What Characterizes Cisco DNA Center and vManage Northbound APIs?

350-401 By islever Editorial Last updated

Short answer

C They implement the RESTCONF protocol.

Question

What is one characteristic of Cisco DNA Center and vManage northbound APIs?
  1. They push configuration changes down to devices.
  2. They exchange XML-formatted content.
  3. They implement the RESTCONF protocol. Correct Answer
  4. They implement the NETCONF protocol.

Key Takeaways

The question tests your ability to distinguish between application-layer protocol standards and data payload formats, warning against confusing northbound intent APIs with southbound configuration mechanisms.

This question evaluates understanding of Cisco SD-Architecture interfaces, specifically differentiating northbound intent APIs from southbound device protocols. The community consensus confirms that both platforms implement the RESTCONF protocol for their northbound programmatic interfaces.

Common mistake: Candidates frequently select XML-formatted content, mistaking a common REST payload type for the defining protocol characteristic. Others incorrectly choose NETCONF, erroneously applying southbound device-management protocols to the northbound management plane.

Expert Analysis

Northbound vs. Southbound Interface Roles

In Cisco’s “DNA” and SD-Access architectures, the system is logically divided into northbound and southbound interfaces. Northbound APIs expose business intent and platform capabilities to external applications, orchestrators, and developers. Southbound protocols handle the actual translation of those intents into device-specific commands.

Why RESTCONF is the Correct Answer

Both Cisco DNA Center and vManage expose their Intent APIs via RESTCONF (RFC 8040) over HTTPS. RESTCONF was specifically designed as a modern, standards-based replacement for legacy SOAP and proprietary XML interfaces, providing a clean, resource-oriented programming model. As noted by top-voted community members, these platforms leverage RESTCONF to allow external systems to query state and submit configuration intents programmatically.

Debunking the Distractors

  • Option A describes a southbound action. Northbound APIs do not push configurations directly to network devices; they receive high-level intent and translate it internally before using southbound protocols.
  • Option B focuses on data formatting. While RESTCONF can technically transmit XML, JSON is overwhelmingly preferred in Cisco’s ecosystem, and payload format is never the defining architectural characteristic tested here.
  • Option D cites NETCONF, which is primarily a southbound protocol used to configure underlying network elements (routers, switches, firewalls), not a northbound feature for external orchestration.

Understanding this strict separation of concerns is critical for passing the 350-401 exam and designing scalable automation workflows.

Official Reference

These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When tackling automation questions, immediately map the interface direction (northbound vs. southbound) to its primary function before evaluating protocol options. Memorize that northbound intent layers rely on RESTCONF/REST over HTTPS, while southbound device control utilizes NETCONF, RESTCONF, SNMP, and gRPC. This mental filter will instantly eliminate format-based distractors and misapplied southbound protocols.

Community Votes

C
81%
B
19%

81% of anonymous learners picked answer C. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 9 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 9

  1. benvz 👍 9 Answered C
    WRONG . One characteristic of Cisco DNA Center and vManage northbound APIs is that they implement the RESTCONF (RESTful Network Configuration Protocol) protocol. RESTCONF is a standard protocol that provides a programmatic interface for accessing and managing network devices. It is based on the principles of REST (Representational State Transfer) and uses HTTP methods (such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to perform operations on network resources. So, the correct answer is C. They implement the RESTCONF protocol.
  2. Tadese 👍 4 Answered C
    https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cloud-systems-management/network-automation-and-management/dna-center-platform/2-3-7/user-guide/b-dnac-platform-ug-2-3-7/b-dnac-platform-ug-2-3-7-chapter-01.html#:~:text=Intent%20APIs%3A%20The%20Intent%20APIs,mechanisms%20that%20implement%20that%20outcome.
  3. slacker_at_work 👍 3 Answered C
    Both Cisco DNA Center and vManage utilize RESTCONF for their northbound APIs, allowing them to provide a programmatic interface for managing and configuring network devices.
  4. teems5uk 👍 3 Answered C
    C. They implement the RESTCONF protocol.
  5. masrur 👍 2 Answered B
    Provided answer is correct: DNA Center uses REST APIs on Northbound interface. With this REST APIs, developers and users can communciate with DNA Center. On Southbound interface, DNA Center uses various protocols like RESTCONF, NETCONF etc. With this interface, DNA Center can communciate with the devices it manages. Under this interface there are both the devices that support SDN protocols like NETCONF, RESTCONF etc. and traditional devices that support SNMP,Telnet, SSH. Northbound interface specification consists of an XML DTD (data definition dictionary) specification that defines the data format to be exchanged between external applications and the Java API. The Northbound client application retrieves network topology and configuration through the Northbound Interface as XML data.
Show 4 more comments
  1. jmarko80 👍 2 Answered B
    Northbound API is RESTful using JSON/XML so B. C,D are incorrect because they are protocol used to configure "south device". The Vmanage soutbound interface is indeed Netconf/Restconf/SNMP etc. The A is incorrect because Vmanage doesn't push configuration soutbound. The correct answer is B, cause fomatted code in XML is a characteristic of Restful (northbound api)
  2. Marcinko 👍 1 Answered B
    I don't have a deep knowlede on automation but my choice would be B based on: northbound interface (intent API) which use REST API based on HTTP has the message body in JSON or XML format. The southbound interface (SDK) uses NETCONF and RESTCONF to communicate with the devices https://ipcisco.com/lesson/cisco-dna-center/
  3. Haidary 👍 1
    The answer is C: If you scroll up the questions you will find that.
  4. KZM 👍 2 Answered C
    RESTCONF

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