Intro⌗

So i passed the CKAD exam last september. In this blog i wanted to share some tips.

Learning matters⌗

For me personally i am the type of guy that learns by just doing it. Set up some Kubernetes node with either Kind or Rancher Desktop and just try some things out.

Also, check out some great Udemy courses. I personally liked this CKAD course by Mumshad Mannambeth.

Also, try some practice exercises from the internet. I just looked some of those up on Github:

Also, if you have booked the exam, you are also entitled to use the Exam simulator by killer.sh. If you log-in on the site of the Linux Foundation there is a link to that exam simulator. You have 2 shots.

Use autocompletion in your bashrc⌗

When you are working on the CKAD exam, speed is everything. You have approx 15-17 questions to do within two hours, so time is crucial.

You can speed things up by using auto-completion in your shell. To do so, enable auto completion for kubectl in your .bashrc.

echo "source <(kubectl completion bash)" >> ~/.bashrc # add autocomplete permanently to your bash shell.

After that, you can hit the button on your keyboard to autocomplete commands. If you are tired of of typing in the whole kubectl command you can also alias that command.

echo "alias k=kubectl" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "complete -F __start_kubectl k" >> ~/.bashrc

More information can be found in the Kubectl cheatsheet, which you can also use on the exam.

Use bookmarks in your browser⌗

The exam you are about to take is a web-based exam. You are allowed to have one tab open besides your exam tab. This can either be one of the following sites:

To make things easier, you are allowed to use bookmarks in your browser. I have created some bookmarks that you can import in your browser. You can find them here.

Use kubectl expose⌗

This is a odd one, but i found it very usable. When you create a pod or a deployment you want it to be served some how. To do this, you can quickly create a service for this pod or deployment.

For example: I have a pod called nginx. To create a service for it, i can use kubectl expose.

kubectl expose pod nginx --port=80 --name=servicename

Or, if you want a yaml file to edit it and create some more service parameters, use the following command:

kubectl expose pod nginx --port --name=servicename --dry-run=client -o yaml > service.yml

Use a alias to quickly switch to another namespace⌗

Exam quests will take place in different namespaces and contexts. If there is a question that doesn´t mention a namespace, always use the default namespace.

You can switch namespaces by typing this command:

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace namespacename

A bit long, isn´t it? To make life easier i use a alias you can add to your .bashrc.

echo 'alias kn="kubectl config set-context --current --namespace"' >> ~/.bashrc

Create your own .vimrc⌗

If you use vim as your favorite editor, it is important to use the right configuration. You can edit your .vimrc in your home folder. I used the following settings:

set nu # set numbers
set tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 expandtab # use 2 spaces instead of tab
set ai # autoindent: when go to new line keep same indentation
set cursorcolumn # You see a column on your cursor so you can easily check the identation.

Some other tips⌗

Stay hydrated⌗

You are allowed to have a glass or a bottle of water next to you. Mind that this bottle or glass needs to be transparent.

Clean up your desk before taking the exam⌗

I started the exam 15 minutes before and cleaned up my desk. But, i left my audio speakers on the desk. The proctor asked me to also remove these audio speakers. So please, clean up your desk and remove everything from your desk besides your keyboard, mouse and your laptop.

Check your questions before you begin⌗

Go through all the questions and begin with the easiest ones first. After that, you have plenty of time to start with the hard questions.

Check in which context you have to use⌗

At the beginning of every question, it states in which context you will work in. There is also a copy button with to command that you can use. Use this button, it will save you a lot of time.