How to Pass CKA, CKAD with Flying Colours? Kubernetes Ultimate Preparation Guide (21 Tips)

Kubernetes is one of the highest trending technology in Cloud Computing as of today. Kubernetes had the fastest growth in job searches, over 173% from a year before as reported recently by a survey conducted by Indeed.
I got through Certified Kubernetes Application (CKA) with 94% and Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) with 99% scores. Based on my experience, created this Ultimate Preparation Guide for Kubernetes certifications.
Hope this would be helpful for you to pass CKA and CKAD with flying colours and wish you all the very best for your exam !!!
CKAD Free Course (Refresher): • Kubernetes Core Concep...
13% - Core Concepts ( • Kubernetes Core Concep... ​​)
18% - Configuration ( • Kubernetes Configurati... ​​)
10% - Multi-Container Pods ( • Kubernetes Multi-Conta... ​)
20% - Pod Design ( • Kubernetes Deployments... )
13% - Services & Networking ( • Kubernetes Service, In... )
8% - State Persistence ( • Kubernetes Persistent ... )
18% - Observability ( • Kubernetes Probes (Liv... )
SUBSCRIBE to my channel for more videos.

[@mindfreaksaad]

Thank you so much Dinuth. These are absolute gems. Hopefully I'll comment again once I've passed!

[@nukakolaa]

Thanks Dinuth, very well explained an comprehensive subscribed and liked!

[@anindyabhat]

I have already subscribed to your channel, and wanting to see more. Just loved your content, and fantastic job Dinuth! Keep it up!

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Anindya !!!

[@nilesh-gule]

Thanks Dinuth. These are really helpful tips. Appreciate the efforts you have taken to share it people preparing to take the CKA exam.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thanks Nilesh for taking time to provide your valuable feedback. Really appreciate it !!!

[@girishms1681]

Very well guided, thanks Dinuth!

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Girish !!!

[@Arkansas28]

Excellent overview, thanks for sharing the tips !

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thanks Ram !!!

[@sarthak8055]

Hey dinuth thanks for making this videos its short and crisp really helped to go through all the concepts quickly i cleared my CKAD exams thanks for clarifying all my doubts

[@IAMDINUTH]

Congratulations Sarthak !!! It is a great pleasure to get to know that my videos were helpful and thank you so much for your feedback 👏

[@jania7648]

This is amazing content and quality , Thank you very much and appreciate if could upload more related to CKA.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you for the feedback. I’m planning to create a in detail curriculum walkthrough for CKA and CKAD separately. Subscribe with bell sign to get notified when I upload that video.

[@benjamn8557]

Thank you. I am going to take this test in a couple weeks and this was helpful.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Hope videos were helpful for your preparation and all the very best for your test.

[@srinivasrao6849]

Great explination and useful for guys who is going to attempt. Thanks for your effort and appreciated .

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thanks a lot Srinivas for your appreciation!!!

[@gayandhanushka9823]

Brilliant overview. Keep it up.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you!!!

[@vinayakbasavaraddi3135]

Thanks for the useful tips. One tip for you is hide your tv screen 😊😂 in your upcoming videos to reduce the distraction.

[@sachinmaiya6485]

Thanks for your guidance for exam preparation

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you for the feedback !!!

[@gv.ramana]

Thank you Dinuth your very good stuff. really really useful.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Venkata !!!

[@vmnn5048]

Hi Dinuth, thanks for the tips. You briefly mentioned about security certification. Can you please elaborate more on different security certifications? I am eager to hear from you

[@ravikumarhr4524]

Hi Dunith, thanks for descriptive video on cka and ckad..

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thanks Ravi !!!

[@phanihishi]

Great tips. Thank you. If the question is about restore etcd database, Should we just restore into data-dir and leave it at that or we should also change the etcd manifest and restart etcd?

[@PasindhuBandaranayake]

Superb work Dinuth aiya 👌

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Pasindhu !!!

[@jayashankarv.s.4754]

Hey Dinuth, Thanks for the tips, very helpful indeed. Just want to clarify a thing here... you mentioned about adding book marks to access important docs during exam, how many sessions of the browser I can open during the exam and if I try accessing the book mark which would also means I am going out of the exam window.. is that allowed during the exam?

[@HajarRam]

Thank you Dinuth!

[@siddharthparihar5713]

Those are really some useful tips, thanks for sharing them.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank for sharing your feedback Siddharth !!! Hope it would help to get through the exam. Further there is a full Kubernetes refresher video series in my channel. Have a look. 👍🏻

[@siddharthparihar5619]

@@IAMDINUTH No doubt about that! Will surely use these handy tips!

