Kubernetes is one of the 'go to' platform for deploying containerised workloads. A certification in this area is a recognition by an industry body of your skill. The assessment itself is a grueling two hours task oriented assessment where you will need to solve multiple tasks from the command line.
In this talk, NUS-ISS Chief of StackUp Programme will talk about the 3 Ps, - Preparation, Practices and Process in your certification journey.
6. Why is Kubernetes Complex?
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Image from https://cdn.thenewstack.io/media/2016/11/Kubernetes-Services.jpg
7. Why Certification?
• Systematic way of learning Kubernetes
• Learn the important parts
• New opportunities and horizons
• Challenge yourself
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10. Registration
• Create an account with linuxfoundation.org
• https://www.linuxfoundation.org/
• Buy certification package
• https://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification-catalog
• USD 395 - look for promotion
• What you get
• 2 tries within a year
• 2 session in Killer Shell - https://killer.sh
• Assessment simulator
• Schedule a date
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11. Which Should be Your First Certification?
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Pre-requisite
Validity: 3 Years Validity: 2 Years
Difficulty
https://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification-catalog/
13. What to Prepare
• Assessment subject matter
• Eg. CKA topics
• Pre-requisites
• The context of the assessment and the environment you will be working in
• Assessment session tools
• Managing questions and time during assessment
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14. Assessment Subject Matter
• Self learn - look at the curriculum
• https://github.com/cncf/curriculum
• Enroll in a course, more systematic; includes playground for practices
• NLB Udemy - https://nlbsg.udemy.com
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer with Practice Test
• https://nlbsg.udemy.com/course/certified-kubernetes-application-developer
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator with Practice Test
• https://nlbsg.udemy.com/course/certified-kubernetes-administrator-with-practice-tests/
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
• 1 course but doesn’t seem to have any labs/practice
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15. Pre-Requisites
• Basic Linux skills - cluster is deployed on Ubuntu 20.04
• Shell concepts (environment variables, pipes, redirect, etc), file system navigation, file
manipulation
• Text editor - more on this later
• Administration - installing packages, creating users, starting/stopping services, know
where the system files are located, etc
• SSH
• Open SSL, working with keys and certificates
• Shell scripting - good to have
• Networking
• IP address, DNS, routing, ports
• Tools - netstat, dig, nslookup, nc
• Others
• JSON path
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16. Assessment Session Tools
• Text editor - eg vim, nano, emacs
• You have access to VSC but it’ll be too slow on the remote desktop
• Vim Master Class
• https://nlbsg.udemy.com/course/vim-commands-cheat-sheet
• Vim Adventures
• https://vim-adventures.com/
• Terminal multiplexer - eg tmux
• Motto: E pluribus unum
• Reduce window clutter, ideally should only have 2 windows
• Rely on kubectl create command
• More later
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17. Certification Day
• Login early, 15 minutes before the start of the assessment
• 2 rounds of verification, automated and by proctor
• If you schedule your assessment at 10am, login at 9.45am, expect the to start
around 10.30am
• Venue
• Any room where you can be alone
• Table and walls must be free of paper and posters
• Cannot wear smart watch
• Clear glass cup, clear liquid (preferably not Vodka or Gin Tonic)
• Use the biggest screen you can get your hands on
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20. Practice Environment
• Sandboxes
• From your online training provider
• Eg. some Udemy Certification courses have sandboxes and practical labs
• killer.sh
• Staring using Linux on a daily basis
• Its not that difficult, excellent development machine, runs reasonably fast on old
hardware, most VMs are Linux
• Kubernetes cluster
• Install and setup on VMs – good practice, its also part of CKA
• On the desktop - Minikube, Kind
• Real cluster – Digital Ocean, AWS, GCP
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21. Practice Goals
• Build muscle memory
• Same task eg. Configuring a resource,
• Allow you to discover what are your weakness and bad habits
• When you make a mistake, learn from it
• A topic I don’t fully grasp, or is it because of a practice of mine?
• Identify potential errors from symptoms
• Introduce errors and mistakes to see how Kubernetes respond: logs, containers
• Allow you to be have intuition into
• Time bound your mock exams
• Gradually reduce the time, work under pressure
• Try to use keyboard for everything
• Like sitting in a car, always keep your hands on the keyboard
• Switching windows Alt-Tab, Selecting browser tabs Ctrl-Tab
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23. Speed and Accuracy
• Lack of time
• 18 questions in 120 mins ≈ 6.7
mins/question
• Is there a shorter way to do this
• Eg. use expose instead of create for
creating services
• Find less error prone way
• Eg. embed certificate instead of
referencing them from the file system
• Memorize the common resources
• Eg. pod, deployment, service,
configmap, secrets, ingress, network
policy, volume claims
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24. kubectl Imperative Command
• Use kubectl create to generate a deployable skeleton
• Eg. create a deployment with an image
• Use the generated resource as a starting point
• Eg. create a role with the following verbs and resources
• Do not need to know every option in the kubectl create
command
• Enough to generate a working resource YAML
• Aim for pod, deployment, service/expose, configmaps, secrets, ingress,
role, rolebinding
• A good way to memorize is to practice writing out the command on
paper
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