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DevNet Professional: Cisco platforms and API usage

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Cisco platforms and API usage

What the domain tests

This domain checks that you can choose the right Cisco platform API for a task and handle its authentication, pagination, rate limits, and error model. The exam expects working knowledge of DNA Center, Meraki Dashboard, IOS XE, NSO, SD-WAN vManage, ACI, Webex, Intersight, and FTD.

Core rules

  • Cisco DNA Center: token-based. POST /dna/system/api/v1/auth/token with HTTP Basic credentials returns a token; send it as X-Auth-Token. Tokens expire, typically in one hour.
  • Meraki Dashboard: API key in X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key; organization-scoped rate limit (commonly 5 requests per second per organization); pagination via the Link response header with rel='next', not a body field.
  • IOS XE: RESTCONF and NETCONF use device credentials; RESTCONF uses application/yang-data+json; gNMI uses gRPC and supports telemetry subscriptions.
  • Cisco NSO: model-driven orchestration; JSON-RPC or RESTCONF; uses NEDs and service models; commit queues.
  • SD-WAN vManage: session cookie plus X-XSRF-TOKEN for state-changing calls.
  • ACI APIC: cookie-based login; use the APIC-Cookie cookie and refresh before expiry.
  • Webex: OAuth 2.0 bearer token; Intersight uses OAuth/client credentials.

Worked example

You need an inventory of DNA Center network devices. First POST /dna/system/api/v1/auth/token with Basic auth; parse the JSON Token field. Then GET /dna/intent/api/v1/network-device with header X-Auth-Token: <token>. If the response is 401, the token expired; request a new one rather than retrying Basic auth on the inventory call. If the call returns a task ID for an asynchronous operation, poll the task endpoint instead of assuming completion. Reasoning: DNA Center separates authentication from intent APIs, and its long-running operations are asynchronous.

Traps

Sending Basic auth to every DNA Center intent call; storing tokens in source control; assuming Meraki returns all items in one response; ignoring Retry-After on 429; treating the vManage XSRF token as the session cookie; and assuming all Cisco APIs share one authentication scheme.