YOUR LEARNING PATH
CKA: Kubernetes Administration
Operate a cluster the way the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam expects — workloads, scheduling, storage, autoscaling, quotas and access — everything that runs on a single cluster, building to a timed simulator.
Your practice sequence
One exercise at a timePods and Deployments
NextCreate, scale and inspect workloads: the twenty-minute onramp.
BeginnerFree20 minConfigMaps and Environment
Separate config from code: store settings in a ConfigMap and inject them into a Deployment.
BeginnerFree15 minInjecting Secrets
Store sensitive configuration in a Secret and inject it into a workload as environment variables — never in plaintext.
BeginnerFree15 minResource Requests and Limits
Right-size a workload: set CPU and memory requests, then limits, and reach Guaranteed QoS.
BeginnerFree15 minHealth Probes
Tell Kubernetes when a Pod is ready for traffic and when to restart it: readiness and liveness probes.
BeginnerFree15 minExposing Workloads with Services
Front a Deployment with a Service so it has one stable address, and make the selector match its Pods.
BeginnerFree15 minRunning Work to Completion
Run a batch workload as a Job — once, and in parallel to a fixed number of completions.
BeginnerFree15 minScheduling Work with CronJobs
Schedule a recurring Job with a CronJob, then suspend it the way you'd pause a scheduled backup — without deleting it.
BeginnerPlus15 minLockedZero-Downtime Rolling Updates
Tune a Deployment's rollout strategy for zero downtime, then ship a new image version without dropping a request.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedDurable Storage with PVCs
Give a workload storage that survives a restart: claim a PersistentVolume and mount it, and understand why the claim only binds once a Pod needs it.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedDynamic Provisioning with StorageClasses
A StorageClass is the template the cluster uses to provision volumes on demand. Define one with a Retain reclaim policy and lazy binding, then claim a volume from it and watch a Pod bind it.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedNamespace Quotas and Limits
Stop one team from starving the cluster: cap a namespace's total requests, limits, and object counts with a ResourceQuota, and hand every container a sensible default with a LimitRange.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedPod Priority and Preemption
When a node is full, which Pods win? Define a PriorityClass and run a workload at that priority — the mechanism the scheduler uses to evict lower-priority Pods for critical ones.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedHorizontal Pod Autoscaling
Let the cluster size a workload for you: give a Deployment CPU requests, then attach a HorizontalPodAutoscaler that scales it between a floor and a ceiling on CPU utilisation.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedOne Pod Per Node with DaemonSets
Node agents — log shippers, metrics collectors, CNI — run one copy on every node. That's a DaemonSet. Deploy one, then make it tolerate the control-plane taint so no node is left uncovered.
IntermediatePlus20 minLockedScoping Access with RBAC
Least privilege is a habit: build Roles, RoleBindings and verify with auth can-i.
IntermediatePlus30 minLocked- Challenge
Run It in Prod
An exam-pace admin drill: deploy a resourced, prioritised workload; autoscale it; cap the namespace with a quota; and expose it — the day-to-day operating tasks CKA tests, fused into one, every field graded.
AdvancedPlus30 minLocked
Test yourself
Mock ExamTimed, scored under exam conditions. Take these once the tree feels solid.
60 min · Pro
45 min · Pro