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Question 1

Score: 0/0

During a greenfield enterprise campus design, which three-tier architecture component is responsible for aggregating access-layer switches, enforcing policy, and providing Layer 3 boundaries in most designs?

Core layer

Distribution layer

Access layer

Services edge

to track

2026 Statistics

Key Facts: CCDE Exam

~160

Written Exam Questions

Cisco CCDE v3.1

~70%

Passing Score

Cisco (approximate)

8 hrs

Written Exam Duration

Cisco

$1600

Written Exam Fee

Cisco / Pearson VUE

Expert

Level

Senior network design

3 years

Recertification

Active CCDE cycle

The CCDE v3.1 qualifying (written) exam has approximately 160 multiple-choice and scenario questions across 8 hours, with a passing score near 70%. Core domains: business/design methodology, enterprise campus, WAN (MPLS, SD-WAN), data center (VXLAN-EVPN, DCI), service provider (SR/SRv6, BGP, IS-IS), security design (zero trust, TrustSec), HA (FRR/BFD/PIC), QoS, multicast, wireless, programmability, and automation. Exam fee is $1600 USD at Pearson VUE. CCDE does not 'expire' once active but requires Cisco recertification to remain valid.

Sample CCDE Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your CCDE exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1During a greenfield enterprise campus design, which three-tier architecture component is responsible for aggregating access-layer switches, enforcing policy, and providing Layer 3 boundaries in most designs?

A.Core layer

B.Distribution layer

C.Access layer

D.Services edge

Explanation: In the classic three-tier Cisco hierarchical model, the distribution layer aggregates access-layer switches, enforces QoS and security policy, terminates VLAN SVIs (Layer 3 boundary), and provides redundancy via FHRP or Layer 3 uplinks. The core layer is a high-speed transport between distribution blocks; the access layer connects end hosts. 'Services edge' is not a formal layer name. Collapsed-core designs merge distribution and core when scale permits.

2A brownfield campus currently uses per-VLAN STP with asymmetric uplinks. The design team must reduce convergence and eliminate blocked uplinks without a full re-architecture. Which technology is MOST appropriate?

A.MSTP with a single instance

B.Multi-chassis EtherChannel (vPC or StackWise Virtual) with Layer 2 uplinks

C.VTP pruning

D.Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD)

Explanation: Multi-chassis EtherChannel technologies such as Cisco vPC (Nexus), StackWise Virtual (Catalyst 9000), or VSS (older 6500) present two physical distribution switches as one logical peer, so access switches can form LACP bundles and no uplinks are STP-blocked. MSTP reduces instance count but does not eliminate blocked links by itself. VTP pruning only reduces unneeded VLAN propagation. UDLD detects unidirectional links but does not change STP behavior.

3Which FHRP protocol is an open IETF standard (RFC 5798 for IPv6) and supports load balancing only through static per-VLAN active-gateway distribution?

A.HSRP

B.VRRP

C.GLBP

D.HSRPv6 only

Explanation: VRRP is defined by IETF (RFC 5798 for VRRPv3, supporting IPv6) and, like HSRP, is active/standby — load sharing requires manual per-VLAN placement of the active master. GLBP (Cisco proprietary) provides automatic per-host load balancing with a single virtual IP. HSRP is Cisco proprietary. 'HSRPv6 only' is not a distinct protocol.

4Which MPLS L3VPN PE-CE routing option allows the CE to form a routing adjacency with the PE and is the most common choice for customers who run BGP internally?

A.Static routes

B.eBGP between PE and CE

C.OSPF with sham-link

D.EIGRP with SoO

Explanation: eBGP PE-CE is the de facto choice when the customer runs BGP or wants full policy control (communities, AS_PATH, local-pref) between sites. Static is simplest, OSPF sham-links solve intra-area path issues when sites share an area, and EIGRP with Site-of-Origin prevents routing loops in redistributed EIGRP-to-MP-BGP designs.

5In an MPLS L3VPN backbone with more than 20 PEs, why is a route reflector (RR) design preferred over a full iBGP mesh?

A.RRs provide end-to-end encryption

B.RRs reduce the n(n-1)/2 peer count and simplify provisioning

C.RRs eliminate the need for an IGP

D.RRs translate VPNv4 to IPv4

Explanation: Full iBGP scales poorly: n(n-1)/2 sessions. Route reflectors reduce that to n peers per RR and dramatically simplify adds/changes. RRs do not provide encryption, do not replace an IGP (still required for next-hop reachability), and do not translate address families — they reflect VPNv4/VPNv6 updates among clients.

