Since Kubernetes is the most ‘hot & trending‘ in the containerization world, most of the IT professionals are Kubernetes certification aspirants because of the undisputed value it holds. Also, Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) has become lighter since September 2020, the CNCF has removed the nonessential weightage it carried. In this blog, I am going to address the exam preparation tips, tactics, and everything else on the new CKA certification exam pattern.
In this blog, I am going to cover:
- What is Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Exam?
- Why Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Certification?
- Basic CKA Exam Information
- Pre-requisites for CKA Exam
- Learning Path
- Complete CKA Guide Hands-on Lab
- How to Register for CKA Exam?
- The CKA Exam Checklist
- Tips for CKA Certification Exam
- CKA Exam Day Tips
Are you new to Kubernetes? Check out our blog on Kubernetes to know in detail.
The below video covers – Everything You Must Know About CKA Exam
What is Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA Certification) Exam?
Certified Kubernetes Administrator certification is to provide assurance that Kubernetes Administrators have the skills, knowledge, to perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes administrators.
Also check: Kubernetes RBAC
Why CKA Certification (Certified Kubernetes Administrator)? ^
- It gives you an unfair advantage over a non-certified professional.
- Better Job Prospects & Higher Salary.
- Since all companies have already or trying to move towards K8s, it’s now or never.
- Wide-open jobs in IT fields for CKAs.
- It provides you with global recognition for your knowledge, skills, and experience.
Know more: Kubernetes Architecture with Diagram
Basics of Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam ^
- Certification Name: Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
- Exam Duration: 2 hours
- Software Version: Kubernetes v1.26
- Number of Questions: Around 17 questions
- CKA Passing score: 66% or higher to earn the certification
- Exam Cost: $395
Pre-requisites for CKA Exam ^
Although the CKA certification exam is about Kubernetes and needs no prior certifications, it requires some basic Linux commands like just the ‘vi editor’ commands.
Learn with Us: Check out our Kubernetes Training to learn Kubernetes from basics.
Learning Path For Kubernetes Certification (CKA) ^
What has changed?
The CNCF has made a smart move and moved the development to the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) and the security content to the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS). The reason behind doing this is to make the CKA more Administration centered, which indeed makes complete sense. The new pattern of CKA and the weightage of the domains are given below:
1) Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration – 25%
- Manage role-based access control (RBAC)
- Use Kubeadm to install a basic cluster
- Manage a highly-available Kubernetes cluster
- Provision underlying infrastructure to deploy a Kubernetes cluster
- Perform a version upgrade on a Kubernetes cluster using kubeadm
- Implement etcd backup and restore
2) Workloads & Scheduling – 15%
- Understand deployments and how to perform rolling update and rollbacks
- Use ConfigMaps and Secrets to configure applications
- Know how to scale applications
- Understand the primitives used to create robust, self-healing, application deployments
- Understand how resource limits can affect Pod scheduling
- Awareness of manifest management and common templating tools
3) Services & Networking – 20%
- Understand host networking configuration on the cluster nodes
- Understand connectivity between Pods
- Understand ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer service types and endpoints
- Know how to use Ingress controllers and Ingress resources
- Know how to configure and use CoreDNS
- Choose an appropriate container network interface plugin
4) Storage – 10%
- Understand storage classes, persistent volumes
- Understand volume mode, access modes and reclaim policies for volumes
- Understand persistent volume claims primitive
- Know how to configure applications with persistent storage
5) Troubleshooting – 30%
- Evaluate cluster and node logging
- Understand how to monitor applications
- Manage container stdout & stderr logs
- Troubleshoot application failure
- Troubleshoot cluster component failure
- Troubleshoot networking
Complete CKA Guide Hands-on Lab ^
Everybody wants to learn Kubernetes these days, and the best way to learn is to perform. Especially all the developers want to earn the Certifed Kubernetes Administrator (CKA): Hands-on Lab badge and add Kubernetes Application Development to their expertise.
