Beyond Certification: Real Kubernetes Skills
I created this course not just to help you pass the CKA certification exam. While practicing CKA questions can get you certified, true confidence in working with Kubernetes requires more.
My goal is to equip you with the skills of a real Kubernetes administrator, someone who understands all the critical nuances of the platform.
I deployed my first Kubernetes cluster in 2015 when Google launched its GKE service. Since then, I've worked on multiple Kubernetes implementations.
One thing I’ve learned is that understanding Kubernetes' core components, resources, storage options, secrets management, real-world workflows, and best practices makes a real difference in handling real-world projects.
In this course, I’ve shared the knowledge needed to grasp these core concepts and laid a foundation for further research and deeper learning.
You can also ask questions in our dedicated CKA exam Discord channel or community forum. Our certified Kubernetes experts, with real-world production experience, are here to help!
I continually update this course based on user feedback, adding lessons that will help learners not only in their daily work but also in job interviews. You’ll receive an email notification every time a new lesson is added.
CKA Course Curriculum
- Introduction
- Setup Virtual Machines
- Kubeadm Cluster Prerequisites
- Firewall Requirements
- Kubeadm Workflow (1:42)
- Provision underlying infrastructure to deploy a Kubernetes cluster
- Create Kubeadm Config
- Initialize Kubeadm Cluser
- Join Worker Nodes
- Install the Network Plugin
- Deploy Metrics Server
- Validate the Cluster
- Deploy a Sample Application
- Configure Kubeconfig File in Workstation
- Introduction
- How Does Deployment Work?
- Updating & Scaling Deployment
- Create Deployment Using Imperative Commands
- Deployment Creation Using Declarative Method
- Rolling Update and Rollbacks
- Perform a Rolling Update and Rollback of a Deployment
- Pause & Resume Rollouts
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Create a Deployment
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Debug a Deployment
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Edit a Deployment
- 🎯 Scenario 04: Update a Deployment using Rolling Update Strategy
- 🎯 Scenario 05: Update a Deployment using Recreate Strategy
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- How Does HPA Work?
- 🎁 Bonus: How Does Metrics Server Work
- Working With HPA
- Memory Based Scaling
- 🎁 Bonus: Custom Metrics Scaling
- 🎁 Bonus: Scaling With External Metrics
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Deploying a Microservice with HPA
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Deployment with Dual-Metric HPA
- 🤔 Corner-Case Q&A
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Understanding Role & RoleBinding YAML Specification
- Working With Roles and Role Bindings
- Working With Cluster Roles and ClusterRole Bindings
- Adding Roles and ClusterRoles to Service Accounts
- 🎁 Bonus: Creating API token for a ServiceAccount
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Create ClusterRole To Provide Access
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Create Role To Provide Access
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Provide Access to Non Resource URLs
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Working With ConfigMap
- Updating ConfigMaps
- 🎁 Bonus: ConfigMap Update Delays
- 🧩 Real-world Scenario
- Immutable Configmap
- 🎁 Bonus: Immutable Configmaps Improve Performance
- ConfigMap Imperative Commands
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Create a ConfigMap
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Externalizing Configuration for a Web Server
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Configuration Management for Web Application Services
- 🎯 Scenario 04: Debugging ConfigMap Issue
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Base64 encoding
- Secret Types
- Working With Secrets
- Injecting Secrets into Pods
- Secret Imperative Commands
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Create a Secret
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Configure a Secret Into a Pod
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Configuring Nginx with TLS Secret in Kubernetes
- 🎁 Bonus: Managing Secrets In Real World Setup
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- 🎁 Bonus: How Kubernetes uses Cgroups and CFS to Manage Resources
- Pod Quality of Service (QoS)
- Working With Requests & Limits
- Resource Quota
- Limit Ranges
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Setting CPU Requests and Limits
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Listing CPU and Memory Resources of Pods
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Fix the Problematic Pod
- 🎯 Scenario 04: Analyzing kube-proxy Pod Memory Usage
- 🎁 Bonus: Capacity Planning Real World Example
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Kubernetes Services
- Working With Services
- Inside Kubernetes Services
- 🎁 Bonus: Why EndpointSlices?