6Which construct uniquely identifies a VPN's routes inside MP-BGP updates for an MPLS L3VPN?

A.Route Target (RT)

B.Route Distinguisher (RD)

C.Extended community SoO

D.MPLS label

Explanation: The Route Distinguisher (RD) is prepended to the IPv4/IPv6 prefix to make the VPNv4/VPNv6 NLRI globally unique across all VRFs. The Route Target (RT) is an extended community used for import/export policy — it controls which VRFs receive which routes, but does not provide uniqueness. SoO prevents loops when redistributing. MPLS labels carry the traffic to the egress PE but are separate from route identity.

7A customer needs shared services (DNS, Active Directory) reachable from multiple VRFs while keeping user VRFs isolated from each other. Which MPLS L3VPN technique should the designer use?

A.Hub-and-spoke RT import with shared services VRF

B.Full-mesh RT between all VRFs

C.Replace MPLS with plain IP

D.Use a single global VRF

Explanation: The classic solution is a shared-services VRF with hub-and-spoke RT policy: each user VRF imports the shared VRF's export RT and exports its own routes with an RT that only the shared VRF imports. User VRFs do not import each other's RTs, so they remain isolated. Full-mesh RT breaks isolation, ditching MPLS defeats the architecture, and the global table offers no separation.

8Which two components form the overlay control plane in Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela-based)?

A.OMP on vSmart controllers

B.LISP on cEdge

C.BGP-LU on vBond

D.Segment Routing on vManage

Explanation: OMP (Overlay Management Protocol) runs between WAN Edges (vEdge/cEdge) and vSmart controllers and distributes routes, TLOCs, service chains, and policies. LISP, BGP-LU, and Segment Routing are not the native SD-WAN overlay control planes. vManage is the management-plane orchestrator; vBond handles initial authentication and NAT traversal.

9A customer requires application-aware path selection that reacts in seconds to brownouts on an Internet transport while preferring MPLS for voice. Which SD-WAN feature delivers this?

A.Static routing

B.Application-Aware Routing (SLA-based policy)

C.Policy-Based Routing (PBR) only

D.Default gateway failover

Explanation: Application-Aware Routing in Cisco SD-WAN uses BFD to continuously probe loss, latency, and jitter per transport, then steers traffic based on per-application SLA classes (for example, voice to MPLS, bulk to Internet). Static routing and default gateway failover cannot do per-app, per-SLA steering. Classic PBR lacks SLA telemetry.

10Which SD-WAN construct allows segmentation of tenants or user groups across the fabric similar to VRFs in MPLS L3VPN?

A.VPN (Viptela VPN ID) / service VRF

B.SSID

C.Access-list

D.ACI tenant

Explanation: Cisco SD-WAN uses VPNs (Viptela VPN IDs, now often called service VRFs on cEdge) to segment traffic end-to-end across the fabric. Each VPN is analogous to a VRF. SSIDs segment wireless, ACLs filter, and ACI tenants are a data-center-fabric construct.

About the CCDE Exam

The Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) v3.1 is Cisco's expert-level certification for senior network designers. The qualifying (written) exam is an 8-hour scenario-based exam with approximately 160 multiple-choice and scenario questions covering enterprise campus, WAN, data center, service provider, security, automation, and business/design methodology topics. The CCDE Practical Lab is a separate 8-hour scenario-based exam that candidates must also pass to earn the full CCDE. This practice exam focuses on the qualifying (written) portion.

Questions

160 scored questions

Time Limit

8 hours

Passing Score

~70%

Exam Fee

$1600 (Cisco / Pearson VUE)

CCDE Exam Content Outline

15-20%

Business Drivers and Design Methodology

Gathering business requirements, SLAs, RFPs, HLD vs LLD, TCO/OPEX/CAPEX, vendor lock-in, M&A integration, sustainability, and phased migration planning

15-20%

Enterprise Campus and SD-Access

Three-tier vs collapsed core, multi-chassis EtherChannel (vPC/StackWise Virtual), FHRP (HSRP/VRRP/GLBP), SD-Access fabric (LISP + VXLAN + ISE + Catalyst Center), fabric-enabled wireless, campus QoS