Here is the list of our activity guides:
1) Register For Azure Free Trial Account
2) VM Creation Walkthrough
3) Docker Installation
4) Working with Docker Container
5) Working With Docker Images
6) Docker Host Networking
7) Docker Custom Bridge Networking
8) Working With Docker Volume
9) Implementing Docker Storage Bind Mount
10) Configuring External DNS, Logging and Storage Driver
11) Working with Dockerfile
12) Working With Application Stack
13) Bootstrap Kubernetes Cluster Using Kubeadm
14) Deploying High Available Stateless Application with Deployment & ReplicaSet
15) Creating pods with CusterIP and NodePort types of Service
16) Upgrading and rollback application with Deployment and Replicaset
17) Automated Scaling of Application HPA and Metric Server
18) Kubernetes Storage (Volume, PV, PVC, Storage Class)
19) Advanced Scheduling and Node Affinity and Anti-affinity
20) Advanced Scheduling and Pod Affinity and Anti-affinity
21) Advanced Scheduling with Taint and Toleration
22) Deploy and Update Deamonset Controller
23) Deploying and Managing a StatefulSet Resource
24) Limiting Resources With Resource Quota
25) Cluster Node Maintenance
26) Troubleshooting App & Control Plane Failure
27) Security In Kubernetes- RBAC, Service Account, Security Context, Configmap
28) Implementing Network Policy in Kubernetes Cluster
29) Backup And Restore Etcd In Kubernetes
30) Upgrade Kubernetes Cluster [Master & Worker Nodes]
31) Deploy an end to end PHP Guestbook Application on Kubernetes
32) Demonstrating Application and Cluster logging & Monitoring
33) Advance Routing With Ingress-Controller
34) Dynamic Provisioning of Persistent Volumes
35) Create and Configure Managed Kubernetes Cluster On Cloud
How to Register for CKA Certification Exam? ^
Registering for a CKA Certification exam is very easy, it costs you $395 USD for registration. The registration gives you eligibility to take the exam for which you registered within 12 months of the registration date, so you have to schedule the exam 12 months after registration. One free retake per Exam purchase will be granted in the event that a passing score is not achieved and the candidate has not otherwise been deemed ineligible for Certification or retake.
Note: To register for the CKA exam, click here
The CKA Exam Checklist ^
The good thing about it is that the CKA is 100% hands-on. It’s an online proctored exam where you are asked to perform certain tasks on the command line. The Candidate Handbook is your definitive source for any details about the exam. So make sure to read it thoroughly.
Here is a shortlist of points worth noting before taking the exam:
- You need a steady internet connection.
- The Exam environment is remote-proctored, which means that you will have to have a webcam so that the proctor can monitor you throughout the exam.
- You would need a webcam and a microphone that are required by the proctor.
- You would need a government-issued ID or a passport.
- The exam consists of around 17 questions that you can solve in any order.
- The duration of the exam is 2 hours.
- The pass mark is 66%.
- You need to use the Chrome browser.
- You have one free retake in case you don’t pass on your first try.
- Time Management, is the key its is very important to be careful and to pace yourself on the questions so as not to get stuck on one question for too long.
Tips for CKA Certification Exam ^
There are some tricks for the help of the candidates which will help them to clear the certification but it entirely depends on you to make use of them, they are definitely not a compulsion. You should be confident enough about the kubectl command. Make sure you understand the components that make up the K8s cluster, how do they interact, and what each component is responsible for, in order to be able to fix the issues for the troubleshooting tasks. I am listing some of them below:
Tip #1: Create Aliases
kubectl is the most-used tool throughout the exam. It is worth creating aliases to use time more efficient and effective.
For Resources:
alias k=”kubectl” alias kgd=”k get deploy” alias kgp=”k get pods” alias kgn=”k get nodes” alias kgs=”k get svc” alias kge=”k get events — sort-by=’.metadata.creationTimestamp’ |tail -8"
For Describing K8s resources:
alias kdp=”kubectl describe pod” alias kdd=”kubectl describe deployment” alias kds=”kubectl describe service” alias kdn=”kubectl describe node”
For Exporting:
Tip #2: Don’t get stuck with difficult questions
Make sure you answer the easy questions first, and if you are getting stuck with a difficult question please move on to the next one and utilize the time accordingly.
Tip #3: Reuse YAML’s
You will need to create pod and deployment resources again and again. Once yaml is generated for a pod or deployment, we can easily reuse the same yaml for different questions with small modifications.
Tip #4: Reach Documentation And Escape Memorizing
You will be allowed to refer to the Kubernetes documentation page during the exam. From the Kubernetes documentation page (doc page) search for “kubectl Cheat Sheet” & “Custom Column” respectively, then from the results click the first link.
