CKA - Kubernetes Certified Administrator exam tips

Original post from linux.xvx.cz

I passed the Kubernetes Certified Administrator exam recently and I would like to share some tips.

I was looking for some details about the exam before, but most of the articles I found are quite old:

• https://medium.com/@walidshaari/kubernetes-certified-administrator-cka-43a25ca4c61c
• https://github.com/walidshaari/Kubernetes-Certified-Administrator
• https://web.archive.org/web/20180321024730/http://madorn.com/certified-kubernetes-administrator-exam.html
• https://blog.heptio.com/how-heptio-engineers-ace-the-certified-kubernetes-administrator-exam-93d20af32557

So I decided to write some more fresh stuff from the April 2018.

• You will have access to one terminal window where you are switching between Kubernetes clusters using “kubectl config use-context “. (Every exercise starts with a command showing you which cluster to use.) Here is how it looks (picture is taken from web.archive.org)

  

• When you are doing some cluster troubleshooting it may be useful to know “screen” command and how to work with it. It’s handy when you need to quickly switch between cluster node sessions, because you have only one terminal window.

• Absolute must is to enable bash completion on the “master station” where you will be running all the kubectl commands. This handy autocomplete will speed up your work significantly - you can enable it by running: <(kubectl completion bash) (https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/cheatsheet/) Examples can be found here: https://blog.heptio.com/kubectl-shell-autocomplete-heptioprotip-48dd023e0bf3

• Web console used on the exam has some limitations so be prepared that it’s not as easy to manage as your favorite terminal. See the Exam Handbook how to use Copy & Paste and do not use the bash shortcut “Ctrl + W” for deleting word if you are used to.

• During the exam I marked some questions which I would like to look at before the exam ends. Actually I didn’t have time to do it - so do not expect that you will have much time left to return to some questions…

• If you are completely lost with some hard questions - it’s better to skip them or just give them limited amount of time.

• There is a notepad in your browser available during the exam - so use it for your notes.

• Be familiar with structure of kubernetes.io and how to search there. This is the only page which can be opened in the second browser tab and you are allowed to use it.

• You should practice your Kubernetes knowledge on multinode cluster. minikube is very handy to spin up the Kubernetes easily, but it has only single node. All clusters in CKA exam are multinode clusters and you should know how to work with them. Feel free to look at this page how to quickly install the multinode Kubernetes cluster (using kubeadm): “Cheapest Amazon EKS”

Other CKA exam details can be found on many blogs / pages / handbooks and I do not want to cover them here. I just point to the most important ones…

Enjoy ;-)