Skip to main content
CNCF 🔒 Pro

CKA — Hands-On

Master the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam by running a real cluster.

⏱ ≈ 6.9 hours 📚 17 modules 🧪 10 hands-on labs

🔒 This course is included with Pro, a B2B seat, or the Ultimate pack for this exam.

See options to unlock →

Course modules

  1. 1

    Kubernetes architecture & the control plane

    Control plane vs nodes: API server, etcd, scheduler, controller-manager, kubelet, kube-proxy.
  2. 2

    kubectl fundamentals & the object model

    Imperative vs declarative, namespaces, get/describe/apply, running your first Pod.

    🧪 Lab
  3. 3

    Cluster installation with kubeadm

    kubeadm init/join, static pod manifests, upgrades, etcd backup & restore.
  4. 4

    RBAC, ServiceAccounts & authorization

    Roles vs ClusterRoles, bindings, ServiceAccounts, kubectl auth can-i.

    🧪 Lab
  5. 5

    Workloads: Pods, ReplicaSets, Deployments & DaemonSets

    The workload controllers, rolling updates, rollbacks, and when to use each.
  6. 6

    Lab: deploy, scale & roll back

    Hands-on — create a Deployment, scale it, and perform a rolling update + rollback.

    🧪 Lab
  7. 7

    Scheduling: selectors, affinity, taints & tolerations

    How Pods land on nodes; nodeSelector, affinity/anti-affinity, taints, tolerations, cordon/drain.

    🧪 Lab
  8. 8

    ConfigMaps, Secrets & resource management

    Externalising config, injecting as env/volume, requests/limits, resource quotas.

    🧪 Lab
  9. 9

    Services & cluster networking

    Service types, selectors & endpoints, the Kubernetes networking model.
  10. 10

    Lab: expose a Deployment with a Service

    Hands-on — front a Deployment with a ClusterIP Service and confirm live endpoints.

    🧪 Lab
  11. 11

    Ingress, NetworkPolicies & DNS

    HTTP routing with Ingress, default-deny NetworkPolicies, CoreDNS.

    🧪 Lab
  12. 12

    Storage: Volumes, PV, PVC & StorageClasses

    Ephemeral vs persistent, the PV/PVC binding model, dynamic provisioning, access modes.
  13. 13

    Lab: attach persistent storage

    Hands-on — provision a PV, bind a PVC, and mount it into a Pod.

    🧪 Lab
  14. 14

    Troubleshooting methodology

    A systematic approach: describe, logs, events, node/kubelet checks; common failure modes.
  15. 15

    Lab: repair a failing workload

    Hands-on — diagnose and fix a Deployment stuck in a crash/pull loop.

    🧪 Lab
  16. 16

    Lab: recover an unschedulable node

    Hands-on — uncordon and untaint a node so a workload can schedule.

    🧪 Lab
  17. 17

    Exam-day strategy & the kubectl speed kit

    Time management, imperative shortcuts, docs allowed, context switching, verification habits.