One of the most common questions I get from CCDE candidates is: “What should I read?” and “Where should I start?”
This post is the CCDE reading list I actually used to pass the CCDE written (400-007) and practical exams. I have organized everything into my O’Reilly playlist, publicly accessible, so you can follow it directly if you have an O’Reilly subscription.

This list includes full books, individual chapters, and video courses. Some chapters were selected for their specific content, while the video courses provide a complementary perspective on subjects covered in the books.

Please note that this post covers reading material only. Courses, bootcamps, practice exams, and my overall study strategy will be covered in another companion post.

This post is the second in a series about my CCDE certification journey. The first post covers exam-day tips and tricks for the practical. And a third post covers the full CCDE journey.

CCDE Reading List — Books for the Written and Lab Exam

My O’Reilly playlist

I have organized everything into my O’Reilly playlist, which is publicly accessible even without an O’Reilly subscription. To read the books, you will need a subscription, but not to view the list of books. I’ll keep this list alive and regularly update it.

Cisco book list

Cisco publishes an official CCDE book list, but it appears not to have been updated since 2020. Some books on the list are now outdated or have been superseded by newer editions. Furthermore, some of the most valuable resources for the current exam are not included. This is why I have created my own list.

The Core Reading List — Must-Reads

If you only have time for a focused list, these are the books I would tell every CCDE candidate to read. They cover the foundation of network design thinking, the key technology domains, and the exam itself.

Applicable primarily to the written exam:

Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE 400-007) Official Cert Guide — Zig Zsiga. The obvious starting point for the written exam. Covers the entire blueprint and gives you a structured understanding of all domains. Read this one first to understand what you are preparing for.
Cisco Software-Defined Wide Area Networks — Jason Gooley, Dana Yanch, Dustin Schuemann & John Curran. SD-WAN is a significant part of the current CCDE blueprint. This is the reference book for it.
CCIE and CCDE Evolving Technologies Study Guide — Brad Edgeworth, Jason Gooley & Ramiro Garza Rios. Focused specifically on the exams’ evolving technologies components.

For both written and lab exams:

The Art of Network Architecture: Business-Driven Design — Russ White & Denise Donohue. The most important book for the CCDE mindset. It teaches you to think about network design from a business constraints & requirements perspective, which is exactly what the exam demands.
Top-Down Network Design, 3rd Edition — Priscilla Oppenheimer. A classic, but still very relevant. The methodology it teaches, starting from business goals and working down to technology choices, is directly aligned with how the CCDE exam is structured. Slightly dated in some technology areas, but the design thinking is timeless.
Routing TCP/IP Volume I, 2nd Edition — Jeff Doyle & Jennifer Carroll. The definitive reference for IGP protocols and routing fundamentals. Deep, thorough, and essential for both the written and the practical. If you’re preparing for the CCDE, you’ve probably already read this book and Vol. II as well.
Routing TCP/IP Volume II, 2nd Edition — Jeff Doyle complements Volume 1 with BGP, multicast, and advanced topics. Together, the two volumes give you the protocol depth the CCDE requires.
Definitive MPLS Network Designs — Jim Guichard, François Le Faucheur & Jean-Philippe Vasseur. Still the reference for MPLS design. On Cisco’s official list as Highly Recommended, and for good reason.
Designing for Cisco Network Service Architectures (ARCH) Foundation Learning Guide, 4th Edition — Marwan Al-Shawi & Andre Laurent. Broad coverage of enterprise and service provider design. The 4th edition is significantly updated from the version on Cisco’s 2020 list. “ARCH” was the CCDP-core exam for the CCDP certification. I still don’t understand why Cisco discontinued this certification…
End-to-End QoS Network Design, 2nd Edition — Tim Szigeti, Christina Hattingh, Robert Barton, Kenneth Briley Jr. QoS is a recurring topic in CCDE scenarios. This is the reference.
Layer 2 VPN Architectures — Wei Luo, Carlos Pignataro, Dmitry Bokotey, Anthony Chan. Still relevant, still on Cisco’s official list, and still a solid read for L2 VPN design.
Optimal Routing Design — Russ White, Don Slice & Alvaro Retana. On Cisco’s official Highly Recommended list. Covers routing design trade-offs in a way that is directly applicable to CCDE scenario thinking.

Applicable primarily to the lab exam:

CCDE v3 Practice Labs: Preparing for the Cisco Certified Design Expert Lab Exam — Martin James Duggan. This book is specifically designed for the CCDE practical. It includes three highly realistic scenario-based labs carefully designed to match the exam’s complexity and format. Detailed debriefs explain the correct answers and the reasons for incorrect ones. This invaluable resource is essential for understanding how scenarios are structured and how to approach design questions under exam conditions. I strongly recommend completing these three simulations before taking the lab exam!

