Cisco DevNet Certification Guide

What DevNet certification is, how the 2026 Automation rebrand changed it, what the 200-901 exam covers, and who should choose it over the CCNA route.

Liam Anderson17 July 2026 · 9 min read

Ask AIChatGPT Claude Gemini Copilot Perplexity Grok

Terminal showing a router CLI beside Python API code, illustrating the shift from manual configuration to network automation

DevNet is Cisco's certification track for people who manage networks with code — Python scripts, REST APIs, and infrastructure-as-code tools — rather than box-by-box command-line configuration. If you have been searching for "DevNet certification" in 2026, there is one thing to understand before anything else: on 3 February 2026 Cisco renamed the track. DevNet Associate became CCNA Automation, DevNet Professional became CCNP Automation, and DevNet Expert became CCIE Automation. The certifications themselves were not retired; the associate exam even kept its familiar 200-901 exam code. Anyone holding an active DevNet certification was automatically recognised under the new Automation names.

This guide explains what the track (old name and new) actually certifies, what the 200-901 associate exam covers, how the professional level is structured, and — the question most readers are really asking — whether you should choose this route instead of, or alongside, a traditional networking certification.

What is a DevNet certification?

A DevNet certification — now a Cisco Automation certification — validates that you can develop and maintain applications and automation workflows built on Cisco platforms. In practice that means software fundamentals (Python, Git, data formats such as JSON and XML), using and building REST APIs, infrastructure-as-code tooling, and enough networking knowledge to automate sensibly. It sits alongside Cisco's traditional tracks rather than above or below them: the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certifies that you can configure and troubleshoot networks; the Automation track certifies that you can program them.

Cisco launched DevNet certifications in 2020 in response to a real shift in how networks are run. Enterprise and cloud-scale networks are increasingly managed through controllers, APIs and version-controlled configuration rather than engineers typing commands into individual devices. The 2026 rename to "Automation" simply makes the track's purpose plainer and aligns its naming with the CCNA/CCNP/CCIE ladder everyone already knows.

One important nuance the rename created: the four automation-adjacent specialist certifications (SAUTO, SPAUTO, CLAUTO and the DevOps specialist) were retired outright on 2 February 2026 with no migration path. If you see older articles claiming "DevNet was retired", that is the misconception talking — the core track was renamed, not removed.

Who is the Automation track actually for?

The track serves two groups approaching the same middle ground from opposite sides.

Network engineers moving towards automation. If you already hold a CCNA or work in network operations and find yourself writing Python scripts to push configuration, parse device output or wire up monitoring, the Automation track certifies skills you are half-way to having. It is the natural formal credential for NetDevOps-style roles.

Software developers moving towards infrastructure. If you write code for a living and want to work on network tooling, controller platforms or API integrations with Cisco products, the associate exam tests networking fundamentals at a lighter depth than CCNA while going far deeper on software practices than any traditional networking exam does.

A quick self-test: if the phrase "make a REST API call, parse the JSON response, and update device configuration from a Git-controlled template" sounds like a job you want, this is your track. If you would rather design routing topologies and troubleshoot spanning tree at the packet level, a traditional track will fit better — the Cisco certification hierarchy overview maps all of the lanes side by side.

The associate level: 200-901 (DEVASC, now CCNAAUTO)

The entry point to the track is the 200-901 exam. Under the DevNet branding it was known as DEVASC (DevNet Associate); Cisco's current exam page lists it as CCNAAUTO for the CCNA Automation certification. The code and content are the same either way — employers and study materials referencing DEVASC are describing the identical exam.

As of August 2026:

Exam: one written exam, 200-901, taken through Pearson VUE at a test centre or online via OnVUE proctoring.
Cost: widely reported at US $300, in line with Cisco's associate-level pricing, though Cisco varies fees by country and region — confirm the current fee for your location when booking.
Prerequisites: none. Cisco suggests hands-on familiarity with Python and APIs, but nothing is formally required, and you do not need a CCNA first.
Validity: three years, renewable by exam or by 30 Continuing Education (CE) credits. The renewal mechanics are covered in our Cisco certification renewal guide.

What does the 200-901 exam cover?

The exam blueprint spans six broad areas: software development and design, understanding and using APIs, Cisco platforms and development, application deployment and security, infrastructure and automation, and network fundamentals. A content update to v1.1 in early 2024 modernised the list — Terraform was added, RESTCONF/NETCONF and YANG coverage deepened, Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) appeared, and older tooling such as Puppet, Chef and UCS Director was removed.

Read between the lines of that update and the exam's priorities become clear:

APIs are the centre of gravity. Expect to demonstrate that you can read API documentation, construct REST calls, handle authentication, and interpret status codes and payloads. This is the single most practical skill the exam certifies.
Python is the assumed language. You will not be asked to write large programs, but you must read and reason about Python that consumes APIs and manipulates data structures.
Version control is not optional. Git workflows — branching, merging, resolving conflicts — appear because no serious automation happens outside version control.
Networking knowledge is tested at "automator's depth". You need IP addressing, common protocols and device roles well enough to automate them, not at the configuration-and-troubleshooting depth the CCNA demands.