- DNS Based Service Discovery
- Default Kubernetes Service
- NodePort Service
- 🎁 Bonus: How Does NodePort Work
- Load Balancer Service
- 🎁 Bonus: MetalLB With Kubeadm
- Externalname Service
- Environment Variables
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Expose Webserver Using NodePort
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Expose application internally
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Fixing Deployment and Service Issues
- 🎯 Scenario 04: Deploy and Test Connectivity Between Apps
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Ingress
- 🎁 Bonus: Ingress Controller: Internal Workflow
- Setup Ingress Controller
- Multiple Ingress Controllers
- Ingress Object
- Ingress Demo Application Architecture
- Deploy Demo Application
- Create Ingress Objects
- Ingress TLS
- Create Ingress TLS
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Expose Web Application Via Ingress
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Troubleshoot Application Ingress
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Implement Path Based Routing
- 🎯 Scenario 04: Implement TLS For Ingress
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Gateway API Controller
- Gateway API Resources
- GatewayClass
- Gateway
- HTTPRoute
- ReferenceGrant
- Seperation of Concerns
- Deploy Gateway API CRDs
- Setting Up Nginx Fabric Controller
- Create GatewayClass
- Deploy a Demo Application
- Create Gateway
- Create HTTPRoute
- Cross Namespace Routing
- Canary Deployments Using HTTPRoute
- GatewayAPI TLS
- Create Gateway TLS
- Cleanup
- 🎯Scenario 01: Expose a web application using GatewayAPI
- 🎯Scenario 02: Encrypt Traffic using GatewayAPI TLS
- 🎯Scenario 03: Migrate the Ingress config to Gateway API
- 🎯Scenario 04: Cross Namespace Routing with ReferenceGrant
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Kubernetes Network Policy
- Network Policy Object
- Deploy Demo Application
- Deny all Ingress and Egress Traffic
- Implement Network Policies for Secure Communication Between Services
- Default Deny Network Policies
- Common Pitfalls and Key Concepts
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Secure Namespace Communication with Network Policies
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Implement Secure Egress with IP CIDR-Based Restrictions
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Secure Database Access with NetworkPolicy
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- VPA Architecture
- VPA Components
- VPA Workflow
- Installing and Setting Up VPA
- Working with VPA
- Advance Policies for Control Scaling
- 🎁 Bonus: In-Place Resize of Pods
- Understanding Recommender Algorithm
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Create VPA for webapp
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Fix the Broken VPA Manifest
- 🎁 Bonus: VPA vs HPA
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- Kubernetes Objects & Resources
- Custom Resources
- Operator
- Deploy MariaDB Operator
- Create MariaDB Cluster
- Create Database & User
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Inspect the structure of CRD
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Inspect the CRD fields
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Create and Inspect an Argo CD Application Custom Resource
- 📚 Quiz Time
- Introduction
- What is Helm Chart?
- Understanding Helm Repo
- Install Helm
- Adding Helm Repositories
- Analyzing Helm Charts
- Installing Charts
- Deploying Argo CD Using Helm
- Using a Custom Values File
- Upgrading a Helm Release
- Rolling Back a Release
- 🎁 Bonus: Public Helm Charts vs Production Reality
- 🎯 Scenario 01: Helm Chart Installation
- 🎯 Scenario 02: Customized Helm Installation without CRDs
- 🎯 Scenario 03: Review Manifests from a Helm Chart
- Challenge 01 - Persistent Volume
- Challenge 02 - Drain Nodes
- Challenge 03 - Service
- Challenge 04 - Gateway API TLS
- Challenge 05 - Service Account & Role Based Access Control
- Challenge 06 - Storage Class & Persistent Volume
- Challenge 07 - Deployment & Troubleshooting
- Challenge 08 - Helm Upgrade
- Challenge 09 - Deployment Scaling & Update
- Challenge 10 - ConfigMap and Deployment Troubleshooting
- Challenge 11 - Troubleshoot Network Policy
- Challenge 12 - Ingress
- Challenge 13 - PV Troubleshooting
- Challenge 14 - Pod Deployment
- Challenge 15 - Rollout and Rollback
- Challenge 16 - Node Troubleshooting
- Challenge 17 - Service
- Challenge 18 - Network Policy
- Challenge 19 - Deployment Strategy
- Challenge 20 - RBAC
- Challenge 21 - Install Redis Using Helm
- Challenge 22 - Autoscaling a Deployment with HPA
- Challenge 23 - High Priority Deployment
- Challenge 24 - Gateway API HTTP Route
- Challenge 25: Cluster Bootstrap using Kubeadm
- Challenge 26: Install CNI
- Challenge 27 - Operator
- Challenge 28 - StatefulSet Resource Allocation
- Challenge 29 - Fixing a Broken VPA Configuration
- Challenge 30 - Fix the Misconfigured Kustomize Base and Overlay
- Challenge 31 - Deploy the Payment Service with Health Checks
- Challenge 01 - Capturing Error Logs
- Challenge 02 - Multi-Container Pod
