Developing Applications Using Cisco Core Platforms and APIs (DEVCOR)

In this Developing Applications Using Cisco Core Platforms and APIs course focuses on designing, securing, deploying, and operating modern applications that integrate tightly with network and infrastructure automation. It emphasizes maintainability, serviceability, and security as core design principles, ensuring applications can evolve safely while remaining observable, resilient, and easy to operate. Students learn how to apply ChatOps, REST APIs, and automation workflows to streamline application development and operational processes across both application and network domains.

The curriculum explores advanced integration techniques, including secure REST API consumption, data modeling with YANG, and interaction with relational, document, time-series, and graph databases. Distributed systems concepts are introduced to help students understand scalability, state management, and service orchestration in complex environments. Application deployment and release automation are covered through CI/CD pipelines, containerization with Docker, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform, Ansible, and GitLab CI/CD, bridging the gap between application teams and network operations.

Hands-on labs reinforce these concepts by guiding students through real-world tasks such as constructing sequence diagrams, implementing REST error handling, identifying and remediating OWASP vulnerabilities, resolving source control conflicts, and diagnosing issues through application logs. Learners also gain practical experience automating Cisco IOS XE and Firepower infrastructure, using RESTCONF for network configuration, and querying multiple database types. By the end of the course, students are prepared to design and operate secure, automated, and scalable applications integrated with modern network and infrastructure platforms.

How You'll Benefit

This training will help you: 

• Take full advantage of the network and software development practices when implementing applications to fulfill business needs
• Design and implement automated workflows for network provisioning
• Design and develop applications built on Cisco platforms
• Design and implement integration of custom applications with Cisco platforms and devices
• Understand challenges in network programmability and system integration
• Gain knowledge for protocols, solutions, and designs to acquire professional-level and expert-level DevOps roles
• Earn 64 CE credits toward recertification

Upon completing this course, the student will be able to meet these objectives:

• Describe the architectural traits and patterns that improve application maintainability and serviceability
• Identify steps to design and build a ChatOps application
• Implement robust Representational State Transfer (REST) API integrations with network error handling, pagination, and error flow control
• Describe the necessary steps for applications and their user and system data
• Identify common tasks in automated application release process
• Describe best practices for application deployment
• Describe methodologies for designing distributed systems
• Describe the concepts of infrastructure configuration management and device automation
• Utilize Yet Another Next Generation (YANG) data models to describe network configurations and telemetry
• Compare various relational and nonrelational database types and how to select the appropriate type based on requirements

What to Expect in the Exam

350-901: Developing Applications Using Cisco Core Platforms and APIs is a 120-minute exam associated with the Cisco Certified DevNet Specialist – Core certification and satisfies the core exam requirement for the Cisco Certified DevNet Professional and Cisco Certified DevNet Expert certifications. 

The exam tests your knowledge of software development and design, including:  

• Using APIs
• Cisco platforms
• Application deployment and security
• Infrastructure and automation

The job roles best suited to the material in this course are:
• Senior Network Automation Engineer
• Senior Software Developer
• Senior System Integration Programmer
• Senior Infrastructure Architect
• Senior Network Designer
• Senior Test Development Engineer

The knowledge and skills you are expected to have before attending this training are: 

• Knowledge of program design and coding with focus on Python
• Familiarity with Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and internet-related networking
• Understand the utilization of APIs
• Understanding of software development and design methodologies
• Hands-on experience with a programming language (specifically Python)

These skills can be found in the following Cisco Learning Offering:  

• Developing Applications and Automating Workflows using Cisco Platforms 1.0

Module 1: Designing for Maintainability 

Module 2: Designing for Serviceability 

Module 3: Implementing ChatOps Application 

Module 4: Advanced REST API Integration 

Module 5: Securing Application Data 

Module 6: Securing Web and Mobile Applications 

Module 7: Automating Application Release 

Module 8: Deploying Applications 

Module 9: Exploring Distributed Systems 

Module 10: Orchestrating Network and Infrastructure 

Module 11: Modeling Data with YANG 

Module 12: Using Relational and Nonrelational Databases

LAB OUTLINE

Lab 1: Construct Sequence Diagram 

Lab 2: Construct Web Sequence Diagram 

Lab 3: Use Paginated REST API Endpoint 

Lab 4: Use REST API Error Control Flow Techniques 

Lab 5: Evaluate Application for Common OWASP Vulnerabilities 

Lab 6: Resolve Merge Conflicts with Git 

Lab 7: Containerize Application Using Docker 

Lab 8: Integrate Application into Existing CI/CD Environment 

Lab 9: Diagnose Problems Using Application Logs 

Lab 10: Automate and Manage Cisco IOS XE Network Infrastructure with Terraform and GitLab CI/CD Pipelines 

Lab 11: Configure Network Parameters Using Ansible 

Lab 12: Synchronize Firepower Device Configuration 

Lab 13: Utilize RESTCONF for Network Configuration 

Lab 14: Query Relational Database 

Lab 15: Query Document Store 

Lab 16: Query Time Series Database 

Lab 17: Query Graph Database