feat: add kube-apiserver failure and node-join-verification tasks
Close two of the four CKA-relevant gaps identified against Killercoda's scenario catalog: - Q123 (TSHOOT, hard): kube-apiserver itself crash-loops on a static-pod manifest typo, same pattern as the existing scheduler/controller-manager failures (Q20/Q118) but with the added twist that kubectl is completely unusable until it's fixed, forcing node-level diagnosis (crictl, journalctl). - Q124 (ARCH, hard): produce a real node-join handoff file by independently computing the CA discovery hash kubeadm join verifies against, and finding the API server's actual in-cluster address rather than the local kubeconfig's port-forwarded one. Cluster-upgrade and operator-authoring remain unimplemented and are documented as genuine infrastructure gaps in CKA_SOLUTIONS_EXPLAINED.md (kind's node images have no apt-installable multi-version kubelet/kubeadm, and operator authoring needs a real built/pushed image) rather than faked. Also updates the Killercoda cross-reference table with the gaps closed, and logs an ended drill session to history-cka.jsonl/weak-spots-cka.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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This guide explains how to approach and solve every question in the CKA exam bank. Every entry gives you the **underlying Kubernetes concept** (why the mechanism behaves the way it does), the **exact commands/manifests** that solve the task, and the **gotchas the grader is actually checking for** — the small details that separate a passing answer from a plausible-looking one. `k` is used throughout as the `kubectl` alias (already configured on the exam VMs).
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## Practicing the same ground on Killercoda
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This bank mirrors the real CKA curriculum weights (25/15/20/10/30% across the five domains), and so does Killercoda's free, browser-based CKA scenario set. Killercoda groups its own scenarios into five domains too — the mapping below cross-references its actual scenario titles against the equivalent questions in this bank, so you know exactly which free scenario to run when a topic here feels shaky.
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| Killercoda scenario | Killercoda domain | Equivalent question(s) here |
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|---|---|---|
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| StorageClass and Dynamic Provisioning | Storage | Q16 |
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| PV Access Modes | Storage | Q15 |
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| Volume Can't Be Mounted | Storage | Q35, Q115 (troubleshooting a binding/mount failure) |
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| PVC Data Migration | Storage | Q116 |
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| Deployment and StatefulSet Rollouts | Workloads & Scheduling | Q07, Q108 |
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| Init Container and Secret | Workloads & Scheduling | Q28 + Q10/Q29 (init container *and* a broken Secret reference, combined) |
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| DaemonSet HostPath Configurator | Workloads & Scheduling | Q26 |
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| Node Selector and Scheduling | Workloads & Scheduling | Q09 (this bank uses required nodeAffinity instead of nodeSelector — worth doing both) |
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| Node Taints and Tolerations | Workloads & Scheduling | Q25, Q107 |
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| Scheduling Pod Affinity | Workloads & Scheduling | *no direct equivalent here* — this bank only exercises anti-affinity (Q107); do this one to cover positive affinity too |
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| Scheduling Pod Anti Affinity | Workloads & Scheduling | Q107 |
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| Scheduling Priority | Workloads & Scheduling | Q24, Q107 |
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| NetworkPolicy Isolation | Services & Networking | Q11, Q111 |
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| Troubleshoot NetworkPolicies | Services & Networking | Q114 (a blocking NetworkPolicy is one of its three faults) |
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| App Goes Public | Services & Networking | Q12 (NodePort here; LoadBalancer+autoscale adds Q23's HPA angle) |
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| Gateway API Setup | Services & Networking | Q22, Q113 |
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| CoreDNS Misconfigured | Services & Networking | Q37, Q114 |
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| TLS Secret and HTTPS | Services & Networking | Q112 |
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| Apiserver Crash | Troubleshooting | Q123 |
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| Apiserver Misconfigured | Troubleshooting | Q123 |
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| Deployment Scaling Issue | Troubleshooting | Q23 |
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| Application Multi Container Issue | Troubleshooting | Q08, Q109 (troubleshooting angle on a multi-container pod) |
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| Applications Misconfigured | Troubleshooting | Q18, Q119 |
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| Components Misconfigured | Troubleshooting | Q20, Q38, Q118 |
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| RBAC for CronJob | Cluster Architecture | Q01/Q101's RBAC pattern, applied to a CronJob's ServiceAccount specifically |
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| RBAC User Permissions | Cluster Architecture | Q06, Q33, Q104 |
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| Operator Setup and CRD | Cluster Architecture | Q04, Q34, Q106 (CRD half only — this bank never writes an actual operator/controller) |
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| Operator Namespace Creator | Cluster Architecture | *no equivalent here* — this bank doesn't cover writing controller logic (arguably CKAD/dev territory more than CKA) |
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| Static Pod Move | Cluster Architecture | Q05, Q103 |
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| Cluster Setup and Node Join | Cluster Architecture | Q40 (token) + Q124 (independently verifying the CA discovery hash and real in-cluster API endpoint) — the token/crypto half only, see gap note |
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| Cluster Upgrade | Cluster Architecture | *no equivalent here* — see gap note below |
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| Cluster Certificate Management | Cluster Architecture | Q06, Q122 |
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### Real gaps worth knowing about
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Two topics from Killercoda's list still have **no faithful equivalent in this simulator**, for concrete infrastructure reasons rather than oversight:
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- **Cluster Upgrade** — `kubeadm upgrade plan`/`apply`, draining nodes, upgrading kubelet/kubectl package versions in order. Not reproducible on this rig: the kind node images bake kubelet/kubeadm in as fixed binaries with no `pkgs.k8s.io` apt repo configured, so there's no real multi-version binary swap to perform here — faking it would just be theater. Practice this one on Killercoda, which provisions real upgradeable VMs.
