350-501 Automation and Quality of Service Practice Question
A network administrator needs to automate the deployment of a new QoS policy on dozens of provider edge routers. Which Cisco tool is best suited for this purpose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between lifecycle management tools (Prime Infrastructure) and true orchestration platforms (NSO), where candidates mistakenly choose Prime Infrastructure for bulk configuration deployment because of its template features, but NSO is the only option that provides model-driven, transactional, and multi-vendor orchestration required for automated QoS policy deployment at scale.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO)
Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) is the correct tool because it provides model-driven orchestration and automation for deploying and managing network configurations across hundreds of devices using YANG data models and NETCONF. For QoS policy deployment, NSO can push consistent service definitions (e.g., class-maps, policy-maps, service-policy) to multiple provider edge routers simultaneously, ensuring compliance and reducing manual errors.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO)
Why this is correct
NSO is a multi-vendor orchestration platform that can automate the deployment of QoS policies via NETCONF or CLI.
- ✗
Cisco SecureX
Why it's wrong here
SecureX is a security platform for threat management, not network configuration.
- ✗
Cisco Prime Infrastructure
Why it's wrong here
Prime Infrastructure is for monitoring and management, not for automated configuration deployment across many devices.
- ✗
Cisco ISE
Why it's wrong here
ISE handles authentication, authorization, and accounting, not QoS policy deployment.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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