[@srinivassambari530]

Hi Dinuth, Thank you very much for detailed info. I saved good time in my exam with your tips.. however performed good... waiting for the results

[@IAMDINUTH]

Good to hear that Srinivas !!! Hope you nailed it with flying colours 😊

[@srinivassambari530]

@@IAMDINUTH Hi Dinuth.. Greetings of the Day! Yeah, I performed good on some questions n see need to improve some things. I would like to share my experience n understand if any faults I did or need to know how to better. May I ask you to know if you are able to give sometime to know my exam exp n give suggestions on my faults if any??. Srini.

[@paulusa6360]

I am using minikube for practice but in exam which tool will be used minikube or kubeadm?

[@david2358]

Thank you, this helped me a lot to familiarize myself with what to expect when i take the exam.👍

[@IAMDINUTH]

Welcome David. Wish you all the very best for the exam !!! 👍🏻

[@deswarnendu]

I have subscribed. Great content

[@IAMDINUTH]

Welcome aboard!

[@nareshbandari9806]

what are the study materials , where should I practice ?

[@diegrootam]

Excellent Analysis

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Diego 🙂

[@johnagapi5970]

How many years k8s experience did you already have before each certification?

[@Simple-way-of-life]

well done ! thank you

[@IAMDINUTH]

👍🏻

[@warunakarunarathne1523]

Congratulations machan

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you machan !!!

[@kkanu3833]

Nice one

[@ljka]

99%??? What! Thats cool! :o

[@IAMDINUTH]

Yep 😊

[@hengkysandy5431]

thank you sir

[@kuntalbhattacharya7693]

Really helpful..

[@joeb.1163]

Thank you very much for the tips

[@IAMDINUTH]

Welcome Joe !!!

[@joeb.1163]

@@IAMDINUTH I've passed my ckad, big thanks to your videos.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Awesome. Congratulations Joe !!! Hope you are planning to achieve more and more certifications 😊

[@dinesha4404]

Did you cover storage type as CSI Volume and expand the volume - kubectl edit or patch commands ??

[@IAMDINUTH]

For the exam, you don’t need to know volume resize/expansion. Kubernetes Persistent Volumes, Persistent Volume Claims, Storage Classes kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6LWp5aqqd6Sfsk

[@deepakgupta4479]

Subscribed thank you .... 👍

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Deepak 👍🏻

[@khanleo13]

HI THANKS FOR HELPING PPL, can you please explain restoring backup in CKA environment, I heard its a little bit tricky.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you Khan. Before hearing what others says about it try it by yourself. I don’t see anything tricky there. Cluster can be a kubeadm based cluster or a cluster created in the hard way. Certificates might not be in default locations. So where to look for certificate and endpoint may change. Endpoints can also be different. So beware. You can check the cli help of etcdctl snapshot restore command to find the parameters to be passed. Try this multiple times. It would never be hard.

[@khanleo13]

Thanks Dinuth!

[@rajeshbongurala8491]

While taking etcd backup i couldn't able to found manifest file /etc/kubernets/manifest. Where and how can i ffind these files ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

1. Did you check whether you ssh to the correct server? 2. Did you check the kubelet pod-manifest-path configuration?

[@rajeshbongurala8491]

while upgrading the cluster on exam i got admin.conf not found. Can you help me here what might went wrong ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

I didn’t get such an issue. Didn’t you check default $HOME/.kube/config has required permissions or not?

[@SachithSoorage]

Hi Dinuth, Anyone you would recommend to take lessons on CKA (local). Thanks.

[@IAMDINUTH]

Sorry Sachith. I don’t know any local place for CKA lessons.

[@manigandant5839]

Hi Dinuth, Thanks for the wonderful tips. I am a beginner to K8s, is CKA would be ideal path for me to get hands-on and have good knowledge on K8s ? What are your tips for a beginner in CKA ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Exam complexity increases from CKAD < CKA < CKS. Beginner can start with CKAD. CKAD and CKA has around ~80% overlap in curriculum. So you can do CKAD first. Then with little effort covering the remaining 20% you can do CKA.

[@niroshansanjaya2947]

Thank you

[@IAMDINUTH]

Welcome !!!

[@erangafernando1888]

Hi Dinuth, Can we bookmark the required kubernetes documentation links before the exam and use it during the exam ? Is it allowed ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Hi Eranga, Yes it is allowed and it saves lot of time during the exam. Make sure to bookmark the documentation with the same version of the exam environment.