Tip #5: Sort By
Sort by will help us to order the output based on an attribute. Let us take a look at an example:
The command for both sorted and unsorted output,
kubectl get pv -n kube-system — sort-by=.spec.capacity.storage kubectl get pv -n kube-system
Also Read Our blog post on helm Kubernetes. Click here
CKA Certification Exam Day Tips ^
There are a few worthy points to be noticed before the D-day! Here are some of them:
- Before the exam, the examiner will ask you to clean your desk completely and also would ask to see the whole room, even under the desk. Remove any electronics from the desk and make sure that absolutely no one enters the room during the exam.
- You are only allowed to open another tab in Google chrome to check the kubernetes.io document and use its search box, but you cannot use other search engines.
- As mentioned before, you can solve the questions in no specific order, but you are not allowed to make notes with pen and paper but you are given a built-in notepad in the exam interface.
- Make sure to go to the restroom before starting the exam. During the 2 hours, you would only be able to take a break if your proctor allows it but the timer would never stop for you.
- You have three hours to finish the exam, if you get blocked it’s better to skip that question for now and revisit it later.
- Last but not the least; GOOD LUCK, ROOTING FOR YOU!!!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the CKA exam?
The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam is a certification program offered by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). It is designed to validate the skills and knowledge of professionals in administering Kubernetes clusters. The exam assesses candidates' ability to perform tasks related to cluster architecture, installation and configuration, networking, security, troubleshooting, and more.
What is the format of the CKA exam?
The CKA exam is a performance-based, hands-on exam conducted in a practical lab environment. It consists of a set of performance-based tasks that need to be completed within a given time frame (typically three hours). Candidates are expected to demonstrate their skills by executing commands and performing tasks on a live Kubernetes cluster.
How many questions are there in the CKA exam?
The CKA test is a problem-based exam in which you will answer problems via the command line or by authoring manifesto files. It is a two-hour exam with seventeen questions.
What is the passing score for the CKA exam?
The passing score for the CKA exam is set by the CNCF, and it may vary slightly from one exam session to another. Generally, candidates need to score around 74% or higher to pass the exam.
Are there any prerequisites for taking the CKA exam?
There are no specific prerequisites for taking the CKA exam. However, having hands-on experience with Kubernetes and a good understanding of its core concepts and components is highly recommended.
How long is the CKA certification valid?
The CKA certification is valid for three years. After that, you will need to recertify by passing the current version of the exam or an alternative recertification exam.
Related/References
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel on “Docker & Kubernetes”
- (CKA) Certification: Step By Step Activity Guides/Hands-On Lab Exercise
- Kubernetes Architecture | An Introduction to Kubernetes Components
- Docker & Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Training
- Create AKS Cluster: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
- [Solved] The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused – did you specify the right host or port?
- CKA/CKAD Exam Questions & Answers 2022
- Kubernetes Monitoring: Prometheus Kubernetes & Grafana Overview
- How To Setup A Three Node Kubernetes Cluster For CKA: Step By Step
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HWANG TAEYONG says
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Pawan Ambust says
This is really a nice blogs to understand the container and virtual machine based architecture.
Jayesh Pandey says
Hi Pawan,
We are glad that you liked our blog!
Please stay tuned for more blogs
Thanks & Regards
Jayesh Pandey
Team K21 Academy
Abhilash says
I want to register for cka, when is next exam date to register for.???
Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Abhilash,
If you would like to register for the CKA course please check the link below for the same:
https://k21academy.com/kubernetes03
Also would suggest you attend the 60-90 mins free master call where we explain everything regarding the course and what you are going to learn.
https://k21academy.com/kubernete02
Also To register for the exam you can register for it anytime you want by going on the below link:
https://www.cncf.io/certification/cka/
Hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21Academy
Akin Peluola says
This is very helpful
Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Akin,
We are glad that you liked our blog!
Please stay tuned for more blogs
Thanks & Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21 Academy
Dhatch says
I am working as a Devops engineer in a company where k8s is used to deploy application and more our role is like SRE. Do you think I should take CKA or CKAD exam?
Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Dhatch,
In CAKD (Certified Kubernetes Application Developer) focused on deploying applications on Kubernetes cluster so, if your role is to create and deploy them on the Kubernetes cluster then definitely go for the CKAD.
Hope this helps.
Thanks & Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21 Academy
Yonas demeke wolde says
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Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Yonas,
We are glad that you liked our blog!
Please stay tuned for more blogs
Thanks & Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21 Academy