CCNP Automation Practice Test 7 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO statements are true about RESTCONF and NETCONF in a Cisco IOS XE environment? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

RESTCONF uses HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and supports JSON and XML encoding.. RESTCONF is designed to use standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH) for CRUD operations on YANG-defined data, and it supports both JSON and XML encoding formats. This aligns with its goal of providing a simpler, web-friendly interface compared to NETCONF.

Answer

RESTCONF supports the candidate datastore for editing configurations.

Answer

NETCONF uses HTTP as its transport protocol.

Answer

RESTCONF and NETCONF both support JSON and XML encoding.

Question 2

Match each QoS feature to its description.

Accepted Answer

Classification: Identifying and categorizing packets based on criteria such as IP precedence or DSCP.. Correct matches: Classification (A), Marking (B), Policing (C), Queuing (F). Common confusions: Shaping vs. Congestion Avoidance (WRED), where Shaping buffers and WRED drops early.

Answer

Shaping: Dropping packets early when congestion is anticipated to avoid tail drop.

Answer

Congestion Avoidance: Smoothing traffic to fit within a desired rate by buffering excess packets.

Question 3

Match each network automation tool to its purpose.

Accepted Answer

Ansible: Agentless automation tool that uses SSH and YAML playbooks. Correct matches: Ansible is agentless and uses SSH/YAML; Puppet uses client-server with DSL; Chef uses server and Ruby DSL; SaltStack uses master-minion and can be agentless. Common confusions involve mixing agentless and agent-based models.

Answer

Ansible: Uses a client-server model with agents and Puppet DSL

Answer

Puppet: Agentless automation tool using SSH and YAML playbooks

Question 4

A network automation team wants to programmatically configure a Cisco Catalyst 9300 switch using RESTCONF. The switch is running Cisco IOS XE 17.x. Which HTTP method should be used to create a new VLAN by sending a JSON payload to the RESTCONF URI /restconf/data/Cisco-IOS-XE-vlan:vlan?

Accepted Answer

POST. RESTCONF maps CRUD operations to HTTP methods: POST creates a new resource within a collection. To add a new VLAN to the VLAN list, the correct method is POST to the list URI. PUT would require the full resource URI and replaces content, PATCH modifies existing resources, and GET only reads. Thus POST is the correct choice for creating a new VLAN.

Answer

GET

Answer

PUT

Answer

PATCH

Question 5

A network administrator is new to automation and wants to use a simple, agentless tool to push configuration changes to a group of Cisco IOS devices. The administrator prefers a tool that uses YAML for playbooks and does not require installing software on the managed devices. Which tool should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Ansible. Ansible is the correct choice because it is agentless, uses YAML for playbooks, and connects to Cisco IOS devices over SSH without requiring any software installation on the devices. It has a rich set of network modules, such as 'ios_config', that simplify configuration management. Other tools like Puppet and Chef use different languages and often require agents, making them less suitable for this scenario.

Answer

Puppet

Answer

Chef

Answer

SaltStack

Question 6

A network engineer is using a Python script with the 'requests' library to interact with a Cisco IOS XE device via RESTCONF. The script sends a GET request to the URI 'https://192.168.1.1/restconf/data/ietf-interfaces:interfaces/interface=GigabitEthernet1' but receives a 401 Unauthorized error. The engineer has verified that the RESTCONF service is enabled and the URI is correct. What is the most likely cause of the error?

Accepted Answer

The device requires authentication, and the script did not provide valid credentials.. The 401 Unauthorized status code specifically means that the request lacks valid authentication credentials. RESTCONF on Cisco IOS XE requires authentication, and the Python script must include a valid username and password, typically using HTTP Basic Auth. Without it, the device rejects the request. The other options would produce different error codes, such as 406 for missing Accept header or 404 for incorrect URI.

Answer

The RESTCONF request must include an Accept header specifying 'application/yang-data+json'.

Answer

The RESTCONF URI is incorrect because it should use 'config' instead of 'data'.

Answer

The device's HTTP server is not enabled, so it is rejecting the connection.

Question 7

A network automation engineer is writing a Python script to retrieve interface statistics from a Cisco IOS XE device using NETCONF. The script uses the 'ncclient' library and connects to the device on port 830. However, the connection fails with a 'Could not open socket' error. The engineer confirms that the device is reachable via ping and SSH on port 22. What is the most likely reason for the failure?

Accepted Answer

NETCONF is not enabled on the device.. The 'Could not open socket' error when connecting to port 830 typically means the NETCONF service is not enabled on the device. NETCONF uses a separate SSH server on port 830, which is activated by the 'netconf-yang' command. The engineer's successful SSH on port 22 only confirms the standard SSH server is running, not NETCONF. Therefore, enabling NETCONF is the required fix.

Answer

The 'ncclient' library requires Python 2, but the script is using Python 3.

Answer

The firewall is blocking outbound connections on port 830.

Answer

The device's SSH server is configured to use a non-standard port.

Question 8

A network engineer is writing a Python script to retrieve the operational state of a GigabitEthernet interface from a Cisco IOS XE device using RESTCONF. The script sends a GET request to https://10.1.1.1/restconf/data/ietf-interfaces:interfaces/interface=GigabitEthernet1 but receives a 406 Not Acceptable response. The device supports RESTCONF and the interface exists. Which HTTP header should the engineer add to the request to resolve this error?

Accepted Answer

Accept: application/yang-data+json. The 406 Not Acceptable status code indicates that the server cannot produce a response matching the Accept header. In RESTCONF, the client must specify the desired media type, such as application/yang-data+json, to retrieve data in JSON. Without it, the server may reject the request. Adding the correct Accept header resolves the negotiation issue.

