If you are looking forward to taking your career to new heights in the field of DevOps, the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam is what you need to start with.
I am writing this CKA Exam Study Guide to make you aware of all the necessary tips and tricks that you should know because it is not easy to qualify for the exam.
If you follow the instructions carefully and work hard, I assure you that you will be a certified Kubernetes administrator very soon.
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So, let’s not wait anymore and dive right into the study guide.
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CKA Exam Details
There are specific details of the exams that you need to know. It will provide you with an idea about how much time, money, and other effort you need to put into this Exam.
Below, I am mentioning all the important CKA Exam Details:
| Exam duration | 2 Hrs |
| Exam Type | Hands-on Practical Lab |
| CKA Exam Cost | $395 |
| Kubernetes Cluster Version | v1.28 |
| CKA passing score | 66% |
| Certification Validity | 3 years |
| Important Notes | With the new syllabus, the focus is more on Custer troubleshooting and Kubernetes operations and less focus config maps and secrets. |
After learning about the details of the CKA exam, you might feel even more curious and eager to enroll as soon as possible at the best price.
With Linux Foundation coupons, you can get huge discounts for CKA, including the CKAD exam discount, and make your learning journey more exciting.
Let’s check out the CKA exam syllabus model now.
CKA Exam Syllabus
When I was preparing for the CKA Exam, I made sure to cover the topics provided in their syllabus, and I supplemented my studies with an Instructor-Led Training Coupon to make it more affordable.
However, I mainly focused on the topics with the most weightage, like Troubleshooting and Cluster Architecture, Installation and Configuration, and more.
Furthermore, I availed myself of a FinOps Certified Practitioner Coupon, which facilitated my exploration of financial operations within cloud environments at a discounted rate.
You can refer to the table below for CKA Exam Syllabus topics and their corresponding weightage.
| Topic | Weightage |
| Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration | 25% |
| Services & Networking | 20% |
| Troubleshooting | 30% |
| Workloads & Scheduling | 15% |
| Storage | 10% |
Also, the CKA Exam syllabus changes with time.
So, you must refer to the official website for the latest syllabus update on this Exam. I am mentioning the latest update that was announced for the year 2023.
The cluster version for the exam will be Kubernetes v1.27. Let me share another important update in the new syllabus.
Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration:
- More detailed RBAC tasks.
- Expanded coverage of kubeadm cluster operations.
- Managing highly available Kubernetes clusters.
- Handling Kubernetes version upgrades using kubeadm.
Note: Perform routine kubectl check cluster health to uphold cluster stability. Keep an eye on individual cluster health within Kubernetes to proactively tackle issues and ensure seamless cluster operations.
These are the things you will need for Kubernetes to work:
- kubelet and
- kubeadm
- Certain system configurations
- Dockerkubectl
- Container runtime (CRI-O, Containers, or Docker)
Wondering what are Dockers? They’re a key part of the DevOps toolkit, helping streamline application deployment and management.
Weightage Adjustments:
- The weightage for the Service & Networking section has increased by 9%.
- Troubleshooting now carries a higher weightage, with a significant increase ranging from 10 to 30%.
Noteworthy Change:
- There is no dedicated security section in the new CKA syllabus.
- Security-related topics are now part of the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist certification instead.
CKA Practice Labs
In preparing for the CKA Exam, undergoing the CHFA Certification process can significantly enhance your understanding.
What helped me the most in preparing for the CKA Exam was working in the Practice Labs. Since the CKA exam is all about practical application, you must have hands-on practice.
This will help you grasp the underlying concepts of all the important topics. It will help you make sure that you know about all the problems coming up in the exam.
Even if you have experience handling Kubernetes, you should go with the Kubernetes Practice Labs.
These labs are very effective in having a good idea about everything. According to me, it’s a necessary thing to do before sitting the exam.
To prepare better for the Prometheus-certified associate exam, try including Prometheus-certified associate exam questions in your Kubernetes practice routine.
This will help you understand Prometheus Monitoring on Kubernetes better, which is important for the exam.
This open source monitoring tool will help you understand how to keep an eye on things and see what’s happening in a Kubernetes setup.