If you want to gauge where you stand against that blueprint before committing to a study schedule, working through 200-901 DevNet Associate practice questions domain by domain will show you quickly whether your gaps are on the software side or the networking side — the two most common failure profiles are mirror images of each other.

The professional level: CCNP Automation

The professional tier — formerly DevNet Professional — follows the same structure as every other Cisco professional certification: one core exam plus one concentration exam of your choice.

The core is 350-901 DEVCOR (Developing Applications Using Cisco Core Platforms and APIs). It goes well beyond the associate level: designing maintainable software, advanced API usage, application deployment and CI/CD, and automating Cisco platforms at production depth. Passing DEVCOR alone earns a Cisco Certified Specialist badge, and under Cisco's renewal rules a professional-level pass also renews any lower-level certifications you hold.

Concentration exams let you specialise the credential. Following the February 2026 rebrand, Cisco has been adjusting the exam roster around the Automation track, so check Cisco's live certification pages for the current concentration list before you book — naming a fixed set here would risk being out of date within months.

Cost follows the standard professional-level pattern widely reported for Cisco exams — around US $400 for the core and US $300 for a concentration, varying by region — and the certification is valid for three years, renewable via 80 CE credits, qualifying exams, or a combination.

At the top of the ladder sits CCIE Automation (formerly DevNet Expert), an expert-level certification with a hands-on lab component in the style of other CCIE tracks. If you are weighing an expert-level commitment, our CCIE certification guide explains what that format demands.

DevNet or a traditional networking certification?

This is the decision most readers are here to make, so here is a framework rather than a verdict.

Choose the Automation track first if:

Your target roles say "network automation engineer", "NetDevOps", "network reliability engineer" or "platform engineer" — titles where coding is the job, not a side skill.
You come from software development and need credible networking context faster than a full CCNA route would give you.
Your organisation runs controller-based infrastructure (SD-WAN, SD-Access, ACI-style platforms) where API-driven operations are already the norm.

Choose CCNA first if:

You are entirely new to networking. The Automation associate assumes you can pick up fundamentals at moderate depth; CCNA teaches them properly, and automation skills layer on cleanly afterwards. See the CCNA certification guide for what that exam involves.
Your target roles are network administration, support or operations, where employers still screen for CCNA by name far more often than for automation credentials.

Do both, in sequence, if: you want the strongest medium-term position. CCNA then 200-901 is an increasingly common pairing — the traditional cert proves you understand what you are automating, the automation cert proves you can automate it. For CCNA holders weighing this against other next steps, our guide to what comes after CCNA compares the options in one place.

A realistic scenario: a network operations engineer with three years of CLI-heavy experience and a CCNA inherits a monitoring project that requires pulling interface data via APIs into a dashboard. She studies for 200-901 while building the project, using the exam blueprint as a syllabus — Git for the repo, Python for the collectors, RESTCONF against the routers. By exam day the certification is close to a formality, because the blueprint described work she had already shipped. That pattern — studying the track against a live automation task — is the single most reliable way to make this material stick.

How to prepare for the 200-901

A prioritised sequence that reflects how the exam actually weights things:

Get fluent in Python basics and data formats first. Reading code, dictionaries and lists, JSON and XML parsing. Everything else builds on this.
Learn REST APIs by calling real ones. Use free developer sandboxes and tools like curl or Postman-style clients until authentication, methods and status codes are reflexes.
Add Git properly. Clone, branch, merge, resolve a conflict on purpose.
Cover networking fundamentals at blueprint depth. IP addressing, transport protocols, network device functions — thorough, but you do not need CCNA-level subnetting speed.
Finish with Cisco platform specifics and deployment/security topics, which are easier to retain once the general material is solid.
Benchmark before booking. A timed practice-test simulation across all six domains tells you whether weak areas are isolated (target them) or structural (delay the booking). Treat practice questions as a diagnostic for understanding the objectives — if you find yourself remembering answers rather than reasoning to them, switch question sets or return to the source material.

Remember the retake economics: Cisco's published policy for written exams is a five-calendar-day wait after a fail, and the full fee applies again. An honest benchmark a fortnight out is much cheaper than an optimistic booking.

Is the Automation track the right lane for you?

The DevNet-turned-Automation track is the most future-facing set of credentials Cisco offers, and the 2026 rename into the CCNA/CCNP/CCIE naming scheme signals that Cisco now treats automation as a first-class discipline rather than a specialist sideline. It rewards a specific kind of professional: one who is comfortable living between networking and software, and who wants the certification to prove both.

It is not the default recommendation for everyone. Pure beginners will build a stronger foundation starting with traditional fundamentals, and engineers targeting classical operations roles will get more recognition per study hour from the mainstream tracks — our comparison of the best Cisco certifications by career goal ranks those options directly. But if your career is heading where network operations as a whole is heading, 200-901 is a well-scoped, affordable first step, and the professional level gives it a serious ceiling.

Exam facts in this guide were checked against official certification-provider pages on 30 August 2026. Fees, exam codes and policies change — confirm on the provider’s own site before you book.

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