Implementing Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services ENARSI 300-410: Everything You Need to Know to Prepare and Pass the Exam

In this article, I am going to cover every bit of detail that you need to get started, to prepare and pass the Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services or the ENARSI 300-410 exam. If you are already up to speed on what this exam is all about, you can go ahead and download my 65-hour ENARSI learning plan by submitting the form shown below.

Introduction

The Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services or the ENARSI 300-410 exam is one of the many new exams that Cisco announced in June 2019 as part of their most sweeping career certification program update since inception (all the way back to 1993!). Not only did Cisco announce newer exams, they also revised rules for recertification as well as introduced the brand new Cisco DevNet certification. All exam and rule changes went into effect on February 24 2020.

The Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services or the ENARSI 300-410 is both a CCIE and a CCNP level concentration exam. It is the exam that you may want to pass if you are gearing up for your CCNP Enterprise certification or the CCNP or CCIE recertification. For CCNP, it is one of the two exams that you need to pass, the other is the 350-401 ENCOR exam. Last but not least, there is no CCNA R&S or Enterprise certification in the newer program format, i.e. the Enterprise specializations now start at the CCNP level.

Retired Exams

Cisco ENARSI 300-410 exam (along with the other 300 series concentration and 350-401 ENCOR exams) replaces the following older CCNP R&S exams.

Older CCNP Routing and Switching (R&S) Exams

• ROUTE
• SWITCH
• TSHOOT

ENARSI Exam Topics or Objectives

The Cisco ENARSI 300-410 exam topics include four sections. Based on my analysis of the official ENARSI exam blueprint, 55% of the exam topics covered within the official ENARSI exam blueprint contain theoretical topics whereas the other 45% of the topics necessitate some level of hands-on activity.

1. Layer 3 Technologies (35% weight or 35 questions)
2. VPN Technologies (20% weight or 20 questions)
3. Infrastructure Security (20% weight or 20 questions)
4. Infrastructure Services (25% weight or 25 questions)

Let’s now cover each of the exam sections as defined in the official Cisco ENARSI exam blueprint.

Layer 3 Technologies

This section includes topics such as the routing protocol fundamentals, policy-based routing, VRF-lite, OSPFv2/OSPFv3, BGP, and troubleshooting EIGRP. About 10% of the content in this section is about theory, whereas 90% requires hands-on.

VPN Technologies

This section comprises of topics such as the MPLS operations, L3VPNs, and DMVPN. About 66% of the content in this section is about theory, whereas 33% requires hands-on.

Infrastructure Security

This section consists of security related topics such as the AAA, router security, CoPP, first-hop router security. About 25% of the content in this section is about theory, whereas the other 75% requires hands-on.

Infrastructure Services

This section comprises of topics such as the device management, SNMP, logging, IP SLA, DNA Center Assurance and NetFlow. About 50% of the content in this section is about theory, whereas the other 50% requires hands-on.

If you compare the ENARSI exam with the Cisco ENCOR exam, you’ll notice that the two exams are complementary and together closely match the content of the now retired 400-101 CCIE R&S written exam.

CCNP Enterprise Concentration Exams

In the newer exam format, to get CCNP Enterprise certified, you need to pass one of the six concentration exams (ENARSI is one of them) as well as the ENCOR core exam. All concentration exams carry 300 series numbering, for example ENARSI exam is numbered as the 300-410.

1. ENARSI
2. ENSDWI (SD-WAN)
3. ENSLD
4. ENWLSD
5. ENWLSI
6. ENAUTO

ENARSI Exam and Job Task Analysis (JTA)

JTA is about the exam alignment with the actual role that you’re required to perform as an Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services engineer. So, what are the actual roles that are out there that you can work in Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services space today.

1. Architect / Design Engineer
2. Operations Engineer
3. Network Engineer
4. Network Automation Engineer

Now, based on those four roles, we can easily see that the ENARSI exam maps nicely to the all of the Enterprise network engineer type roles with the exception of Network Automation Engineer. It obviously only scratches the surface for each of those roles and mastery requires passing more of the Enterprise concentration exams.

ENARSI and Core Exam Costs or Fees

Each attempt at ENARSI exam costs $300, like it does for all 300 series exams. Likewise, fee for each attempt at the core exams happens to be $400, again like it is for all other 350 series core exams.

CCNP and CCIE Enterprise Certification and Recertification Costs or Fees

Given that you need to pass once concentration exam such as the ENARSI and the ENCOR 350-401 exam, CCNP Enterprise certification would cost you $700. For CCIE, it obviously goes up as you need to pass both the ENCOR exam as theory (or written) exam as well as the Enterprise Lab or the hands-on exam, so we’re talking about $400 + $1600 or $2000 total.

For recertification, things get more interesting, since you’ve multiple options. For CCNP Enterprise, you’ve got the following four options.

1. Pass ENCOR exam again ($400)
2. Pass any 2x concentration exams ($600)
3. Pass any CCIE Lab exam ($1600)
4. Use Cisco Learning Credits >=80

For the CCIE Enterprise recertification, you’ve got the following four options.

1. Pass ENARSI exam and 1x Concentration exam again ($700)
2. Pass any 3x concentration exams ($900)
3. Pass any CCIE Lab exam ($1600)
4. Use Cisco Learning Credits >=120

It is worth noting that in the newer Cisco certification program format, all certification cycles last three years.

ENARSI Exam Preparation

It is mostly run-of-the-mill concentration exam out there, esp. if you have a routing and switching background.

If you look at the older 400-101 routing and switching written exam, you can notice that all topics belong to one of the two areas and infrastructure related topics are about half of the exam.

1. Protocols or Cisco technologies (about 55% of the exam)
2. Infrastructure (about 45% of the exam)

Now, in the ENARSI, protocols and Cisco technologies remain the largest exam area however most if not all of the infrastructure and protocols topics are carried over from the older R&S written exam. In my analysis, here is what you can expect.

If you’ve done CCNA Routing and Switching (R&S), then you’re likely to find about 73%.

If you’ve done CCNP Routing and Switching (R&S), then you’re likely to find about 92%.

If you’ve done CCIE Routing and Switching (R&S), then you’re likely to find about 98% or pretty much a walk in the park.

ENARSI 65-Hour Learning and Study Plan

Now, to help you get started, I have put together a comprehensive 65-hour learning plan that you can follow to guide your ENARSI exam prep. Watch the video below where I cover the ENARSI learning plan in detail.

ENARSI Practice Test

ENAUTO Exam (Concentration)

ENARSI Exam Prep Bundle

Cisco Enterprise Sandboxes

Currently Cisco offers Cisco IOS XE, and BGP related learning labs. You can get started by checking out the Cisco’s Enterprise Infrastructure sandboxes.