What Is SRA Certification?

What SRA Certification Actually Is

In this context, SRA stands for Nokia Service Routing Architect. It is a certification issued by Nokia and aimed at engineers who design, deploy and troubleshoot service-provider networks built on Nokia's 7750 Service Router platform and SR OS. If you have seen other credentials that share the same three letters, set them aside: they come from different organizations and have no relationship to this track. For a broader look at the acronym itself, see our explainers on what SRA is and what SRA stands for.

The credential is distinct from NRS I and NRS II. Where those earlier certifications establish foundational routing and services knowledge, SRA sits above them and concentrates on advanced service architecture: inter-domain BGP, Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPN services, quality of service, and Ethernet VPN. It culminates in a hands-on practical assessment rather than another multiple-choice exam, which is the single most important thing to understand about how the credential is earned.

Because SRA is a multi-exam certification, no single question count, duration or score applies to "the SRA exam." Each written exam is its own assessment, and the lab is a separate practical event. Anyone quoting one number for the whole certification is oversimplifying. If you want a candid take on difficulty, our guide on how hard the SRA exam is covers the demands in more depth.

The Current Route: Five Written Exams and a Lab

Effective September 8, 2026, the current route to SRA requires five written exams followed by the practical lab:

Course prerequisites listed by Nokia are preparation recommendations, not additional examination requirements, and training is not mandatory to attempt the exams. For a detailed look at eligibility rules, read our SRA requirements guide. For cost planning, there is no single overall exam fee to quote, so see the SRA certification cost breakdown and confirm current fees directly with the issuer.

The Six Preparation Groups

The content maps to six groups: five written-exam subjects and the practical lab. These are unweighted preparation groups, not a single weighted blueprint, so do not expect topic percentages. Our complete guide to the six SRA content areas expands on each.

Where the 4A0-C02 Composite Fits

Nokia offers an optional 4A0-C02 composite exam. It substitutes for only four of the written exams: 4A0-102, 4A0-105, 4A0-106 and 4A0-107. It does not replace 4A0-115, and it does not replace the practical lab. A candidate using the composite therefore still sits 4A0-115 and the ASRA4A0 lab.

How the Practical Lab Works

The ASRA4A0 lab is where the certification is truly earned. It lasts seven hours, delivered as two independent 3.5-hour sections, excluding a one-hour lunch. You design and implement live 7750 SR service networks, interoperate, diagnose performance problems and resolve faults, using either classic CLI or MD-CLI.

Topics must be both configured and verified, although not every published topic necessarily appears in a given sitting. This is a practical assessment, so there is no multiple-choice item count to speak of. The published scope breaks down like this:

• BGP: AS peering, messages and attributes, reflectors and confederations, advertisement and redistribution, route selection, policy and regular expressions, advertise-external, add-paths and FRR.
• QoS: classification, queues and buffers, policing and shaping, scheduling, rate limits and resources, hierarchical and egress scheduling, CFHP, marking, and application to Layer 2 and Layer 3 services.
• VPLS: SAP encapsulation and forwarding, MTU, FDB size and alarms, MAC aging, learning and discard, protection, OAM, BGP autodiscovery, BGP VPLS and LDP VPLS, STP and M-VPLS with RSTP, MC-LAG, pseudowire resilience, ring and full-mesh designs, H-VPLS and PBB scale.
• VPRN: MPLS and MP-BGP label signaling, RD and RT, VRF import and export, route selection, full-mesh, hub-spoke, extranet and Internet topologies, static, OSPF and BGP PE-CE routing, and inter-AS models A, B and C.

Notice what this implies: the written exams teach you what the features are and why they exist, while the lab demands you build them correctly under time pressure and then prove they work. Candidates who treat the written stage as a memorization exercise tend to struggle most when the lab asks them to troubleshoot an unfamiliar fault. Our SRA study guide discusses how to prepare for that transition.

What Changed on September 8, 2026

The September 8, 2026 program update reshaped the route. The key points to take from the dated update and the current certification table:

• Separate IS-IS/OSPF, MPLS and Services Architecture exams are no longer required, although the knowledge they covered can still support your preparation.
• Multicast 4A0-108 is retired and is not a current SRA requirement.
• Candidates who were previously lab-eligible retain that eligibility under the announced transition.
• The issuer states the lab content is unchanged.

Who Benefits From This Credential

SRA targets engineers working with service-provider and large-enterprise networks built on Nokia IP/MPLS. Typical roles include:

• Network engineers and architects at telecom operators and ISPs running SR OS
• Professional-services and integration engineers deploying VPLS, VPRN and EVPN services for customers
• Support and escalation engineers who diagnose BGP, QoS and VPN faults on 7750 SR platforms
• Data-center and cloud-networking engineers who work with EVPN and VXLAN

Employers value the credential because the lab proves hands-on ability, not just theory. We avoid quoting salary figures because no verified data supports a precise number, but you can explore qualitative factors in our SRA salary guide, weigh the investment in is the SRA certification worth it, and browse SRA jobs for the kinds of roles that ask for it.

Sequencing Your Preparation

There is no required order for the written exams, but a logical sequence helps because the subjects build on each other. One suggested approach, tied to the content rather than a generic schedule:

For a compact reference during review, see the SRA cheat sheet. When you want to test recall on each subject, our SRA practice tests offer original supplemental study material, and you can check scheduling details in the SRA exam dates guide.

Common Misreadings of the Program

• "There is one SRA exam." There are five written exams plus a lab, and the optional composite covers only four of the written ones.
• "The composite replaces everything." It does not replace 4A0-115 or the practical lab.
• "Multicast is still required." 4A0-108 is retired.
• "The old prerequisite exams are still mandatory." They are not under the current route, even if some pages still list them.
• "Training is compulsory." Training is not mandatory to attempt the exams; course prerequisites are recommendations.
• "There is a published pass rate and passing score I can rely on." No verified pass rate or overall scoring figure is established here, so treat any such claim with caution and consult SRA pass rate and SRA passing score for what can responsibly be said.

Practice material from independent providers, including SRA Exam Prep, is supplemental. It is not endorsed by the issuer, does not reproduce actual exam questions, and cannot guarantee results. If you want the shortest path to the basics of the program, the overview at what is SRA certification and the main SRA certification page are good companions to this article.

Frequently Asked Questions