- The 300-420 ENSLD v1.1 exam runs 90 minutes, costs USD 300 plus tax, and is delivered through Pearson VUE.
- Advanced Addressing and Routing Solutions and Advanced Enterprise Campus Networks each carry 25% of the exam.
- The March 19, 2026 minor update keeps v1.1 and adds BGP confederations, NSF/NSR and multicast service-reflection.
- Passing earns Cisco Certified Specialist - Enterprise Design and satisfies the CCNP Enterprise concentration requirement.
The 300-420 Exam Snapshot
Designing Cisco Enterprise Networks, exam code 300-420 (ENSLD), is Cisco's concentration exam for enterprise network design. This page condenses the facts you need into one scannable review. It is built for the final stretch of preparation, after you have already worked through a full course of study. If you are earlier in the process, start with the ENSLD study guide and come back here to check your recall.
| Item | What to Remember |
|---|---|
| Exam | 300-420 ENSLD, version 1.1 (Designing Cisco Enterprise Networks) |
| Provider | Pearson VUE |
| Fee | USD 300 plus applicable tax |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Languages | English and Japanese |
| Format | Proctored written exam, closed-book |
| Delivery | Test center, or OnVUE online where eligible |
| Prerequisites | None formally required |
| Passing score | Set statistically by Cisco; see the ENSLD passing score breakdown |
Two points deserve emphasis. First, there are no formal prerequisites, but the content assumes working knowledge at the level of the CCNP Enterprise core. Second, because Cisco determines passing thresholds statistically, no fixed percentage should be treated as a guaranteed target. Aim for comfortable mastery of every domain rather than a number you read in a forum.
Domain Weights at a Glance
The exam objectives define five domains totaling 100%. The two heaviest domains together account for half of the exam, so they deserve proportional study time.
| Domain | Weight | Core Theme |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Advanced Addressing and Routing Solutions | 25% | IGP/BGP design, summarization, scalability |
| 2. Advanced Enterprise Campus Networks | 25% | Layer 2/3 campus, wireless, SD-Access |
| 3. WAN for Enterprise Networks | 20% | Transport options, SD-WAN, resiliency |
| 4. Network Services | 20% | QoS, multicast, network management |
| 5. Automation | 10% | Model-driven programmability and tooling |
For a deeper walk through each area, see the complete ENSLD exam domains guide. The sections below give the compressed version.
Domain 1: Advanced Addressing and Routing Solutions (25%)
This domain tests whether you can design a routing architecture that scales, converges predictably and survives growth or mergers. Think in terms of hierarchy, summarization boundaries and failure domains.
Routing Design Must-Knows
Expect scenarios asking which protocol, area structure or policy best fits a stated business requirement.
- OSPF and EIGRP design: area hierarchy, stub types, summarization points and how they limit the blast radius of a failure
- BGP design for the enterprise: iBGP scaling with route reflectors and confederations, and eBGP policy at the edge
- Route redistribution risks: routing loops, suboptimal paths and the controls used to prevent them
- Fast convergence concepts such as tuned timers, BFD and NSF/NSR for graceful failover
- IPv4 and IPv6 addressing plans that support summarization and future growth
The March 19, 2026 minor update retains the v1.1 designation but adds BGP confederations, NSF/NSR and multicast service-reflection to the scope. That makes confederations a legitimate exam topic alongside route reflectors, so be ready to compare them: both reduce the iBGP full-mesh requirement, but they do it with different structures. Confederations split an AS into sub-autonomous systems, while route reflectors introduce a reflection hierarchy.
Domain 2: Advanced Enterprise Campus Networks (25%)
This domain covers the physical and logical design of the campus, including how wired, wireless and fabric-based designs fit together.
Campus Design Must-Knows
Know the trade-offs between classic hierarchical and modern fabric approaches.
- Hierarchical models: access, distribution and core layers, and when a collapsed core is appropriate
- Layer 2 versus routed-access designs, including first-hop redundancy and spanning-tree considerations
- High availability: redundant links, stacking or virtualization of switches, and sub-second recovery goals
- Wireless design: controller placement, mobility, roaming and capacity or coverage planning
- Software-defined access concepts: fabric roles, segmentation with virtual networks and policy-based group tagging
Questions here often present a campus with a stated pain point, such as a large Layer 2 domain, slow failover or inconsistent policy, and ask which redesign addresses it. Practice naming the problem first, then the architectural fix.
Domain 3: WAN for Enterprise Networks (20%)
The WAN domain asks you to match transport and overlay choices to business requirements such as cost, performance, security and branch scale.
WAN Design Must-Knows
Be able to compare options rather than recite features in isolation.
- Transport types: private circuits, Metro Ethernet, internet-based links and cellular backup, with their cost and SLA trade-offs
- Overlay and VPN design choices, and when dynamic multipoint approaches beat static tunnels
- SD-WAN architecture: separation of control, management and data planes, and policy-based path selection
- Branch resiliency: dual transports, dual routers and failover behavior
- Internet access design: centralized breakout versus local breakout and the security implications of each
A reliable heuristic: if the scenario stresses many branches, rapid rollout and application-aware path control, SD-WAN concepts are usually in play. If it stresses guaranteed latency on a few critical sites, expect private transport to feature in the best answer.
