200-901 Understanding and Using APIs Practice Question
A developer is using the Meraki Dashboard API and notices that some requests return a 429 status code. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
200-901 often tests HTTP status code meanings — candidates confuse 429 (rate limit) with 401 (auth), 404 (not found), or 413 (payload too large).
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
✓
The rate limit of 5 requests per second has been exceeded.
HTTP 429 means 'Too Many Requests.' The Meraki Dashboard API enforces a rate limit of 5 requests per second per organization, and exceeding it returns a 429 with a Retry-After header. The developer should implement exponential backoff and respect the Retry-After value.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The organization ID is incorrect.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect ID may return 404.
- ✗
The request payload is too large.
Why it's wrong here
Payload size produces 413 or 400 responses, not 429. The status is tempting because oversized bodies do cause request rejection, and reducing batch size is a legitimate remedy when the Dashboard API rejects a call, but the actual trigger for 429 is exceeding the organisation's rate limit within a time window.
- ✗
The API key is invalid.
Why it's wrong here
An invalid API key returns 401 Unauthorized, as authentication fails before any request processing. It is tempting because key problems are the most common Dashboard API failure, and regenerating the key resolves them, but 429 indicates the request was authenticated and then throttled for exceeding the rate limit.
- ✓
The rate limit of 5 requests per second has been exceeded.
Why this is correct
HTTP 429 Too Many Requests signals rate limiting. The Meraki Dashboard API enforces a limit of 5 calls per second per organisation; exceeding it returns 429 until the window resets. The Retry-After header indicates how long to wait, so the cause is request volume, not authentication or payload errors.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
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