Competencies: Platforms & Products > Cisco
Cisco
Body of Knowledge
| Topic | Description | Relevance | Career Tracks |
|---|---|---|---|
Cisco ISE Policy Administration |
Identity Services Engine administration including policy sets, authorization profiles, device administration, guest portals, and posture services. Encompasses RADIUS/TACACS+ configuration, profiling, and integration with network infrastructure. |
Critical |
Network Security Engineer, IAM Specialist, Security Architect |
ISE ERS API |
External RESTful Services API for programmatic ISE management. Enables automation of endpoint groups, network devices, authorization profiles, and integration with external systems and orchestration tools. |
High |
Network Automation Engineer, DevNetOps, Security Engineer |
WLC 9800 Administration |
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Wireless LAN Controller administration including WLAN creation, policy profiles, FlexConnect deployments, AP groups, RF profiles, and client troubleshooting. Covers both IOS-XE CLI and web UI management interfaces. |
High |
Wireless Network Engineer, Network Administrator, Infrastructure Engineer |
Catalyst Switch Management |
Cisco Catalyst 9300/9200 switch administration including IOS-XE configuration, VLAN management, Spanning Tree Protocol, EtherChannel, 802.1X port configuration, RADIUS integration, device sensor, stack management, and software upgrades. |
Critical |
Network Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Security Engineer |
Cisco FMC Administration |
Firepower Management Center for centralized firewall policy management, threat analysis, rule inspection, and security event correlation. Includes API integration for automated queries and configuration. |
High |
Security Engineer, Firewall Administrator, Security Architect |
Cisco DNA Center |
Network controller for intent-based networking, assurance, automation, SD-Access |
High |
Network Engineer, Network Architect |
Cisco ACI |
Application Centric Infrastructure, SDN fabric, APIC controller, policies |
Medium |
Network Engineer, Data Center Engineer |
Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela) |
vManage, vSmart, vEdge/cEdge, overlay routing, policies, templates |
Medium |
Network Engineer, WAN Engineer |
Cisco UCS |
Unified Computing System, service profiles, fabric interconnects, automation |
Medium |
Data Center Engineer, Systems Administrator |
Personal Status
| Topic | Level | Evidence | Active Projects | Gaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cisco ISE Policy Administration |
Expert |
Production ISE 3.x at CHLA — policy sets, authorization profiles, device admin, guest portals, posture; home lab ISE with Vault-issued certs for 802.1X |
No ISE 3.4 migration experience yet (in progress) |
|
ISE ERS API |
Advanced |
Programmatic ISE management via ERS REST API — endpoint groups, network devices, authorization profiles; integrated into netapi CLI |
No pxGrid integration, no ISE MnT API for session data |
|
WLC 9800 Administration |
Advanced |
CHLA wireless management — WLAN creation, policy profiles, FlexConnect, AP groups, RF profiles, client troubleshooting; IOS-XE CLI and web UI |
No WLC HA SSO, no Cisco Spaces, no programmability (RESTCONF/YANG on WLC) |
|
Catalyst Switch Management |
Advanced |
CHLA Catalyst 9300/9200 — IOS-XE configuration, VLAN management, STP, EtherChannel, 802.1X port config, RADIUS, device sensor; stack management and upgrades |
No Catalyst Center/DNA Center management, no SD-Access |
|
Cisco FMC Administration |
Intermediate |
Firepower Management Center — basic policy review, rule inspection; integrated with netapi for API queries |
No FMC policy authoring, no FTD deployment, no Snort rule customization |