- Challenge 03 - Static Pod Creation
- Challenge 04 - Network Policy
- Challenge 05 - Pod Details Collection and Sorting
- Challenge 06 - Ingress
- Challenge 07 - Deploy and Expose Pod
- Challenge 08 - JSONPath
- Challenge 09 - Deploy and Expose Pods
- Challenge 10 - DaemonSet
- Challenge 11 - Scaling Deployment
- Challenge 12 - Troubleshooting
- Challenge 13 - Troubleshooting Pod
- Challenge 14 - ConfigMap
- Challenge 15 - Ingress
- Challenge 16 - Multi-Container Pod
- Challenge 17 - Network Policy
- Challenge 18 - Deployment & Service
- Challenge 19 - Secrets
- Challenge 20 - Network Policy
- Challenge 21 - Fix the Broken HPA
- Challenge 22 - Scheduling High Priority Workloads
- Challenge 23 - Ingress to Gateway API Migration
- Challenge 24 - Kubeadm Cluster Setup
- Challenge 25 - Operator
- Challenge 26 - Insufficient CPU
- Challenge 27 - Immutable ConfigMap
- Challenge 28 - Deploy ArgoCD using Helm
- Challenge 29 - Deployment with Named Port Service
- Challenge 30 - Create a Custom Resource Definition (CRD)
- Challenge 01 - Mount Secret
- Challenge 02 - Cluster Access
- Challenge 03 - Taints and Tolerations
- Challenge 04 - Static Pod
- Challenge 05 - Troubleshooting Pod
- Challenge 06 - ConfigMap and Jobs
- Challenge 07 - Secrets and NodeAffinity
- Challenge 08 - Init Containers
- Challenge 09 - Cluster Access
- Challenge 10 - Secure Pod Deployment
- Challenge 11 - Troubleshoot Cluster
- Challenge 12 - Troubleshoot PVC
- Challenge 13 - Troubleshoot Pod
- Challenge 14 - Troubleshoot Service Account
- Challenge 15 - Network Policy
- Challenge 16 - Multi-Container Pod
- Copy of Challenge 17 - Ingress Troubleshooting
- Challenge 18 - Troubleshoot Deployment
- Challenge 19 - CPU and Memory Utilization
- Challenge 20 - Network Policy
- Challenge 21 - Persistent Volume Claim Troubleshooting
- Challenge 22 - Reduce High CPU Usage
- Challenge 23 - Troubleshoot and Complete a CRD
- Challenge 24 - Validating CNI Operator
- Challenge 25 - Create a VPA
- Challenge 26 - Troubleshooting and CRI-O
- Challenge 27 - Fix the Unhealthy Application
FAQS
What is the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification?
The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification is a professional credential offered by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) that validates your skills and knowledge in managing Kubernetes clusters.
It covers the essential tasks of deploying, managing, and troubleshooting Kubernetes applications, giving you the expertise needed to work with production-grade Kubernetes systems. This certification is highly regarded in the tech industry and can enhance your credibility and career opportunities in cloud and DevOps roles.
Who should take the CKA certification course?
The CKA certification course is ideal for IT professionals who want to work with Kubernetes, including DevOps engineers, cloud engineers, system administrators, and anyone interested in managing containerized applications at scale.
It is designed for those who wish to gain hands-on skills and a deep understanding of Kubernetes to support, deploy, and troubleshoot clusters in a professional environment.
What are the prerequisites for the CKA certification?
To prepare for the CKA certification, it is helpful to have a solid understanding of Linux commands, containerization concepts (such as Docker), and basic networking.
Familiarity with YAML syntax and concepts of cloud infrastructure is also beneficial. These foundational skills will make it easier to learn Kubernetes and excel in both the course and certification exam.
How much time will it take to prepare for the CKA exam?
Preparation time varies but typically takes several weeks to a few months, depending on your familiarity with Kubernetes and the amount of time you can dedicate to studying.
Are there practice exams in this course?
Yes, we provide practice scenarios to help you get familiar with the exam format and build your confidence.
What happens if I fail the CKA exam?
You can retake the exam after a waiting period, as specified by the official CKA retake policy.
How long is the CKA certification valid?
The CKA certification is valid for two years, after which you’ll need to renew it by retaking the exam.
Can this course help me with real-world Kubernetes tasks?
Absolutely. Our course emphasizes hands-on skills, preparing you to work confidently with Kubernetes in production environments.
What career benefits can I expect after obtaining the CKA certification?
With the CKA certification, you can expect enhanced job opportunities, higher salaries, and a competitive edge in DevOps and cloud computing roles.
Bibin Wilson
Bibin Wilson, the author of 300+ tech tutorials, is a cloud and DevOps consultant with over 12 years of experience in DevOps. He started his Kubernetes journey in 2015 and has successfully managed production-level clusters for well-known international clients.
Aman Jaiswal
Aman is a Kubernetes expert and kubestronaut with real-world production experience. He worked in different industries such as FinTech/Banking domain, and Data Analytics. Dedicated to sharing insights on SRE, DevOps, and Kubernetes.