Answer

Accept: application/xml

Answer

Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=

Answer

Content-Type: application/yang-data+json

Question 9

A network engineer is building a Python script to retrieve the operational status of all GigabitEthernet interfaces from a Cisco IOS XE device. The script uses the requests library and sends a GET request to the RESTCONF URL https://10.1.1.1/restconf/data/ietf-interfaces:interfaces-state. The device returns HTTP 401 Unauthorized. The engineer has verified that the RESTCONF service is enabled and the URL is correct. Which action should be taken to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Include HTTP Basic Authentication credentials in the request using the auth parameter of the requests library.. The HTTP 401 Unauthorized response indicates that the RESTCONF request lacked valid authentication. Cisco IOS XE devices require authentication for RESTCONF operations, typically using HTTP Basic Authentication. Adding the appropriate credentials via the requests library's auth parameter will allow the request to proceed. Other changes, such as modifying headers or HTTP methods, do not address the authentication requirement.

Answer

Change the HTTP method from GET to POST to retrieve operational data.

Answer

Add an Accept header with the value application/yang-data+json to the request.

Answer

Enable the NETCONF protocol on the device and use it instead of RESTCONF.

Question 10

A network engineer is designing a Python script to automate configuration changes on a fleet of Cisco IOS XE devices using the NETCONF protocol. The script must ensure that changes are atomic and that the device validates the configuration before committing. Which two NETCONF capabilities must the script check for during the capability exchange to guarantee these requirements? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

urn:ietf:params:netconf:capability:candidate:1.0. To ensure atomic changes and pre-commit validation, the script must use the candidate datastore and the validate capability. The candidate capability allows editing a separate configuration, validating it, and committing atomically. The validate capability provides the <validate> RPC to check the candidate before commit. Together, they satisfy both requirements; other capabilities do not provide both atomicity and validation.

Answer

urn:ietf:params:netconf:capability:startup:1.0

Answer

urn:ietf:params:netconf:capability:rollback-on-error:1.0

Answer

urn:ietf:params:netconf:capability:writable-running:1.0

Question 11

A network automation team uses a Python script with the ncclient library to configure a Cisco IOS XE router via NETCONF. The script sends an <edit-config> RPC with a candidate datastore, but the router returns an error indicating the candidate datastore is not supported. The team wants to make configuration changes without affecting the running configuration until they are verified. Which NETCONF capability should the team ensure is enabled on the router to allow this workflow?

Accepted Answer

:candidate. To use a candidate datastore for staging configuration changes, the NETCONF server must support the :candidate capability. This allows the client to edit the candidate configuration, validate it, and then commit it to the running configuration. Other capabilities like :confirmed-commit and :rollback-on-error enhance commit behavior but require :candidate as a prerequisite. Thus, enabling :candidate is necessary.

Answer

:writable-running

Answer

:rollback-on-error

Answer

:confirmed-commit

Question 12

A network engineer is using Cisco SD-WAN vManage APIs to automate the creation of a new VPN template. The engineer needs to authenticate to the vManage REST API using a Python script. Which authentication method is natively supported by the vManage API for programmatic access?

Accepted Answer

Session-based authentication using a cookie obtained from /j_security_check. The vManage REST API uses session-based authentication. A client sends a POST request to /j_security_check with username and password, receives a JSESSIONID cookie, and includes it in subsequent requests. This method is standard for automating vManage operations. Other methods like OAuth or API keys are not natively supported for the vManage API.

Answer

API key authentication using a static key generated in the vManage GUI

Answer

Certificate-based authentication using X.509 client certificates

Answer

OAuth 2.0 with JWT tokens issued by vManage

Question 13

A network automation engineer is using the Python 'ncclient' library to manage a Cisco IOS XE device via NETCONF. The engineer wants to retrieve the running configuration. Which NETCONF operation should be used to accomplish this?

Accepted Answer

with a source of . NETCONF provides specific operations for different tasks. To retrieve configuration data, the operation is used with a source datastore, such as . This returns the configuration without state data. Other operations like retrieve both config and state, while and are for writing or copying. The correct choice is .

Answer

with a filter for

Answer

with a target of

Answer

<copy-config> from <running/> to <startup/>

Question 14

A network engineer is designing a Python script that uses the YANG models supported by a Cisco IOS XE device to retrieve interface statistics via NETCONF. The engineer wants to ensure the script can parse the response and extract the operational data. Which two steps are necessary when using the ncclient library to retrieve and process the data? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Parse the XML response using a library like xml.etree.ElementTree or lxml. To retrieve interface statistics via NETCONF, the script must send a RPC with a filter to target the specific data. The response is XML, so parsing it with an XML library is required to extract values. Other options like or :candidate are for configuration management, not data retrieval.

Answer

Enable the :candidate capability on the device to retrieve statistics

Answer

Convert the XML response to JSON using the ncclient library

Answer

Use the <edit-config> RPC to read the interface statistics

Question 15

A network architect is designing a Python script that will retrieve interface statistics from a Cisco IOS XE device using the RESTCONF API. The script must authenticate with a username and password, and all communication must be encrypted. The device is configured with the 'restconf' and 'ip http secure-server' commands. Which HTTP method and authentication mechanism should the script use to retrieve the data?

Accepted Answer

GET with Basic Authentication over HTTPS. RESTCONF uses HTTP methods that align with CRUD operations: GET for read, POST for create, PUT/PATCH for update, and DELETE for delete. To retrieve interface statistics, the script must use GET. Basic Authentication over HTTPS ensures that credentials are encrypted during transmission. The combination of GET and Basic Auth over HTTPS meets both the functional and security requirements of the scenario.

Answer

PATCH with Basic Authentication over HTTPS

Answer

PUT with Token Authentication over HTTPS

Answer

POST with OAuth 2.0 over HTTP