Exam‑focused practice: map your skills 1:1 to CKAD domains with real, time‑boxed labs.
Work only with kubectl and YAML like in the exam: design, deploy, observe and troubleshoot apps.
Cover core topics—workloads, config, security, services, networking and observability—through guided drills.
Gain practical experience by solving 20+ micro‑labs and a full mock exam.
How this helps: build speed, accuracy and confidence under exam constraints.
Who it’s for: designed for individuals with basic Kubernetes familiarity who plan to earn CKAD.
Stay aligned with the official guide and current tooling used in the exam environment.
Curriculum
Application Design and Build (CKAD 20%)
- Kubernetes API basics needed by app developers (objects, manifests, labels/annotations)
- Pods and multi-container patterns: sidecar, ambassador, adapter; InitContainers
- Probes and lifecycle: liveness, readiness, startup; postStart/preStop hooks
- Jobs, CronJobs and backoff limits; completion and parallelism
- Stateful workloads overview: StatefulSets vs. Deployments; PVC/PV/StorageClass basics
- Packaging: Kustomize overlays; generating YAML with kubectl; Helm (read-only use)
Application Deployment (CKAD 20%)
- Imperative vs. declarative: kubectl create/apply/patch; dry-run=client; -o yaml
- Deployments: rollout, strategies, scaling, rollback; DaemonSets & ReplicaSets basics
- Resource requests/limits; QoS classes and eviction signals
- ConfigMaps and Secrets as env/envFrom/volume mounts; projected volumes; downwards API
- HPA (metrics-server) overview; PodDisruptionBudget; node/pod affinity & topology spread (developer view)
Application Observability and Maintenance (CKAD 15%)
- Logs, events and watches: kubectl logs/-f, get events, describe, field/label selectors
- Probes troubleshooting; rollout history; diagnosing CrashLoopBackOff/ImagePullBackOff
- exec/port-forward, ephemeral containers (kubectl debug)
- Metrics & traces (developer view): kube-state-metrics, cAdvisor, OpenTelemetry basics
- Backup/restore app manifests; namespaces and quotas hygiene
Application Environment, Configuration and Security (CKAD 25%)
- ServiceAccounts, RBAC essentials for apps; least privilege for Pods/Jobs
- SecurityContext (user/group, capabilities, seccomp, readOnlyRootFilesystem)
- NetworkPolicy basics for app teams (ingress/egress)
- Secrets at rest/in transit; image pull secrets; private registries
- Config strategies: environment variables, config files via volumes, flags; FeatureGates awareness
Services and Networking (CKAD 20%)
- ClusterIP/NodePort/LoadBalancer; choosing the right Service type
- Ingress vs. IngressClass and controllers; path/host rules; TLS
- DNS in Kubernetes; service discovery; headless Services
- Readiness gates, health checks at the edge; sticky sessions (controller-specific)
Exam workflow & speed drills
- Aliases, kubectl completion, and context/namespace switching (KUBECONFIG)
- Search the docs efficiently (kubectl explain, bookmarks)
- 20+ timed micro-labs mirroring CKAD question styles
- Full-length mock exam with debrief
Optional modules
Extras for real-world teams (optional)
- Helm packaging and chart testing (ct); artifact registries (OCI)
- GitOps primer with Argo CD or Flux (read-only)
- Policy as code basics: Kyverno or Gatekeeper constraints for app teams
- Stateful patterns deep-dive (PVC expansion, RWX options, storage class tuning)
Course Day Structure
- Part 1: 09:00–10:30
- Break: 10:30–10:45
- Part 2: 10:45–12:15
- Lunch break: 12:15–13:15
- Part 3: 13:15–15:15
- Break: 15:15–15:30
- Part 4: 15:30–17:30