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Cisco NX-OS data centre practice labs

15 guided labs on Nexus 9000v switches running NX-OS 9.3(10), for the NX-OS topics of Cisco’s DCCOR exam. Work with features and the management plane, OSPF and MP-BGP with tenant VRFs, PIM, HSRP and VRRP, LACP and Rapid PVST, vPC and VXLAN EVPN. Then automate with NX-API, Python, Bash, Guest Shell and EEM, secure the switch with AAA and RBAC, fix two broken pods and commission one in a capstone.

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Standard for a month, £75.00, runs every lab here, with nothing extra to pay for the guided labs. 10 of the 15 labs also run in the free demo.

Guided labs
15
Follows
The NX-OS topics of Cisco DCCOR 350-601 (v1.2)
Runs every lab
Standard
Devices
Alpine Linux, Nexus 9000v, IOSv, EVE-NG GUI server and IOSvL2

Who these labs are for

For engineers preparing for DCCOR 350-601 or moving into data centre work. You should already be comfortable with OSPF, BGP and Layer 2 switching.

The virtual Nexus doesn’t do everything real hardware does: SPAN and DHCP snooping are accepted but do nothing, and NetFlow, MACsec, Dynamic ARP Inspection, IP Source Guard and RA Guard aren’t available. The labs say so. ACI, compute, storage and Nexus Dashboard are concept notes only, because they aren’t hosted here.

The 15 labs

Every lab in the folder, as the workspace lists them, with what each runs and the smallest plan that fits. Read on 2 November 2026.

Cisco NX-OS data centre course 15 labs

Shared folderCisco Nexus NX-OS data centre guided labs

From NX-OS basics through routing, vPC and VXLAN EVPN to automation and security, then two troubleshooting labs and a capstone.

  1. 01NX-OS features and the management plane

    Bring a factory-fresh Nexus switch under management: learn how NX-OS is put together, use the management VRF, switch on features, connect a first host, and add secure access, SNMP and syslog.

    1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    4 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  2. 02OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 on NX-OS

    Bring a Nexus switch into a two-area routed design: interface-based OSPFv2, a stub area with a summary, a passive server VLAN, then OSPFv3 beside it. Then follow one packet from the routing table down to the forwarding table.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  3. 03MP-BGP address families and tenant VRFs

    Peer a Nexus switch with a carrier and a core router over IPv4, IPv6 and a tenant VRF. Each address family is switched on per neighbour, and peer templates and route policy keep the configuration tidy.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  4. 04PIM sparse mode and multicast flow

    Carry a real multicast stream through a Nexus switch with PIM sparse mode: a rendezvous point, a shared tree, the switch to the shortest path, and a source-specific group that needs no RP at all.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  5. 05HSRP and VRRP gateways

    Give a server VLAN a gateway that survives failure. A Nexus switch and an IOSv router share HSRP for one virtual address and VRRP for another, and object tracking moves the gateway when the uplink fails.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  6. 06LACP and Rapid PVST on NX-OS

    Bundle two links into an LACP port-channel between a Nexus switch and an access switch, then use Rapid PVST+ to load-share two VLANs across two paths and fail over between them.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSvL2, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,936 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  7. 07vPC with one port-channel to two Nexus switches

    Pair two Nexus switches as a vPC domain so a dual-homed server runs one LACP port-channel to both. Add a shared gateway, then fail the member link, the peer link and the keepalive, and see why each one matters.

    2× Alpine Linux, 2× Nexus 9000v

    6 vCPU, 13,312 MBFits Standard

  8. 08VXLAN EVPN on two leaves

    Stretch a VLAN between two Nexus leaves over a plain routed network. OSPF gives you the underlay, iBGP EVPN the control plane, and VXLAN carries the frames. Then add an anycast gateway and an L3 VNI, so a tenant routes between subnets inside the fabric.

    3× Alpine Linux, 2× Nexus 9000v, 1× IOSv

    8 vCPU, 14,336 MBFits Standard

  9. 09NX-API on-box Python Bash and Guest Shell

    Drive a Nexus switch the way a program does: NX-API calls in JSON and XML from a workstation, a Python script that changes VLANs, Bash and Python on the switch itself, Guest Shell, and an Ansible playbook you can run twice with no harm.

