200-901 Understanding and Using APIs Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are characteristics of NETCONF? (Select THREE)
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
✓
Uses SSH as the transport protocol
NETCONF is defined in RFC 6241 and uses SSH as its mandatory transport protocol (port 830), so option A is correct because SSH provides the secure, connection-oriented session over which NETCONF messages are exchanged. Option D is correct because NETCONF encodes its protocol operations as XML-based RPC elements (for example, <rpc> and <rpc-reply>), making XML the required encoding for the protocol's messages. Option E is correct because NETCONF defines standard operations such as <get-config> to retrieve configuration data and <edit-config> to modify it, which are core to its configuration-management capabilities. Option B is incorrect because HTTP is the transport used by RESTCONF, not NETCONF. Option C is incorrect because NETCONF uses XML encoding, whereas JSON encoding is a feature of RESTCONF (and other YANG-based interfaces), not of NETCONF itself.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Uses SSH as the transport protocol
Why this is correct
NETCONF runs over a secure, connection-oriented SSH session on port 830, giving encrypted transport and authenticated access to network devices. This satisfies the characteristic of using SSH as its transport protocol, distinguishing it from SNMP or RESTCONF over HTTPS.
- ✗
Uses HTTP as the transport protocol
Why it's wrong here
NETCONF runs over SSH on TCP port 830, not HTTP; HTTP transport belongs to RESTCONF. It is tempting because HTTP is the transport for RESTCONF, which would be the correct choice when a RESTful, HTTP-based interface for YANG-modelled configuration is required.
- ✗
Supports JSON encoding for data
Why it's wrong here
NETCONF mandates XML encoding for configuration data and messages; JSON is not part of the base specification, so this characteristic is false. It is tempting because YANG models can be represented in JSON via RESTCONF, which is the correct choice when a JSON-encoded, HTTP-based management interface is required.
- ✓
Encodes operations as XML RPCs
Why this is correct
NETCONF encodes both protocol operations and configuration data as XML, using an RPC-layer framing model. Each request and reply is an XML RPC, which satisfies the characteristic of encoding operations as XML RPCs and distinguishes NETCONF from YANG-modelled JSON alternatives.
- ✓
Supports operations like <edit-config> and <get-config>
Why this is correct
NETCONF defines standard RPC operations, including `<edit-config>` for modifying configuration datastores and `<get-config>` for retrieving them, satisfying the stem's requirement for protocol characteristics. These operations run over SSH and map to YANG-modelled data, distinguishing NETCONF's transactional configuration management from SNMP's monitoring focus.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every 200-901 question from scratch — 975 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-901 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-901 exam.