Domain 4: Network Services (20%)
Network Services covers the supporting capabilities that make a design usable in production: quality of service, multicast and management or monitoring design.
Services Must-Knows
Design decisions here are about policy placement and protocol suitability.
- QoS design: classification and marking at the trust boundary, queuing and policing or shaping at congestion points
- Multicast design: PIM modes, rendezvous point placement and redundancy, and how group traffic flows across the campus and WAN
- Multicast service-reflection, newly added in the March 2026 minor update, which translates multicast traffic between address spaces
- Network management and telemetry: what to monitor, how to collect it and how it supports operations
- Supporting services such as DHCP, DNS and time synchronization placed with redundancy in mind
Domain 5: Automation (10%)
Automation is the lightest domain at 10%, but it is also the one candidates most often under-prepare. The exam is a design exam, so the focus is on understanding programmability concepts and where they fit, not on writing production scripts.
Automation Must-Knows
Know what each technology is for and how data is modeled and transported.
- Model-driven programmability concepts: data models, and the protocols and encodings used to exchange configuration and telemetry
- REST APIs and how controllers expose network functions to external tools
- Configuration management and orchestration tools, and how they enforce consistency across devices
- Streaming telemetry compared with traditional polling
- How automation supports design goals such as repeatability and reduced human error
Because this domain carries the smallest weight, it is a good place to pick up points efficiently once the larger domains are solid. Do not skip it, though; a handful of unfamiliar-concept questions can cost more than expected.
Credential, Renewal and Logistics Facts
Beyond content, a few credential details are worth memorizing so you are never surprised on exam day or afterward.
What Passing Earns
Passing 300-420 earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Enterprise Design certification and fulfills the concentration requirement for CCNP Enterprise. Full CCNP Enterprise also requires the ENCOR core exam, so ENSLD is only half of that path. If you are weighing whether the investment makes sense, the ENSLD ROI analysis and the salary guide cover the career side, and ENSLD jobs looks at the roles that value design skills.
Renewal Cycle
| Credential | Validity | Renewal Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist - Enterprise Design | Three years | 40 CE credits earned before expiry |
| CCNP Enterprise | Three years | 80 CE credits |
Exam-Day Mechanics
- Registration and scheduling go through Pearson VUE, with test-center and eligible OnVUE online options.
- The fee is USD 300 plus applicable tax; see the full certification cost breakdown for what else to budget.
- The exam is closed-book and subject to confidentiality rules, so do not expect reference material during the test.
- You have 90 minutes, which rewards steady pacing; flag long scenarios and return to them rather than stalling.
For eligibility questions, read the ENSLD requirements page, and for scheduling, the ENSLD exam dates guide. If you are still sizing up the challenge, how hard the ENSLD exam is offers a realistic view, and the pass rate discussion explains why published numbers should be treated cautiously.
Sequencing Your Final Review
If you are using this cheat sheet in your last few weeks, order your review by weight and by dependency. Routing and campus carry the most points and underpin later topics, so they come first.
Addressing and Routing
- Re-drill OSPF, EIGRP and BGP design trade-offs
- Compare route reflectors and confederations side by side
- Review summarization and redistribution failure cases
Campus Networks
- Walk through hierarchical, routed-access and fabric designs
- Review wireless design and high-availability options
WAN and Network Services
- Compare transport and SD-WAN scenarios
- Revisit QoS placement, multicast and service-reflection
Automation and Mixed Practice
- Cover programmability concepts and telemetry
- Take timed mixed-domain practice sets and review every miss
Use the ENSLD practice tests to simulate the 90-minute pacing and to find which design scenarios you still misread. Reviewing why a plausible-looking option is wrong is more valuable than simply tallying a score.
Key Takeaway
Treat every question as a requirements-matching exercise. Identify the constraint in the scenario, eliminate options that violate it, and choose the design that satisfies it with the least added complexity.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is Cisco's Designing Cisco Enterprise Networks exam, version 1.1. It is a 90-minute proctored written exam delivered through Pearson VUE, and passing it earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Enterprise Design certification. For background, see what ENSLD is.
Advanced Addressing and Routing Solutions and Advanced Enterprise Campus Networks are the largest at 25% each. WAN for Enterprise Networks and Network Services are 20% each, and Automation is 10%.
No. Cisco's minor update dated March 19, 2026 retains the v1.1 designation but adds BGP confederations, NSF/NSR and multicast service-reflection to the scope, so make sure your study materials cover them.
Not by itself. ENSLD fulfills the concentration requirement, but CCNP Enterprise also requires the ENCOR core exam. Passing ENSLD alone earns the Specialist - Enterprise Design credential.
The Specialist award is valid for three years and renews with 40 continuing education credits earned before it expires. Full CCNP Enterprise also runs on a three-year cycle but requires 80 CE credits.