Cisco 350-901 DEVCOR/AUTOCOR study plan

Set up a local Python 3 virtual environment with requests, Flask, and pytest installed, and verify each import runs cleanly

Write and run a small Flask service exposing three REST endpoints (GET collection, GET item, POST create) with JSON validation on input

Implement unit tests with pytest covering the happy path and two failure paths per endpoint, achieving passing runs for all tests

Explain in your own notes the difference between idempotent and non-idempotent HTTP methods and map each CRUD operation to the correct verb and status code

Refactor the week-1 service to separate routing, business logic, and data access into distinct modules and confirm tests still pass

Consume a public REST API with Python requests, handling pagination, query parameters, and rate-limit responses (429) with retry and backoff

Add token-based authentication to your own Flask service and write a test proving that requests without a valid token receive 401

Document the API using an OpenAPI 3 specification file and validate that it parses without errors

Implement OAuth 2.0 authorization-code flow against a test identity provider and store the resulting token securely, avoiding hardcoded secrets

Write code that refreshes an expired access token automatically and prove it with a test that simulates a 401 followed by a successful refresh

Build a rate-limit-aware client wrapper that reads Retry-After headers and enforces exponential backoff with jitter

Compare REST and GraphQL or gRPC for a given scenario in a short written analysis covering payload shape, tooling, and error handling

Authenticate to a Cisco platform API sandbox (such as a DNA Center or Meraki developer sandbox) and retrieve a list of devices

Write a script that pulls device inventory and writes a normalized JSON report including model, serial, and reachability status

Handle and log API errors from the Cisco platform distinctly from network errors, with clear log messages

Identify which Cisco platform API best fits three described use cases (campus fabric assurance, cloud-managed wireless, SD-WAN policy) and justify each choice in writing

Implement a webhook receiver that validates an incoming payload signature and rejects tampered requests

Use a Cisco platform SDK or model-driven interface to push a configuration change to a sandbox device and verify the change took effect

Add structured logging and error handling to the webhook receiver so failed validations are traceable

Write tests for the webhook receiver covering valid signature, invalid signature, and malformed payload cases

Containerize the week-1 service with a multi-stage Dockerfile and confirm the image runs locally with environment-injected configuration

Define a CI pipeline that lints, tests, and builds the container image on every push

Scan the built image for vulnerabilities and document how you would triage a high-severity finding

Store all credentials in environment variables or a secrets manager and prove no secret appears in the repository history

Deploy the containerized service to a local orchestrator or cloud free tier and expose it through a health-checked endpoint

Configure TLS termination and verify the service rejects plaintext traffic

Write an infrastructure-as-code definition (Terraform or similar) that provisions the deployment target and apply it successfully

Add a rolling-update or blue-green strategy note explaining how you would roll back a failed release

Automate configuration backup of sandbox devices on a schedule and diff successive backups to detect drift

Trigger an alert when drift is detected, using a webhook or log-based mechanism

Refactor the accumulated scripts into a single documented CLI tool with subcommands for inventory, deploy, and backup

Complete two timed practice sets covering all five domains and log every missed question with the underlying concept and a corrective action