Let me provide you with the essential practice setups to provide you with a functional Kubernetes cluster:
- Killercoda
- Minikube
- Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) Service on AWS
- Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) service on Azure
- GKE Cluster using free Google Cloud Credits
Once you have the CKA practice lab setup ready, set the following aliases in your practice lb terminal. You can add them to your .bashrc or .zshrc file and then run source ~/.bashrc or source ~/.zshrc.
alias k='kubectl'
alias kgp='kubectl get pods'
alias kdr='kubectl --dry-run=client
alias kgs='kubectl get svc'
alias kdesc='kubectl describe'
alias kga='kubectl get all'You want to use aliases during your exams to save precious time. It would be best to start practicing the same in the practice labs from the beginning.
Making a habit of using aliases during your practice sessions can make you perform smoothly during the exam.
Make sure to use the CKA Practice Labs as much as possible before sitting for the exam. That will be my best suggestion to succeed in the CKA exam.
If you want to move up in DevOps, think about adding a DevOps Bootcamp course to your preparations. It gives you a solid grasp of the field.
CKA Curriculum
Exam objectives outline the knowledge, skills, and abilities that a Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) for Linux administrator certifications can be expected to demonstrate.
Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration (25%)
How to manage role-based access control (RBAC)?
How do you use Kubeadm to install a basic cluster?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Getting started > Production environment > Installing
- Kubernetes with deployment tools > Bootstrapping clusters with kubeadm > Creating a cluster with kubeadm
How to manage a highly available Kubernetes cluster?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Getting started > Production environment > Installing
- Kubernetes with deployment tools > Bootstrapping clusters with kubeadm > Creating Highly Available clusters with kubeadm
How to provision underlying infrastructure to deploy a Kubernetes cluster?
How to perform a version upgrade on a Kubernetes cluster using Kubeadm?
How to implement etcd backup and restore?
How to Configure and Use CoreDNS?
- CoreDNS services can be used as the Kubernetes cluster DNS as it is flexible and can be expanded. Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts both the projects like CoreDNS and Kubernetes.
- Kubernetes Documentation > Tasks > Administer a Cluster > Configurations for CoreDNS
When you’re setting up your cluster system, it’s really important to learn how to do key things like making sure your security is set up right.
This means knowing how to create a self signed certificate openSSL to keep your cluster safe and your communication channels secure.
Workloads & Scheduling (15%)
How do we understand deployments and perform rolling updates and rollbacks?
How to use ConfigMaps and Secrets to configure applications?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Configuration > ConfigMaps
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Configuration > Secrets
Similarly, understanding how to edit nginx index.html file in your Kubernetes setup is crucial for smoothly customizing and effectively managing your website’s content.
How do we scale applications?
How to understand the primitives used to create robust, self-healing application deployments?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Workloads > Pods > Pod Lifecycle
- Kubernetes Documentation > Tasks > Configure Pods and Containers > Configure Liveness, Readiness and Startup Probes
How to understand resource limits affect Pod scheduling?
How do you manifest management and common templating tools?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Cluster Administration > Managing Resources
- Kubernetes Documentation > Tasks > Manage Kubernetes Objects
Services & Networking (20%)
Lots of the clusters these days are created on AWS, Azure, or GCP, and the cloud providers take responsibility for the availability of the cluster.
You may have a question in mind, like How to host networking configuration on the cluster nodes.
Prefer the documents below:
How do you perform connectivity between Pods?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Workloads > Pods > Networking
- GitHub > Kubernetes Community Documentation > Design Proposals > Networking
How do you understand ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer service types, and endpoints?
How do you use Ingress controllers and Ingress resources?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Services, Load Balancing, and Networking > Ingress
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Services, Load Balancing, and Networking > Ingress Controllers
How do you configure and use CoreDNS?
How do you choose an appropriate container network interface plugin?
Storage (10%)
Know about storage classes and persistent volumes.
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Storage > Storage Classes
- Kubernetes Documentation > Concepts > Storage > Persistent Volumes
Know about volume mode, access modes, and reclaim policies for volumes.
Know about persistent volume claims.
How do you configure applications with persistent storage?
Troubleshooting (30%)
How do we evaluate cluster and node logging?
How do you understand how to monitor applications?
How to manage container stdout & stderr logs?
How to troubleshoot application failure?
- Kubernetes Documentation > Tasks > Monitoring, Logging, and Debugging > Troubleshoot Applications
- Kubernetes Documentation > Tasks > Monitoring, Logging, and Debugging > Application Introspection and Debugging
How to troubleshoot cluster component failure?
How to troubleshoot networking?
