Automation & DevOps Certifications

Automation and DevOps certifications covering network programmability, API development, and IT service management.

Certification Status

Certification Exam Code Status Earned Renewal

Cisco AI Business Practitioner

AIBIZ

EARNED

2026-02-28

3 years

ITIL Foundation

ITIL 4 Foundation

EARNED

 — 

Lifetime

DevNet Associate

200-901 DEVASC

PENDING

 — 

Target 2026

Cisco AI Business Practitioner (Earned)

Overview

Cisco U. learning path certification covering AI fundamentals for business applications.

Certification

AIBIZ

Vendor

Cisco (Cisco U.)

Format

Learning path + assessment

CEUs

8

Earned

February 28, 2026

Validity

3 years

Key Concepts

  • AI/ML fundamentals for business decision-making

  • Generative AI applications and limitations

  • AI ethics and responsible use

  • Business use cases for AI integration

Value

Foundation for understanding AI integration in network automation and DevNet workflows. CEUs applicable to maintaining other certifications.

ITIL Foundation (Earned)

Overview

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) provides a framework for IT service management best practices.

Certification

ITIL 4 Foundation

Vendor

Axelos (PeopleCert)

Format

40 multiple choice

Duration

60 minutes

Passing

65% (26/40)

Validity

Lifetime (no renewal)

Key Concepts

  • Service Value System (SVS) - How all components work together

  • Service Value Chain - Six activities that create value

  • Four Dimensions - Organizations/people, information/technology, partners/suppliers, value streams/processes

  • Guiding Principles - Focus on value, start where you are, progress iteratively, collaborate, think holistically, keep it simple, optimize/automate

ITIL Practices (34 total)

General Management: * Continual improvement * Information security management * Relationship management * Risk management

Service Management: * Change enablement * Incident management * Problem management * Service desk * Service level management * Service request management

Technical Management: * Deployment management * Infrastructure and platform management * Software development and management

Kernel Relevance

ITIL processes apply to kernel development workflow:

ITIL Practice Kernel Application

Change enablement

Patch submission process, maintainer review

Problem management

Bug triage, regression tracking

Incident management

Security vulnerability response (CVE)

Continual improvement

Kernel refactoring, performance optimization

Value

ITIL provides structured thinking for managing infrastructure changes - critical when contributing to kernel projects where processes matter.

DevNet Associate (Pending)

Exam: 200-901 DEVASC

Duration

120 minutes

Questions

100-110

Cost

$330

Target

2026

Exam Objectives

Workflow for extracting exam objectives: curl + pdftotext + awk

1.0 Software Development and Design (15%)

  • 1.1 Compare data formats (XML, JSON, and YAML)

  • 1.2 Describe parsing of common data format (XML, JSON, and YAML) to Python data structures

  • 1.3 Describe the concepts of test-driven development

  • 1.4 Compare software development methods (agile, lean, and waterfall)

  • 1.5 Explain the benefits of organizing code into methods / functions, classes, and modules

  • 1.6 Explain the advantages of common design patterns (MVC and Observer)

  • 1.7 Explain the advantages of version control

  • 1.8 Utilize common version control operations with Git

    • 1.8.a Clone

    • 1.8.b Add/remove

    • 1.8.c Commit

    • 1.8.d Push / pull

    • 1.8.e Branch

    • 1.8.f Merge and handling conflicts

    • 1.8.g diff

2.0 Understanding and Using APIs (20%)

  • 2.1 Construct a REST API request to accomplish a task given API documentation

  • 2.2 Describe common usage patterns related to webhooks

  • 2.3 Describe the constraints when consuming APIs

  • 2.4 Explain common HTTP response codes associated with REST APIs

  • 2.5 Troubleshoot a problem given the HTTP response code, request and API documentation

  • 2.6 Interpret the parts of an HTTP response (response code, headers, body)

  • 2.7 Utilize common API authentication mechanisms: basic, custom token, and API keys

  • 2.8 Compare common API styles (REST, RPC, synchronous, and asynchronous)

  • 2.9 Construct a Python script that calls a REST API using the requests library

3.0 Cisco Platforms and Development (15%)

  • 3.1 Construct a Python script that uses a Cisco SDK given SDK documentation

  • 3.2 Describe the capabilities of Cisco network management platforms and APIs (Meraki, Cisco Catalyst Center, ACI, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, and NSO)

  • 3.3 Describe the capabilities of Cisco compute management platforms and APIs (UCS Manager and Intersight)

  • 3.4 Describe the capabilities of Cisco collaboration platforms and APIs (Webex, Webex devices, Cisco Unified Communications Manager including AXL and UDS interfaces)

  • 3.5 Describe the capabilities of Cisco security platforms and APIs (XDR, Firepower, Secure Connect, Secure Endpoint, ISE, and Secure Malware Analytics)

  • 3.6 Describe the device level APIs and dynamic interfaces for IOS XE and NX-OS

  • 3.7 Describe the appropriate DevNet resource for a given scenario (Sandbox, Code Exchange, support, forums, Learning Labs, and API documentation)

  • 3.8 Apply concepts of model driven programmability (YANG, RESTCONF, and NETCONF) in a Cisco environment

  • 3.9 Construct code to perform a specific operation based on a set of requirements and given API reference documentation such as these:

    • 3.9.a Obtain a list of network devices by using Meraki, Cisco Catalyst Center, ACI, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, or NSO