    1× Nexus 9000v, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    3 vCPU, 7,168 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  10. 10EEM applets and the scheduler

    Make N1 look after itself. Embedded Event Manager applets block a dangerous command and bring up a standby uplink the moment the primary fails, and the scheduler saves the configuration on a timer.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  11. 11AAA RBAC key chains and first-hop security

    Lock down a Nexus switch. Build a custom role and prove what it can and can't do, authenticate OSPF through a key chain, send logins to a TACACS+ server with a safe fallback, and add DHCP snooping and port security on the server VLAN.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    6 vCPU, 8,704 MBFits Standard

  12. 12Checkpoints rollback and monitoring

    Make a change safely. Take a checkpoint, break something on purpose, read exactly what changed and roll it back in one command. Then look at how a Nexus switch is monitored: SPAN, on-box capture and logs, and what this virtual image can and can't show.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSv, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  13. 13Troubleshooting a broken Nexus pod

    A change window went badly and tenants are down. Work from symptoms to causes through six layered faults: a host in the wrong VLAN, two OSPF adjacencies, an iBGP session, a route that hides another and a one-way path.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× Nexus 9000v

    5 vCPU, 7,680 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  14. 14Troubleshooting a VXLAN EVPN fabric

    Tenant traffic has stopped on a two-leaf EVPN fabric. Work from the underlay up through BGP and the overlay to the tenant's L3 VNI, and clear four faults that each hide the next.

    3× Alpine Linux, 2× Nexus 9000v, 1× IOSv

    8 vCPU, 14,336 MBFits Standard

  15. 15Capstone commissioning a Nexus pod

    Commission a two-switch Nexus pod from a one-page brief, with no step-by-step: vPC, gateways on both VLANs, authenticated routing, a read-only role, a saved golden state and automatic safeguards.

    2× Alpine Linux, 2× Nexus 9000v, 1× IOSv

    7 vCPU, 13,824 MBFits Standard

Devices and images

The exact Add Node images the labs use, and the vCPU and RAM their nodes are set to. Your plan counts what each running node is set to.

Devices and images in the Cisco NX-OS data centre practice labs, as read on 2 November 2026
DeviceImage in Add NodeSet toLabsNodes
Alpine Linuxclbalpinebase-alpine-base-3-20-31 vCPU, 512 MB1422
Cisco Nexus 9000vnxosv9k-9300v-9.3.102 vCPU, 6,144 MB1519
Cisco IOSvvios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.159-3.M61 vCPU, 512 MB1118
EVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 1,024 MB33
Cisco IOSvL2viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.ssa.high_iron_202009291 vCPU, 768 MB11

Browse every image in the Add Node list

How to open the labs

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder Cisco Nexus NX-OS data centre guided labs.

  3. Open a lab and start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the steps.

The labs are read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change a lab, rebuild it in your own folder.

The Shared folder in the EVE-NG File Manager, recorded on 2 November 2026 with a test account.
The EVE-NG File Manager open on the read-only Shared folder: one folder per guided course, including Arista EOS, BGP in depth, CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, CCNA, CCNP ENARSI and ENCOR, Check Point, Cisco ASA, Cisco Nexus NX-OS, CompTIA Network Plus and FortiGate
A guided CCNA lab with its Lab Tasks pane, recorded on 1 November 2026 with a test account.
A guided CCNA lab open in EVE-NG with its nodes running: four routers and two PCs on the canvas, and the Lab Tasks pane beside them with the scenario, the addressing plan and the first task

Questions about the Cisco NX-OS data centre labs

Are these Cisco NX-OS data centre labs free?

They’re included with every lab plan, with nothing extra to pay, rather than free. Plans start at £3 a day or £0.50 an hour. To try one first, the free demo gives you 30 minutes with 6 vCPU and 8 GB, enough to run 10 of these labs.

Which plan do I need for these labs?

Standard, with 12 vCPU and 16 GB, runs every lab here. Lite runs 10 of the 15. EVE-NG admits a node by the vCPU and RAM configured on it, so a lab needs the total its running nodes are set to. The biggest here, “VXLAN EVPN on two leaves”, needs 8 vCPU and 14,336 MB. Each lab’s Lab Tasks pane names the plan it needs.

Can I change these labs?

You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but the labs are read-only: changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change one, rebuild it in your own folder.

Are these labs from Cisco?

No. CloudLabBox wrote them to follow the topics of the NX-OS topics of DCCOR, Cisco’s CCNP Data Center core exam (350-601 v1.2). ACI, compute and storage are concept notes only, so this isn’t full exam preparation. They aren’t training material from Cisco, and CloudLabBox is independent of Cisco.

Which plan do I need?

10 of the 15 labs fit Lite. Labs 07, 08, 11, 14 and 15 need Standard.

How long do the Nexus switches take to start?

About 10 minutes, and each feature line can take up to a minute. Honour-based licence warnings are normal, as lab 01 explains.

Does it cover the whole DCCOR exam?

No. It covers the topics that run on NX-OS. ACI, compute, storage, Nexus Dashboard, telemetry and MACsec appear as concept notes only.

Try a lab before you choose

The free demo is a real workspace for 30 minutes, with 6 vCPU and 8 GB: enough to run 10 of these labs. No card and no email.

Try it free for 30 minutesStart this course

Plans from £3 a day or £0.50 an hour, each with every guided lab.

More practice labs

CloudLabBox is independent of Cisco. The labs follow exam topics and aren’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.