15-20%

WAN: MPLS, SD-WAN, and Internet Edge

MPLS L3VPN (RT/RD, PE-CE routing, route reflectors, shared services), MPLS L2VPN (EoMPLS, VPLS, EVPN), Cisco SD-WAN (vManage/vSmart/vBond/WAN Edge, AAR, ZTP, SIG/SSE), multi-homed BGP, IPv6 transition

15-20%

Data Center and DCI

Clos spine-leaf, VXLAN-EVPN (Type 2/3/5 routes, anycast gateway), ACI (EPGs, contracts, NDO), DCI (EVPN Multi-Site with BGWs), Nexus Dashboard, Secure Workload

10-15%

Service Provider and Transport

IS-IS vs OSPF at scale, BGP at scale (attributes, communities, PIC, Add-Paths), Segment Routing (SR-MPLS, SRv6), SR-TE/TI-LFA, 6PE/6vPE, NG-MVPN with mLDP

10-15%

Security, HA, QoS, Multicast, Wireless, Automation

Zero trust and TrustSec/ISE, Umbrella/SIG/Secure Client, RTBH and FlowSpec, BFD/FRR/PIC, NSF/SSO/ISSU, LLQ/CBWFQ/H-QoS, PIM-SM/SSM/Anycast RP, Wi-Fi 6E/7, NETCONF/RESTCONF/gNMI, YANG/OpenConfig, Crosswork, Catalyst Center

How to Pass the CCDE Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: ~70%
Exam length: 160 questions
Time limit: 8 hours
Exam fee: $1600

Keys to Passing

Complete 500+ practice questions
Score 80%+ consistently before scheduling
Focus on highest-weighted sections
Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

CCDE Study Tips from Top Performers

1Think like a senior architect: every choice must map to business requirements, constraints, and trade-offs — not just technology preference

2Master MPLS L3VPN design (RT/RD, PE-CE options, route reflectors, shared services, hub-and-spoke RT)

3Know VXLAN-EVPN deeply: Type 2/3/5 routes, anycast gateway, ESI multi-homing, and EVPN Multi-Site DCI with Border Gateways

4Understand Segment Routing (SR-MPLS and SRv6): SIDs, SR-TE policies, TI-LFA, and flex-algo

5Study Cisco SD-WAN control plane (vManage/vSmart/vBond/WAN Edge, OMP, AAR, SIG/SSE integration)

6Apply zero trust and TrustSec SGTs to segmentation scenarios and microsegmentation with Secure Workload

7Practice scenario analysis: business constraint -> candidate solutions -> trade-off argument -> chosen design

8Automation and programmability: NETCONF/RESTCONF/gNMI, YANG/OpenConfig, Crosswork, Catalyst Center, IaC

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the CCDE v3.1 exam?

The Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) v3.1 is Cisco's expert-level certification for senior network designers. It is split into a qualifying (written) exam and a practical lab exam. The written exam focuses on business-aligned design decisions across enterprise campus, WAN, data center, service provider, security, and automation domains.

How many questions are on the CCDE written exam?

The qualifying (written) CCDE v3.1 exam is approximately 8 hours long and has around 160 multiple-choice and scenario-based questions. The passing score is approximately 70%. The exam emphasizes design trade-offs and business alignment rather than configuration.

Are there prerequisites for the CCDE exam?

There are no formal prerequisites, but Cisco recommends extensive real-world network design experience (typically 7+ years) and deep familiarity with enterprise, service provider, data center, WAN, and security architectures. CCNP-level knowledge is considered a minimum baseline.

How much does the CCDE exam cost?

The CCDE v3.1 qualifying (written) exam costs approximately $1600 USD at Pearson VUE. The CCDE Practical Lab is an additional $1600 USD. Factor in travel, study materials, and practice time when budgeting for the full certification.

How should I prepare for the CCDE written exam?

Plan for 300-600+ hours of focused preparation over 6-12 months. Core resources: Cisco CCDE learning matrix, CCDE unified exam topics, the CCDE design documents, Cisco Press CCDE books, whitepapers on SD-WAN/EVPN/SR/zero trust, and practice scenario analysis. Experienced design engineers often aim for 85%+ on mock exams before scheduling.

Does CCDE certification expire?

An active CCDE is valid for 3 years. During that window the holder must meet Cisco recertification requirements (continuing education credits or higher-level recertification activity) to maintain an active status. Failing to recertify places the certification in a suspended state.