    • 3.9.b Manage spaces, participants, and messages in Webex

    • 3.9.c Obtain a list of clients / hosts seen on a network using Meraki or Cisco Catalyst Center

4.0 Application Deployment and Security (15%)

  • 4.1 Describe the benefits of edge computing

  • 4.2 Describe the attributes of different application deployment models (private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, and edge)

  • 4.3 Describe the attributes of these application deployment types

    • 4.3.a Virtual machines

    • 4.3.b Bare metal

    • 4.3.c Containers

  • 4.4 Describe components for a CI/CD pipeline in application deployments

  • 4.5 Construct a Python unit test

  • 4.6 Interpret contents of a Dockerfile

  • 4.7 Utilize Docker images in local developer environment

  • 4.8 Describe application security issues related to secret protection, encryption (storage and transport), and data handling

  • 4.9 Explain how firewall, DNS, load balancers, and reverse proxy in application deployment

  • 4.10 Describe top OWASP threats (such as XSS, SQL injections, and CSRF)

  • 4.11 Utilize Bash commands (file management, directory navigation, and environmental variables)

  • 4.12 Describe the principles of DevOps practices

5.0 Infrastructure and Automation (20%)

  • 5.1 Describe the value of model driven programmability for infrastructure automation

  • 5.2 Compare controller-level to device-level management

  • 5.3 Describe the use and roles of network simulation and test tools (such as Cisco Modeling Labs and pyATS)

  • 5.4 Describe the components and benefits of CI/CD pipeline in infrastructure automation

  • 5.5 Describe the principles of infrastructure as code

  • 5.6 Describe the capabilities of automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform, and Cisco NSO

  • 5.7 Identify the workflow being automated by a Python script that uses Cisco APIs including ACI, Meraki, Cisco Catalyst Center, and RESTCONF

  • 5.8 Interpret the workflow being automated by an Ansible playbook (management packages, user management related to services, basic service configuration, and start/stop)

  • 5.9 Interpret the workflow being automated by a bash script (such as file management, app install, user management, directory navigation)

  • 5.10 Interpret the results of a RESTCONF or NETCONF query

  • 5.11 Interpret basic YANG models

  • 5.12 Interpret a unified diff

  • 5.13 Describe the principles and benefits of a code review process

  • 5.14 Interpret a sequence diagram that includes API calls

6.0 Network Fundamentals (15%)

  • 6.1 Describe the purpose and usage of MAC addresses and VLANs

  • 6.2 Describe the purpose and usage of IP addresses, routes, subnet mask / prefix, and gateways

  • 6.3 Describe the function of common networking components (such as switches, routers, firewalls, and load balancers)

  • 6.4 Interpret a basic network topology diagram with elements such as switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, and port values

  • 6.5 Describe the function of management, data, and control planes in a network device

  • 6.6 Describe the functionality of these IP Services: DHCP, DNS, NAT, SNMP, NTP

  • 6.7 Recognize common protocol port values (such as, SSH, Telnet, HTTP, HTTPS, and NETCONF)

  • 6.8 Diagnose application connectivity issues (NAT problem, Transport Port blocked, proxy, and VPN)

  • 6.9 Explain the impacts of network constraints on applications

Detailed Breakdown

Software Development: * Python basics * Git version control * Data formats (JSON, XML, YAML) * Software development methodologies

APIs: * REST API concepts * API authentication (OAuth, tokens) * Parsing API responses * Error handling

Cisco Platforms: * DNA Center APIs * Meraki Dashboard API * Webex APIs * Cisco SD-WAN (vManage) * Network Services Orchestrator (NSO)

Automation: * Ansible basics * Terraform concepts * CI/CD pipelines

Study Resources

  • Cisco DevNet Learning Labs (free)

  • DevNet Sandbox environments

  • netapi project as portfolio piece

Portfolio Evidence

Your netapi project demonstrates DevNet competencies:

DevNet Topic netapi Implementation

REST APIs

ISE ERS, OpenAPI, MnT integrations

Python

Click CLI framework, httpx async

Data parsing

JSON/XML response handling, jq transforms

Authentication

Basic auth, mTLS, OAuth patterns

Cisco platforms

ISE, WLC 9800, pfSense integrations

Automation

CLI-driven infrastructure automation

Kernel Relevance

DevNet skills apply to kernel development tooling:

DevNet Topic Kernel Connection

Git

Essential for kernel patch workflow

Python

Kernel scripts, coccinelle, documentation

CI/CD

KernelCI, automated testing

APIs

sysfs, procfs interfaces

Automation

Kernel build automation, testing

Certification Path

ITIL Foundation ──────────────────→ ITIL Managing Professional
                                    (4 exams)

DevNet Associate ──────────────────→ DevNet Professional
                                     β”‚
                                     β”œβ”€β”€ DevNet Specialist (IoT, DC, etc.)
                                     β”‚
                                     └── DevNet Expert (CCIE DevNet)

Automation Ecosystem

Tool DevNet Coverage Your Experience

Ansible

Basics covered

Thomas Howard ISE patterns, domus-automation-ops

Terraform

Concepts only

domus-terraform IaC project

Python

Core requirement

netapi, ISE automation

Git

Version control

All domus-* repositories

Daily Application

  • netapi CLI for ISE/pfSense/WLC automation

  • Ansible playbooks for ISE certificate deployment

  • Terraform infrastructure definitions

  • CI/CD pipelines for documentation (Cloudflare Pages)

  • Git workflows across 20+ repositories