CCIE Service Provider (350-501 SPCOR) Practice Exam

 The Cisco CCIE Service Provider (350-501 SPCOR) certification is a highly sought-after validation that recognizes your in-depth knowledge and skills in deploying, configuring, operating, and troubleshooting core network technologies used by service providers. Earning this expert-level certification demonstrates your ability to design, implement, and optimize service provider networks to deliver superior performance, scalability, and security.

Who Should Take This Exam?

This CCIE Service Provider certification is ideal for experienced network engineers with a strong foundation in service provider network architectures and a deep understanding of Cisco technologies. Here are some professionals who might consider pursuing this certification:

• Senior Network Engineers: Specializing in service provider networks and seeking to validate their expertise in core technologies.
• Network Architects: Designing and implementing large-scale service provider networks.
• Technical Consultants: Providing advanced consulting services to service providers on network design, optimization, and troubleshooting.

Prerequisites

While there are no formal prerequisites for taking the CCIE Service Provider exam, Cisco recommends that candidates possess the following:

• Extensive experience (typically 3-5 years) deploying, configuring, and troubleshooting service provider networks.
• In-depth knowledge of Cisco IOS and NX-OS operating systems.
• Strong understanding of core service provider network technologies, including routing protocols, MPLS, VPNs, and network security.
• Prior CCNP Service Provider certification or equivalent knowledge is highly recommended.

Roles and Responsibilities 

• Lead Network Engineer: Leading network design, implementation, and troubleshooting projects for core service provider networks.
• Network Architect (Service Provider Focus): Designing and architecting scalable and secure service provider networks.
• Solutions Architect: Providing advanced technical solutions and consulting services to service provider customers.
• Technical Support Specialist (Advanced Service Provider Networks): Providing advanced technical support and troubleshooting for complex service provider network issues.

Exam Details 

• Duration: 120 minutes
• Languages: English

Course Outline 

1.1 Describe service provider architectures

• 1.1.a Core architectures (Metro Ethernet, MPLS, unified MPLS, SR)
• 1.1.b Transport technologies (Optical, xDSL, DOCSIS, TDM, and xPON)
• 1.1.c Mobility (packet core, RAN xhaul transport for 4G and 5G)
• 1.2 Describe Cisco network software architecture
• 1.2.a IOS
• 1.2.b IOS XE
• 1.2.c IOS XR
• 1.3 Describe service provider virtualization
• 1.3.a NFV infrastructure
• 1.3.b VNF workloads
• 1.3.c OpenStack
• 1.4 Describe QoS architecture
• 1.4.a MPLS QOS models (Pipe, Short Pipe, and Uniform)
• 1.4.b MPLS TE QoS (MAM, RDM, CBTS, PBTS, and DS-TE)
• 1.4.c DiffServ and IntServ QoS models
• 1.4.d Trust boundaries between enterprise and SP environments
• 1.4.e IPv6 flow label
• 1.5 Configure and verify control plane security
• 1.5.a Control plane protection techniques (LPTS and CoPP)
• 1.5.b BGP-TTL security and protocol authentication
• 1.5.c BGP prefix suppression
• 1.5.d LDP security (authentication and label allocation filtering)
• 1.5.e BGP sec
• 1.5.f BGP flowspec
• 1.6 Describe management plane security
• 1.6.a Traceback
• 1.6.b AAA and TACACS
• 1.6.c RestAPI security
• 1.6.d DdoS
• 1.7 Implement data plane security
• 1.7.a uRPF
• 1.7.b ACLs
• 1.7.c RTBH

2.0 Networking

• 2.1 Implement IS-IS (IPv4 and IPv6)
• 2.1.a Route advertisement
• 2.1.b Area addressing
• 2.1.c Multitopology
• 2.1.d Metrics
• 2.2 Implement OSPF (v2 and v3)
• 2.2.a Neighbor adjacency
• 2.2.b Route advertisement
• 2.2.c Multiarea (addressing and types)
• 2.2.d Metrics
• 2.3 Describe BGP path selection algorithm
• 2.4 Implement BGP (v4 and v6 for IBGP and EBGP)
• 2.4.a Neighbors
• 2.4.b Prefix advertisement
• 2.4.c Address family
• 2.4.d Path selection
• 2.4.e Attributes
• 2.4.f Redistribution
• 2.5 Implement routing policy language and route maps (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS)
• 2.6 Troubleshoot routing protocols
• 2.6.a Neighbor adjacency (IS-IS, OSPF, BGP)
• 2.6.b Route advertisement (IS-IS, OSPF, BGP)
• 2.7 Describe IPv6 transition (NAT44, NAT64, 6RD, MAP, and DS Lite)
• 2.8 Implement high availability
• 2.8.a NSF / graceful restart
• 2.8.b NSR
• 2.8.c BFD
• 2.8.d Link aggregation

3.0 MPLS and Segment Routing

• 3.1 Implement MPLS
• 3.1.a LDP sync
• 3.1.b LDP session protection
• 3.1.c LDP neighbors
• 3.1.d Unified MPLS
• 3.1.e MPLS OAM
• 3.2 Describe traffic engineering
• 3.2.a ISIS and OSPF extensions
• 3.2.b RSVP functionality
• 3.2.c FRR
• 3.3 Describe segment routing
• 3.3.a Segment types
• 3.3.b IGP control plane
• 3.3.c Segment routing traffic engineering
• 3.3.d TI-LFa
• 3.3.e PCE-PCC architectures

4.0 Services

• 4.1 Describe VPN services
• 4.1.a EVPN
• 4.1.b Inter-AS VPN
• 4.1.c CSC
• 4.1.d mVPN
• 4.2 Configure L2VPN and Carrier Ethernet
• 4.2.a Ethernet services (E-Line, E-Tree, E-Access, E-LAN)
• 4.2.b IEEE 802.1ad, IEEE 802.1ah, and ITU G.8032
• 4.2.c Ethernet OAM
• 4.2.d VLAN tag manipulation
• 4.3 Configure L3VPN
• 4.3.a Intra-AS VPN
• 4.3.b Shared services (extranet and Internet)
• 4.4 Implement multicast services
• 4.4.a PIM (PIM-SM, PIM-SSM, and PIM-BIDIR)
• 4.4.b IGMP v1/v2/v3 and MLD
• 4.5 Implement QoS services
• 4.5.a Classification and marking
• 4.5.b Congestion avoidance, traffic policing, and shaping

5.0 Automation and Assurance

• 5.1 Describe the programmable APIs used to include Cisco devices in network automation
• 5.2 Interpret an external script to configure a Cisco device using a REST API
• 5.3 Describe the role of Network Services Orchestration (NSO)
• 5.4 Describe the high-level principles and benefits of a data modeling language, such as YANG
• 5.5 Compare agent vs. agentless configuration management tools, such as Chef, Puppet, Ansible, and SaltStack
• 5.6 Describe data analytics and model-driven telemetry in service provider
• 5.7 Configure dial-in/out telemetry streams using gRPC
• 5.8 Configure and verify NetFlow/IPFIX
• 5.9 Configure and verify NETCONF and RESTCONF
• 5.10 Configure and verify SNMP (v2c/v3)