[@myredeemerliveth5798]

In exam , I wasn’t able to record the Change in Persistent volume claim… any tips on that?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Do you remember the command you executed?

[@ZarehGasparian]

Dear Dinuth do you think is it necessary to take killer.sh ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Hi Zareh, No it is not necessary to take killer.sh.

[@infotech4882]

While changing the context by running the command provided in the question, do we need to come back after finishing the question? Or we can just run another command for another cluster/config given in next question?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Even before reading the question, copy the context change command and run it. Do it as a practice, otherwise you will end up performing the task in a wrong cluster.

[@infotech4882]

@@IAMDINUTH Thanks! So dont we have come back to where we were after connecting to the cluster given in the question?

[@IAMDINUTH]

If you SSH into a separate server, yes you need to come back to the original server by exiting the SSH connection. You don’t need to do anything like that for the context.

[@infotech4882]

@@IAMDINUTH Thanks a lot!

[@tarekbellili8619]

how can i label volume in pod for example with app:frontend ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Volume in pod.spec has no labels. It has a name. It is not clear what are you referring here.

[@tarekbellili8619]

@@IAMDINUTH i got this question in the exam , after i create the pv and pvc he ask me to mount this volume to the pod with label app:nginx

[@IAMDINUTH]

You need to find the pod with app:nginx label using kubectl get po -selector=“app=nginx” Then get that pod config into a yaml file using kubectl get po [PODNAME] -o yaml > nginx.yaml Then you need to edit the nginx.yaml to mount the volume. Delete pod and recreate with nginx.yaml Watch this video if you are not familiar with above commands. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3PIn4qQprSag6s

[@harryfernando8682]

Hi Dinuth, Can we bookmark the pages before the exam and use those in the exam ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Yes. Make sure bookmarks are from only allowed sites.

[@tijovs3378]

Are we allowed to copy and paste from the documentation page during the exam?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Yes

[@alaoramon1354]

Hello, i was unable to create .yaml files due to permissions issues, please do i go about this should incase i encounter this same issue in my next exam?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Where did you try to create yaml files? You need to understand linux basics as you will not have full permissions by default. Use ~/ and /temp locations where you should have permissions by default without permissions elevation.

[@alaoramon1354]

@@IAMDINUTH it was a basic -o yaml>pod.yaml command and my expectations was, it should create the .yaml file in ./ but for more than 20mins i struggled with it in the exam until i deliberately logged out from the master node(more like shutting down) then i asked the proctor to help me log in back to the master.

[@shraddharane732]

I am a beginner in K8s and have no knowledge of Devops.So by taking Mumshaad's course will I be able to crack CKA?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Yes. Go through Mumshaad’s course and you need to practice everything. It is good for a beginner. But it is your responsibility to get yourself comfortable with all domain topics with hands-on. Then go through my free Kubernetes Refresher course and make sure you know everything that I’m discussing here. kzbin.info/aero/PLD1niLkf7lLKYZA68xlaaoid_mrtkPiiQ Good Luck !!!

[@ioidt5080]

Thanks for sharing your experience! How to you open more than 1 terminal during the test?

[@IAMDINUTH]

You don’t need to open multiple terminals. You will be working on a single cluster at a time. One terminal is enough. Use notepad feature if you want to keep some notes for references.

[@ioidt5080]

@@IAMDINUTH tmux 's split-windows is another option.

[@amitshawant2155]

Hi Sir I am new to this industry just passed my aws sa2 certification and want to go for Kubernetes how much time it will take for me to pass this test ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Time is completely depends on your learning skills and dedication. But trust me. It is not that hard when you get into the right track. So start the journey and see how it goes !!!

[@techgeeks9675]

Can a beginner with no kubernetes knowledge write ckad exam ? if so how much time one must take to prepare?

[@IAMDINUTH]

It depends and varies based your learning skills. So you better take the first step in the CKAD learning journey and decide it by yourself.

[@karashvfmasih7354]

are the questions are related to each other? I mean, if I couldn't solve a problem, dose it have an effect on the next questions? thank you?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Hi, Questions are NOT related to each other. You will be working on multiple clusters, multiple namespaces avoid conflicts between questions. Further make sure not to delete any existing resources in these clusters unless you ask to do so as part of a question.

[@karashvfmasih7354]

@@IAMDINUTH Thank you for your consideration. I had another question. I have taken CKA course of Mumshad Mannambeth. there is a section in that course about security(certifications in particular). this section was the most difficult one for me. However I haven't seen any question from that topic in the CKA exam... is it necessary to learn that section in depth to be confident in the exam? thank you

[@tirthjoshi3543]

This certifications will helps to get which job roles ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Applications deploy to servers directly is becoming outdated. Latest trend in most of the enterprises is to modernise their existing applications to deploy as containers. Further most of the greenfield/new apps are tends to deploy as containers considering many benefits comes with containerization. So current job market to container orchestration tool such as Kubernetes is very high. Simply search for Kubernetes jobs in google. You can find out more details.

