CCNP ENCOR 350-401

Course at a glance

• 242 lessons in 9 units, plus a practice exam.
• Exam: 350-401 ENCOR v1.2 (Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies), the core exam for CCNP Enterprise.
• Format: self-paced lessons with Cisco IOS configurations, packet captures, and video.
• Last updated: October 2026.

About the 350-401 ENCOR exam

Here are the facts about the ENCOR exam as Cisco publishes them. The exam topics are split into six domains, and each domain has a weight: the percentage of the exam it covers.

ENCOR v1.2 exam topics and weights

How does ENCOR fit in? To earn CCNP Enterprise, you pass ENCOR plus one concentration exam of your choice, for example 300-410 ENARSI for advanced routing and services. ENCOR is also the qualifying exam for CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure: pass it, and you can book the CCIE lab exam.

Source: Cisco Learning Network, ENCOR exam topics.

What is the CCNP ENCOR exam?

ENCOR (350-401) is Cisco’s exam for enterprise network core technologies. It tests whether you can implement and operate the networks that most companies run: campus and data center architectures, switching, routing, IP services, security, network assurance, and automation. The current version is v1.2, a 120-minute exam.

ENCOR is the core exam of CCNP Enterprise. To earn CCNP Enterprise, you pass ENCOR plus one concentration exam, like ENARSI for advanced routing. The same exam is also the qualifying exam for CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, so if you plan to go for your CCIE, ENCOR is your first step. Passing ENCOR on its own also earns you the Cisco Certified Specialist – Enterprise Core certification.

Compared to CCNA, ENCOR goes much deeper. You’ll need to understand how OSPF, EIGRP, and BGP select their paths, how spanning tree and EtherChannel behave, how overlays like VXLAN and LISP work, and how to secure and monitor your devices. Version 1.2 also has a full domain on automation and artificial intelligence, so you’ll work with data models, APIs, and Python, not just the CLI.

ENCOR Learning Roadmap

This roadmap follows the ENCOR exam domains. Infrastructure is the largest domain, so we split it into three parts. Each topic has a short explanation and links to the key lessons; the course schedule above has every lesson.

Architecture (15%)

Before you configure anything, you need to know how enterprise networks are designed. The campus design uses access, distribution, and core layers, while data centers use a spine and leaf architecture where every leaf switch connects to every spine switch. Switch virtualization like StackWise and VSS turns multiple switches into one logical switch. SD-WAN and SD-Access bring a controller-based approach to the WAN and campus, and you also need to know the cloud deployment models.

Virtualization (10%)

Virtualization shows up at every level of the network. On servers, we run virtual machines and containers, and with NFV we run network functions like routers and firewalls as virtual appliances. VRFs split a single router into multiple routing tables. Tunnels like GRE and IPsec carry traffic over another network, and LISP and VXLAN are the overlay protocols you’ll find in SD-Access.

Infrastructure (30%): Layer 2

VLANs split a switch into multiple broadcast domains, and trunks carry multiple VLANs between switches with 802.1Q tags. Spanning tree prevents loops by blocking redundant links; RSTP converges much faster, and MST maps multiple VLANs to a single spanning tree instance. Features like BPDU guard and root guard protect your topology. EtherChannel bundles physical links into one logical link, so you can use all of them.

Infrastructure (30%): Routing Protocols

Routing is a big part of the Infrastructure domain. EIGRP is a distance vector protocol that can do unequal cost load balancing. OSPF is a link-state protocol: you need to understand areas, LSA types, network types, and how OSPF selects its paths, for OSPFv2 and OSPFv3. BGP connects autonomous systems and selects paths based on attributes instead of a metric. You’ll also learn how to influence routing with policy based routing.

Infrastructure (30%): IP Services, Multicast and QoS

IP services keep the network running for users. NTP keeps clocks in sync, which matters for logging and certificates. NAT and PAT translate private addresses, and first hop redundancy protocols like HSRP and VRRP give hosts a default gateway that survives a router failure. Multicast uses IGMP between hosts and routers and PIM between routers to deliver one stream to many receivers. QoS lets you classify, mark, queue, shape, and police traffic.

Network Assurance (10%)

Network assurance is about knowing what happens in your network and finding problems quickly. Syslog and conditional debugging tell you what a device is doing, and SPAN and ERSPAN copy traffic to a packet sniffer, even across a routed network. SNMP and NetFlow give you statistics about devices and traffic flows. IP SLA sends test traffic, so you can measure delay and reachability yourself.

Security (20%)

Security is the second largest domain. It starts with your own devices: who can log in, and what can they do? SSH gives you secure remote access. AAA handles authentication, authorization, and accounting, and 802.1X and MAB control which users and devices get access to a switch port. Access-lists filter traffic, and CoPP protects the control plane of your router. You’ll also learn what firewalls do and how to configure a zone based firewall.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence (15%)

The CLI is great for humans but not for scripts. Network automation uses data formats like JSON, XML, and YAML, data models like YANG, and programmatic interfaces like NETCONF and RESTCONF. You’ll learn the basics of Python, REST APIs, and on-box automation with EEM, and how tools like Ansible and Git help with configuration management. Finally, we look at how AI and machine learning are used in networking, for example to find anomalies and predict issues.

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