Best CKA Exam Preparation Courses
Relying on self-study is not ideal for a CKA aspirant; rather, you must choose the best CKA certification preparation courses.
I can help you with choosing the best CKA Exam Preparation Courses. Here are the recommended online training resources for the CKA exam:
| KodeKloud | Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) with Practice Tests: This is one of the top-rated CKA preparation courses that comes with a browser-based practice test environment. |
| Linux Foundation | Kubernetes Fundamentals (LFS258): A course by Linux Foundation. This CKA course is specifically designed for Kubernetes certification preparation. You can save $100 if you buy this as a bundle during CKA exam registration. |
| KillerCoda (2 Free Session With Exam Registration) | CKA Interactive Practice Scenarios |
| CKA Mock Exams | Ultimate Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Mock Exam |
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Why Should You Get Kubernetes Certified?
As a beginner, I always had this question: should I go for a Kubernetes certification? While researching, I talked to several tech enthusiasts, and the answer to that question was very contradictory.
Some asked me to get the certification that will help me in landing a great job. Others asked me to focus on real-world problems and performance.
For beginners, these are the best Kubernetes Certifications that can be life-changing with real-time valuable projects.
The CKA certification questions are crafted from real-world scenarios. I took this exam as a golden opportunity to learn and then apply my newfound knowledge to actual projects.
After becoming skilled in Python for DevOps, I started my journey towards earning the CKA certification.
As of now, when I am a professional working under Kubernetes for several years, should I still upgrade the CKA certification?
Yes, the certification can help me add value to my resume and verify my ability to work on a higher level professionally.
Conclusion: CKA Exam Study Guide
Hopefully, this CKA Exam Study Guide has given you all you need. I have mentioned all the necessary details in this blog, like the latest syllabus with its updated version.
You can refer to the CKA curriculum for detailed topics to prepare for this exam. Make sure you prepare for this exam well online, as relying on self-study is risky, and you might waste your money.
You can consider exploring some reputable websites to learn coding to help you prepare better for the CKA exam. This will make sure you understand all the topics well.
Refer to the guide for more information. Good Luck with your CKA Exam!!!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pass the CKA exam easily?
Yes, you can pass the CKA exam easily. This can be done if you give yourself time and primarily focus on the syllabus provided. Refer to the guide mentioned above to learn more about the curriculum. You must take a CKA-focused online course. Do not forget to use the Practice Labs as much as you can. Because to pass the CKA Exam, you need to get a score of 66% or higher.
Is Kubernetes CKA certification worth it?
Yes, CKA certifications are worth applying for as they add value to your resume and prove that you can use your knowledge of Kubernetes for real-world implications. If you are applying for a new job, then you must get Kubernetes certified to stand out among the crowd.
How much do I need to spend on the CKA exam?
The CKA exam registration fee is $300, and the online preparation course costs around $395. Once you successfully pass the exam, it will all be worth investing that much money in your career.
How many Voucher codes can I get for the CKA exam?
There are several Voucher codes you can get for the CKA exam. If you want to get the voucher code, go with the coupons available on this page: Linux Foundation coupon. Or you can use the coupon code SCRIPT20 to save $80 on CKA exam registration.
Can I get a CKA Voucher on Black Friday?
Yes, you can get a CKA black friday sale 2024 voucher. Usually, there is always a coupon available during Black Friday, where you can get a discount of up to $150. It is one of the most readily available coupons of all.
Is CKAD easier than CKA?
Yes, CKAD is easier than CKA when dealing with cluster administration and troubleshooting. However, the CKAD is more focused on application deployments and troubleshooting.
Is it essential to renew my CKA certification?
Yes, it is essential to renew the CKA certification because the technology keeps updating itself every day. It’s necessary to learn the latest updates and retake the CKA exam before the expiry of the current certification. The validity of the CKA certification is for 3 years.
Is IT hard to pass the CKA exam?
The toughness of this exam depends on your level of ability. It can be challenging for a beginner and rigid for someone experienced in handling Kubernetes clusters. If you are a beginner, you can use the practice labs to get hands-on experience. You get better with practice in handling real-world Kubernetes problems.
How long does IT take to prepare for the CKA exam?
It totally depends on when you have started learning as well as how much time you can spend per day or week to prepare for the exam. We analyzed a student who have taken around 3-6 months to prepare. On the other hand, those who already had some experience just spent 2 weeks straight and passed the exam at the end of it.