[@robustrockster3241]

Do we get the questions on SSL or TLS certificates in cka exam ???

[@IAMDINUTH]

It is recommended to go through Kubernetes the Hard way setup step by step and understand every step. Which will give you a good understanding on TLS certificates and the usage of that in Kubernetes clusters. But you will not be asked to setup clusters in the hard way. But would be useful in troubleshooting questions. Further you need to know the TLS cert and keys in kubeconfig and how to use them to make API calls to api-server. If you are asking the question about Kubernetes TLS secrets, yes you better know it how to create TLS typed secrets too.

[@robustrockster3241]

@@IAMDINUTH thanks for the swift response. No I'm asking about the certificates itself not the secrets, I'm feeling them tough the TLS certificates generating them it is totally confusing 🥺🥺🥺😶. Thanks for the reply bro...!

[@IAMDINUTH]

I haven’t seen any questions in the exam asking you to create certificates. But even though they asked you don’t need to worry. You are allowed to go through Kubernetes documentation during the exam. Important links and your week areas related documentation pages can be bookmarked and use it during the exam. Check below link and understand it. No need to memorize. If a question asked on this topic open the link copy commands and perform the task. Simple. kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/certificates/

[@dtvind]

Is bookmark pages allowed in exam ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Yes.

[@jayanttiwari3762]

what kind of questions you got from the troubleshooting domain in the CKA exam?

[@IAMDINUTH]

I cannot share any exam questions due to NDA signed when taking the exam. Broken clusters, broken nodes, broken applications are very common. You will not get anything beyond the sub bullet points defined under troubleshooting. Shared course materials has enough coverage in all domains including troubleshooting. Do KodeKloud tests again and again until you are fully confident on all areas. At the end everything depends on how experienced you are in solving real issues with practice, practice and practice.

[@jayanttiwari3762]

@@IAMDINUTH thanks for the information. Also tell me if I have to ssh any worker node then wht command i would be using? 1) ssh username@IP of worker node will work ? 2) my approach is -- I will take take the External IP of worker node from Kubectl get nodes -o wide but what abt password from where i will get that? Sry to ask such simple question as I am new to linux environment

[@IAMDINUTH]

You don’t need to pass any username. ssh [NodeName/IP] will work. Before the exam, it will show all these institutions.

[@jayanttiwari3762]

@@IAMDINUTH One more question, Suppose, they will ask me to create a cluster with two node. As part of it ,We have to install docker and kubelet in all the nodes. Can i copy commands in notepad and use it for all other nodes?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Definitely you can copy anything to the notepad and reuse it.

[@niroshansanjaya2947]

How many lines can be copied from documentation at once 🤔

[@IAMDINUTH]

I never come across with such limit or issue. So nothing to worry. 😊

[@niroshansanjaya2947]

@@IAMDINUTH Okay sir, thank you very much

[@dinesha4404]

1. Can we create single pod with multiple image ?? 2. Can we find a pod with label and top cpu consumed pod as an output to a file

[@IAMDINUTH]

1. Pod can have multiple containers with different images. Check multi container pods video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHialpR3bJKFfKM) 2. You don’t need to do this in a single command. In the exam you can find the pod name with highest cpu by executing kubectl top po -l app=nginx and manually write the highest cpu pod name to the file. echo "nginx-85ff79dd56-4b9xb" > /path/filename

[@dinesha4404]

​@@IAMDINUTH - kubectl top po -l app=nginx --sort-by cpu and store the pod name to file (researching to save the pod name to file using awk, grep or cut)

[@IAMDINUTH]

kubectl top po -l app=nginx --sort-by cpu --no-headers | awk 'NR==1{print $1}' > myfile.txt

[@dinesha4404]

@@IAMDINUTH - Thank you

[@TwstedTV]

The only problem I have with ALL certifications is that the lifespan is too short. Almost all certification have a lifespan of 3-years which REALLY sucks if a person has many certs. time flies and it seems that every time you blink you have to re-certify. Lately I've been hesitant on getting any more certifications because I would spend most my life having to constantly be worrying about re-certifications..... I currently hold 9 certifications in many areas, and I am seriously thinking of not recertifying. It seems I like I got them yesterday. Its crazy. I think Certifications should last 5 years to get some damn breathing room to live.

