CCNA Automation & Programmability
Study Guide (Updated 2026)
What is the Data Plane responsible for? - ANSWER ✔✨---All the various parts of forwarding traffic,
including reception, processing, and forwarding. It is sometimes called the Forwarding Plane.
Name 5 functions that happen on the data plane. - ANSWER ✔✨---1) Encrypting traffic. 2) Network
address transwerlation. 3) ACL traffic filtering. 4) Data encapsulation and decapsulation. 5) Adding or
removing 802.1Q headers.
What happens at the Control Plane? - ANSWER ✔✨---Decision making that helps devices know
where to forward traffic.
Name 5 functions that happen on the control plane. - ANSWER ✔✨---1) Routing protocols. 2) STP.
3) IPv4 ARP. 4) IPv6 Neighbor discovery. 5) Switches learning MAC addresses.
What happens on the Management Plane? - ANSWER ✔✨---Everything to do with device
management, including Telnet, SSH, and automation ports that are used for automated management of
devices.
How is the control plane laid out? - ANSWER ✔✨---In a distributed architecture.
, What is a Centralized Control Plane? - ANSWER ✔✨---Controller-based or Software-defined
networking (SDN) where centralized software replaces the control plane on devices.
How does a controller reach out to a piece of network equipment? - ANSWER ✔✨---Via the
Southbound Interface using an API, SSH, SNMP, OpenFlow, Cisco OpFlex, etc.
How does a controller interact with other applications? - ANSWER ✔✨---Via the Northbound
Interface.
What type of information can be shared between a controller and the northbound interface? -
ANSWER ✔✨---Network topology, Lists of devices, Device capabilities, and Device interfaces and
their states.
What is OpenDaylight? - ANSWER ✔✨---A software defined networking solution.
Name 3 protocols that are supported by OpenDaylight on the Southbound interface. -
ANSWER ✔✨---OpenFlow, BGP-LS, and NETCONF.
What is OpenFlow? - ANSWER ✔✨---A software protocol that directly interfaces with the
forwarding plane.
What was the Cisco Open SDN Controller, or OSC? - ANSWER ✔✨---Cisco's deprecated version of
OpenDaylight.
What are the 3 Cisco intent-based networking products that replaced the Cisco Open SDN Controller? -
ANSWER ✔✨---1) Software defined WAN, or SD-WAN, for the network edge. 2) Software defined
access, or SDA, for the LAN. 3) Application centric infrastructure, or ACI, for the data center.
What design aesthetic is used by Cisco's Application centric infrastructure, or ACI? - ANSWER ✔✨--
-A spine and leaf architecture. A small amount of spine switches aggregate all of the leaf switches. Leaf
switches in turn connect to servers, such as the Cisco Unified Computing System, or UCS.
Study Guide (Updated 2026)
What is the Data Plane responsible for? - ANSWER ✔✨---All the various parts of forwarding traffic,
including reception, processing, and forwarding. It is sometimes called the Forwarding Plane.
Name 5 functions that happen on the data plane. - ANSWER ✔✨---1) Encrypting traffic. 2) Network
address transwerlation. 3) ACL traffic filtering. 4) Data encapsulation and decapsulation. 5) Adding or
removing 802.1Q headers.
What happens at the Control Plane? - ANSWER ✔✨---Decision making that helps devices know
where to forward traffic.
Name 5 functions that happen on the control plane. - ANSWER ✔✨---1) Routing protocols. 2) STP.
3) IPv4 ARP. 4) IPv6 Neighbor discovery. 5) Switches learning MAC addresses.
What happens on the Management Plane? - ANSWER ✔✨---Everything to do with device
management, including Telnet, SSH, and automation ports that are used for automated management of
devices.
How is the control plane laid out? - ANSWER ✔✨---In a distributed architecture.
, What is a Centralized Control Plane? - ANSWER ✔✨---Controller-based or Software-defined
networking (SDN) where centralized software replaces the control plane on devices.
How does a controller reach out to a piece of network equipment? - ANSWER ✔✨---Via the
Southbound Interface using an API, SSH, SNMP, OpenFlow, Cisco OpFlex, etc.
How does a controller interact with other applications? - ANSWER ✔✨---Via the Northbound
Interface.
What type of information can be shared between a controller and the northbound interface? -
ANSWER ✔✨---Network topology, Lists of devices, Device capabilities, and Device interfaces and
their states.
What is OpenDaylight? - ANSWER ✔✨---A software defined networking solution.
Name 3 protocols that are supported by OpenDaylight on the Southbound interface. -
ANSWER ✔✨---OpenFlow, BGP-LS, and NETCONF.
What is OpenFlow? - ANSWER ✔✨---A software protocol that directly interfaces with the
forwarding plane.
What was the Cisco Open SDN Controller, or OSC? - ANSWER ✔✨---Cisco's deprecated version of
OpenDaylight.
What are the 3 Cisco intent-based networking products that replaced the Cisco Open SDN Controller? -
ANSWER ✔✨---1) Software defined WAN, or SD-WAN, for the network edge. 2) Software defined
access, or SDA, for the LAN. 3) Application centric infrastructure, or ACI, for the data center.
What design aesthetic is used by Cisco's Application centric infrastructure, or ACI? - ANSWER ✔✨--
-A spine and leaf architecture. A small amount of spine switches aggregate all of the leaf switches. Leaf
switches in turn connect to servers, such as the Cisco Unified Computing System, or UCS.