One essential resource not available on O’Reilly

In-Depth CCDE — Orhan Ergun
Available directly at orhanergun.net. A solid foundation for the practical exam, with real-life network design case studies, technology comparison charts, and full-length practice scenarios. I highly recommend this one!

The Full Reading List

Beyond the core essentials, here is everything else I read as part of my preparation, grouped by theme.

Routing Protocols & IGP Design

OSPF and IS-IS: Choosing an IGP for Large-Scale Networks — Jeff Doyle
BGP Design and Implementation — Randy Zhang & Micah Bartell
Internet Routing Architectures, 2nd Edition — Sam Halabi & Danny McPherson

Data Center

CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core DCCOR 350-601 Official Cert Guide, 2nd Edition — Somit Maloo, Iskren Nikolov & Firas Ahmed
Cloud Native Data Center Networking — Dinesh G. Dutt
Deploying Juniper Data Centers with EVPN VXLAN — Aninda Chatterjee. (Note: Juniper-focused, but the EVPN/VXLAN design concepts are vendor-agnostic and directly applicable.)

Enterprise Design

CCNP Enterprise Design ENSLD 300-420 Official Cert Guide — Anthony Bruno & Steve Jordan
CCDA 200-310 Official Cert Guide, 5th Edition — Anthony Bruno & Steve Jordan
CCDP ARCH 300-320, 4th Edition: Part I: Designing Reliable and Resilient Enterprise Layer 2 and Layer 3 Networks (part I) — Marwan Al-Shawi & Andre Laurent. (Note: I recommend reading the entire book; it’s on the “must-read” part above)
IP Multicast, Volume II: Advanced Multicast Concepts and Large-Scale Multicast Design — Josh Loveless, Ray Blair, Arvind Durai. (Note: this one should probably also be part of the “must-read” section)

WAN & Service Provider

Metro Ethernet: Challenges with All-Ethernet Metro Networks (part of chapter one) — Sam Halabi
Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN): Evolution of the WAN (chapter one) — Brad Edgeworth, Jean-Marc Barozet, David Prall, Anthony Lockhart, Nir Ben-Dvora
MPLS Fundamentals: The Evolution of MPLS (chapter one) — Luc De Ghein
Definitive MPLS Network Designs: National Telco Design Study (chapter four) — Jim Guichard, François Le Faucheur, Jean-Philippe Vasseur. (Note: I recommend reading the entire book; it’s on the “must-read” part above)

Security

Network Security Architectures — Sean Convery. Also on Cisco’s official list. Security design is a recurring theme in CCDE scenarios.

Network Thinking & Architecture

Computer Networking Problems and Solutions — Russ White & Ethan Banks. Excellent for building the problem-solving mindset the CCDE requires.
Technology Strategy Patterns — Eben Hewitt. The only non-networking book on the list. It teaches you to think about technology decisions in a business and strategic context, which is exactly the CCDE mindset. Highly recommended.

Video Courses

All video courses I watched were complements to the books; a different perspective on topics I had already read, which helped consolidate understanding.

All are available on O’Reilly:

Large-Scale Network Design (OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS, BGP) — Russ White & Alvaro Retana
Cisco Programmable Fabric with VXLAN, BGP EVPN — David Jansen & Lukas Krattiger
Understanding Network Transports — Russ White & Ethan Banks
Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) Routing Protocol — Russ White
Abstraction in Computer Networks — Russ White
Network Disaggregation Fundamentals — Russ White

What’s on My Reading List Next – The “Recently Added” part

The following books are in my O’Reilly playlist, but I have not yet read them. I am adding them here for completeness and because they are relevant to network design and architecture beyond the CCDE:

Network Architect’s Handbook — Alim H.
Navigating Network Complexity — Russ White & Jeff Tantsura
Practical BGP — Danny McPherson, Russ White & Sangli Srihari
Segment Routing in MPLS Networks — Hemant Sharma
Storage Networks Explained, 2nd Edition — Wolfgang Müller-Friedt et al.
OSPF: Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol — John T. Moy

I will keep adding books to this section as I continue reading. Consider it a living list, check back occasionally, or follow the O’Reilly playlist directly to see the latest additions.

And if you have questions or want to share your own reading list, feel free to leave a comment below.

There are three articles in this series about the CCDE:

CCDE Reading List