CKA 2026 - Certified Kubernetes Administrator

Overview

The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification is designed to ensure that certification holders have the skills, knowledge, and competency to perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes administrators.

Exam Details

• Duration: 2 hours
• Format: Performance-based exam
• Passing Score: 66%
• Validity: 3 years
• Cost: $395 USD (includes one free retake)

Exam Curriculum

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

Workloads & Scheduling (15%)

• Understand deployments and how to perform rolling updates
• 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

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

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

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

Preparation Tips

1. Hands-on Practice: The exam is performance-based, so practice is crucial
2. Use kubectl: Get comfortable with kubectl commands and shortcuts
3. Documentation: Learn to navigate Kubernetes documentation quickly (allowed during exam)
4. Time Management: Practice completing tasks within time constraints
5. Lab Environment: Set up your own Kubernetes cluster for practice

Useful Resources

• Official Kubernetes Documentation
• CKA Exam Curriculum
• Kubernetes the Hard Way

Important kubectl Commands

# Get cluster information
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

# Working with pods
kubectl get pods -A
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>
kubectl logs <pod-name>

# Working with deployments
kubectl create deployment <name> --image=<image>
kubectl scale deployment <name> --replicas=3
kubectl rollout status deployment/<name>

# Working with services
kubectl expose deployment <name> --port=80 --type=NodePort
kubectl get svc

# Troubleshooting
kubectl get events
kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods

Study Plan

Week 1-2: Fundamentals

• Kubernetes architecture
• Core concepts (Pods, Deployments, Services)
• kubectl basics

Week 3-4: Advanced Topics

• RBAC and security
• Networking and Ingress
• Storage and volumes

Week 5-6: Practice

• Mock exams
• Troubleshooting scenarios
• Time-based challenges

Notes

Tips

The CKA exam is open book - you can access the official Kubernetes documentation during the exam. Practice navigating the docs efficiently!

Warning

Make sure you're comfortable with vim or nano as these are the primary text editors available in the exam environment.

Caution

The exam environment is time-pressured. Don't spend too much time on any single question. Flag difficult questions and come back to them later.

Exam Day Checklist

• Valid government-issued ID
• Stable internet connection
• Clean workspace (clear desk policy)
• Chrome or Chromium browser
• Webcam and microphone working
• Arrive 15 minutes early

Good Luck! 🚀