Cisco's ENCOR v1.1 Exam Drops Sept. 20th. Here's What's New!

Cisco's ENCOR (350-401) exam is one of the most popular Cisco exams out there. Just check out some of the certifications it can help you earn, as seen in Figure 1.

What is the ENCOR Exam?

Also, as of February 2020, the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam is no longer a prerequisite for earning the coveted Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise certification.

The result? Many Cisco certification candidates are bypassing CCNA and making a beeline for the ENCOR exam, which gets them half way to their CCNP Enterprise cert.

Now, after being active for just over three and a half years, the ENCOR v1.0 (350-401) exam is being updated from version 1.0 to version 1.1.

Mark Your Calendars!

The last day to test for the original ENCOR v1.0 (350-401) exam is September 19, 2023, and the new ENCOR v1.1 (350-401) exam goes into effect September 20, 2023.

So, What's Changed?

Now that version 1.1 is just days away, many ENCOR exam candidates are wondering, what changed between versions. Well, Cisco changed some of the wording between the exam blueprints, but after doing a bullet point-by-bullet point analysis, I'm going to share in this article what differences I've uncovered.

• If you want to check out the version 1.0 blueprint, click HERE.
• If you want to check out the version 1.1 blueprint, click HERE.

What Topics Have Been Removed?

Basically... just one! The only topic conspicuously absent from the version 1.1 blueprint is Fabric Capacity Planning. As someone who regularly teaches the ENCOR course, that is a welcome change to say the least.

To teach fabric capacity planning, we had to look at the tech specs of specific Cisco switches, and use backplane throughputs of line cards, supervisor engines, and it was just weird to teach. The reason I say it was weird, is that the way it's performed can vary widely from one platform to another. Personally, I believe that topic belongs in a design course. So, I think this was a great change.

What Topics Have Been Added?

We have about eight newly added topics. Below, I'll give you the topic, its location in the blueprint, and a brief description. Let's get going...

Topic #1: Describe Client Density

Blueprint Location: Topic 1.2.c under "Describe Wireless Design Principles"

Overview: This topic discusses options for wireless network design options you could use to accommodate a growing number of wireless clients within an area.

Topic #2: Configure and Verify Root Guard and BPDU Guard

Blueprint Location: Topic 3.1.c under "Layer 2"

Overview: Even though version 1.0 of the ENCOR exam did cover Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), version 1.1 adds the Root Guard and BPDU Guard features. Root Guard helps protect a topology against a bad actor inserting a switch into the network and claiming that their switch is the Root Bridge (based on its Bridge ID). BPDU Guard is useful on ports enabled for PortFast, and it can put a PortFast port into an errdisable state if a Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) is seen on that port.

Topic #3: Compare EIGRP and OSPF Area Types

Blueprint Location: Topic 3.2.1 under "Layer 3"

Overview: While you can configure EIGRP for "Stub Routing," OSPF has multiple area types you need to know, including: a Stub Area, a Totally Stubby Area, a Not-So-Stubby Area (NSSA), and a Totally Not-So-Stubby-Area (Totally NSSA).

Topic #4: Describe Policy-Based Routing (PBR)

Blueprint Location: Topic 3.2.3 under "Layer 3"

Overview: PBR is a topic that was (and still is) on the ENARSI exam blueprint, but now it makes an appearance on the ENCOR v1.1 exam blueprint. What PBR lets you do is create policies that can control the routing of specific packets and override how those packets would normally be routed.

Topic #5: Describe Wireless Segmentation with Groups, Profiles, and Tags

Blueprint Location: Topic 3.3.f under "Wireless"

Overview: In a large enterprise networks with multiple wireless access points (APs), you might want one group of APs to have one policy, another group of APs to have another policy, and so on. This topic shows you how that's done.

Topic #6: Interpret Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Configuration

Blueprint Location: Topic 3.4.a under "IP Services"

Overview: While ENCOR did (and continues to) cover Network Time Protocol (NTP), this topic discusses a much more precise time protocol, called PTP. Rather than measuring accuracy in milliseconds (as NTP does), PTP measures accuracy in nanoseconds.

Topic #7: Describe Multicast Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) Check

Blueprint Location: Topic 3.4.d under "IP Services"

Overview: When a multicast source floods traffic through a network, a router might receive multiple copies of the same packet on multiple interfaces. Which interface does it trust? Well, that's what multicast RPF does for us.

Topic #8: Configure and Verify EAPOL

Blueprint Location: Topic 5.4.dc under "Configure and Verify Wireless Security Services"

Overview: While ENCOR v1.0 did cover several wireless security topics, and also discussed Extensible Authentication Protocols (EAPs), this new topic requires you to understand the 4-step conversation that happens between a wireless client (i.e., the "Supplicant") and a wireless AP (i.e., "the "Authenticator").

How to I Prepare for the New Exam?

Glad you asked! ??

If you want to get ahead of the curve and start preparing for the ENCOR v1.1 exam even before it's released, I'd love for you to join us in a live and on-line course I'm conducting during September.

It's called the ENCOR v1.1 (350-401) Master Class - LIVE! course, and it's made up of 6 live and on-line sessions, which are 3.5 hours each.

Specifically, here's what you get when you register:

• Coverage of ALL topics on the ENCOR exam blueprint, including the brand new topics in version 1.1
• 21?Hours of Live Training
• Double CCIE Instructor (Kevin Wallace)
• Hands-On Practice with Cisco Modeling Labs (CML), which can be a copy of CML that you own or the freely-available version the Cisco DevNet Sandbox
• 2 Complete Practice Exams (with Online Engine and Downloadable .PDF)
• Downloadable Course Slides
• Replays Available Within 24 Hours of Each Session
• Lifetime Access to Replays

The regular price for this live and on-line training event is $397, which is about a tenth of what you would pay elsewhere.

But, during our Early Bird Sale (which expires at 11:59pm EDT on Friday, September 8th), you get a 20% Discount!

Here's the schedule of our live sessions:

• Session #1: Monday: September 11th (1:00pm - 4:30pm EDT)
• Session #2: Wednesday: September 13th? (1:00pm - 4:30pm EDT)
• Session #3: Friday: September 15th? (1:00pm - 4:30pm EDT)
• Session #4: Monday: September 18th? (1:00pm - 4:30pm EDT)
• Session #5: Wednesday: September 20th? (1:00pm - 4:30pm EDT)
• Session #6: Friday: September 22nd (1:00pm - 4:30pm EDT)

Can't make one (or even all) of the live sessions? No worries! A replay of each session will be posted with 24 hours of the session's conclusion.

CLICK HERE TO GET MORE INFO AND REGISTER!

Whatever you decide about September's live training event, I hope this article has shed some light into the new ENCOR v1.1 exam and inspired you to take the next step in your IT career.

All the best,

Kevin Wallace, CCIEx2 #7945 Lifetime Emeritus