[@IAMDINUTH]

That’s true and I’m also experiencing the same issue. Most of the technologies are rapidly changing. Based on that certification providers are defining the exam validity period. Agree or disagree; we need to adhere to that.

[@lhxperimental]

Certifications hold value on your resume even after they expire. You don't lose knowledge when the certificate expires. A sane person would assume that if you were certified in something many years ago and have worked on the technology for so many years (even if that's not all you work with), your experience has more value than any certificate.

[@sipirock9383]

hello sir. this exam using 2 way method or single way? thx before

[@IAMDINUTH]

Sorry. I didn’t get your question. Please elaborate.

[@sipirock9383]

​@@IAMDINUTH sorry, I mean this exam is supervised with camera or something like that?

[@IAMDINUTH]

Yes. It is supervised over camera and microphone. Room will be observed before starting the exam. Cannot have any other electronic devices close by. Cannot talk or cover your mouth during the exam. If so examiner will give you warnings.

[@roshansharma3438]

Hi Dinuth. Hope you are doing Good. At first would like to thank you for sharing wonderful tips.I have weng through cka course Bug have lots of doubts regarding some topics. Can you help me out if i share..Also Could you please tell me how to prepare for interview to get jobs. Thanks Dinuth and Stay Safe..!!

[@IAMDINUTH]

Thank you for the feedback. I’m creating videos to cover each curriculum domain of CKAD and CKA as a knowledge refresher which benefits everyone. Here is the 1st video in that series. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3PIn4qQprSag6s Please raise your question here. I can answer and help you without violating exam NDA. Stay safe !!!

[@roshansharma3438]

@@IAMDINUTH Thanks Dinuth for the prompt response. I shall note down my queries and ask you one by one. Meanwhile would you mind giving some interview tips. The problem is everyone is looking for experience which is fine from their end, but what about us who are new to it and willing to work in Containerization. Could you please throw some light and share some ideas...!!!!

[@IAMDINUTH]

@@roshansharma3438 That’s true. Everyone is looking for experience. If the experience is not there are few things that you can do to show your expertise. 1. Get yourself certified with CKA, CKAD, CKS. At least one. You should follow the exam materials not just to pass the exam, but to learn every nut and bolt of Kubernetes. If possible try to reach above 90% in these certifications. 2. Outside the exam topics, you need to read what is happening in this domain. Read and watch news, articles, blog posts, best practices, security and more. 3. Write your own articles in LinkedIn or Medium. If you are doing some tryouts, add them to your github and share with community. During the interviews when you are answering the questions take few of them as a reference. 4. There are lot of common K8S interview questions that you can find out with a simple google search. Go through them and make sure you are prepared. 5. Show your confidence during the interview. Don’t give one liner answers. Always explain the concept or the configurations with details. Take every question as an opportunity to show your knowledge. Good Luck !!!

[@roshansharma3438]

@@IAMDINUTH Thanks a lot Dinuth for sparing so much time. Really means a lot. 🙂. Stay safe..!!

[@IAMDINUTH]

Welcome !!! Stay Subscribed for new videos !!!

[@Crazyvikas03]

How many questions in cka ?

[@IAMDINUTH]

15 to 20 questions according to the official exam tips. I have seen most of the candidates received around 19 questions. docs.linuxfoundation.org/tc-docs/certification/tips-cka-and-ckad

[@WeTheTravellers]

In how many attempts you cleared CKA?

[@IAMDINUTH]

In 1st attempt.

[@balajiramesh1393]

Do we need to edit etcd yaml file to data-dir with restored location in exam?? If yes there will be cluster mentioned??

[@IAMDINUTH]

It is depending on the exam question. If the question is asking to restore to a different location, you need to make sure configs a pointing to the new location. If the question is just asking to restore without referring to the destination location, you have the flexibility to restore to the same data location or a different location with config changes.

[@balajiramesh1393]

@@IAMDINUTH Thanks Dinuth..How to identify which cluster's etcd config file to be changed to new data dir from endpoint details.

[@IAMDINUTH]

In the question you will be given the cluster context change command. So you know which cluster’s etcd config to change.

[@balajiramesh1393]

@@IAMDINUTH Thanks a lot..

[@shahidhaider5857]

Hello, it appears fascinating, and I'd like to join you. Could you possibly assist me with contacting you

[@amubaangom8679]

Good contain. But your eyes is coming out

[@dedhuntgaming5613]

hey bro just gave a linkdin connect request under the name vaibhav mishra, would be really helpful if you connect and could mentor me along my journey