones
Week 2: You can explain VXLAN EVPN control-plane and data-plane forwarding to a colleague without notes, and your lab fabric forwards traffic between leaves.
Week 4: You can build a UCS service profile from scratch and articulate the stateless computing model, and you have a working Intersight claim or a documented reason your lab cannot support one.
Week 6: Your lab has an active zone set, verified FC name server entries, and enforced AAA and first-hop security controls with output proving enforcement.
Week 8: Your timed practice exam score is at or above your target passing margin, and every missed question has a written remediation note.