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- **Operator Namespace Creator** — writing actual controller/reconciliation logic and shipping it as a running operator. Doing this properly would mean building and pushing a real container image, and arguably strays into CKAD/development territory more than CKA administration — but it's on the exam-relevant list, so don't be caught flat-footed if it comes up.
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Two other gaps this bank previously had are now closed:
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- **Apiserver Crash / Apiserver Misconfigured** → **Q123**. Same diagnostic method as the existing scheduler/controller-manager failures (Q20, Q38, Q118), just applied to kube-apiserver itself — with the added twist that *every* `kubectl` command is unusable until you fix it, so you have to work from the node directly (`crictl`, `journalctl`) rather than leaning on `kubectl describe`.
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- **Cluster Setup and Node Join** → partially closed by **Q124**. A full `kubeadm init`/`join` end-to-end on a fresh node isn't safe to automate here (it would mean deleting a live Node object on your shared 3-worker cluster, which several other questions pin pods to by label/taint) — but Q124 drills the cryptographic half a real join actually depends on: computing the CA's discovery hash yourself and finding the real in-cluster API endpoint, rather than trusting whatever `kubeadm token create --print-join-command` or your local kubeconfig hands you.
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The exam-day skill this table is really pointing at, regardless of which platform you practice on: the diagnostic *method* is identical everywhere — read the actual error (`describe`, `logs`, `journalctl -u kubelet`), don't guess from memory, and verify with the tool the grader would use (`auth can-i`, `get endpointslices`, `rollout status`) rather than assuming a manifest applied cleanly means it's actually working.
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---
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## Domain 1: Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration (25%)
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@ -445,6 +498,30 @@ This guide explains how to approach and solve every question in the CKA exam ban
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---
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### Q124 · [HARD] Prepare a Node Join Without Shell Access to the Control Plane
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- **Concept**: `kubeadm join` doesn't trust the control plane on faith — it verifies the server it's talking to by hashing the CA certificate's SubjectPublicKeyInfo with SHA-256 and comparing it against the `--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash` you supply, which is exactly the computation this task has you reproduce by hand instead of trusting whatever `kubeadm token create --print-join-command` prints. Separately, the address a *joining node* needs is the API server's real address on the cluster network — not the `127.0.0.1:<port>` your own kubeconfig uses, which only works because kind port-forwards that specifically for your host machine.
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- **Solution**:
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```bash
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{SHELL_CP}
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kubeadm token create --ttl 2h
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# the exact hash kubeadm join itself verifies against
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openssl x509 -pubkey -in /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt \
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| openssl rsa -pubin -outform der 2>/dev/null \
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| openssl dgst -sha256 -hex | sed 's/^.* //'
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exit
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kubectl get endpoints kubernetes -o jsonpath='{.subsets[0].addresses[0].ip}:{.subsets[0].ports[0].port}'
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```
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```
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JOIN_TOKEN=<token>
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CA_HASH=sha256:<hash>
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API_ENDPOINT=<ip>:<port>
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```
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- **Gotchas**: the `kubernetes` Service's own `Endpoints` object (`kubectl get endpoints kubernetes`) is the reliable source for the *real* advertised address — it's populated directly from kube-apiserver's `--advertise-address`, which is what any node on the cluster's own network actually reaches, as opposed to `kubectl cluster-info`/`config view`, which shows the address **your specific machine** uses (potentially through a completely different port-forward or load balancer). Recomputing the CA hash yourself rather than trusting a printed value is the actual security property `kubeadm join` is built around — a client blindly copying a hash it was handed defeats the whole point of a discovery hash.
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---
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## Domain 2: Workloads & Scheduling (15%)
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### Q07 · Rolling Update Strategy & Scaling
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@ -753,7 +830,7 @@ This guide explains how to approach and solve every question in the CKA exam ban
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- labelSelector: {matchLabels: {app: %{dep}}}
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topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
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tolerations:
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- {key: %{key}, operator: Equal, value: "%{val}", effect: NoSchedule}
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- {key: %{key}, operator: {Equal, value: "%{val}", effect: NoSchedule}}
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containers:
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- name: app
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image: nginx:1.27
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@ -1536,3 +1613,24 @@ This guide explains how to approach and solve every question in the CKA exam ban
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<node>-pod-cidr=<value>
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```
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- **Gotchas**: kube-proxy's ConfigMap often has `mode: ""` (an explicit empty string) rather than the key being absent entirely — both mean "use the default, iptables" and the file must say `iptables` either way, not literally blank. Write exactly the `key=value` format the task specifies, one per line, no extra whitespace — this is graded with exact string matches, not fuzzy comparison.
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---
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### Q123 · [HARD] Nothing Works: kube-apiserver Itself Is Down
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- **Concept**: Every other control-plane failure in this bank (scheduler, controller-manager, even etcd mid-restore) leaves `kubectl` itself usable, because kube-apiserver is still up to talk to. A broken kube-apiserver is categorically different: it's the single component every `kubectl` command depends on, so once it's down, `kubectl describe`/`logs`/`get` all stop working simultaneously and give you nothing to work with. The kubelet, however, doesn't need the API server to manage **static pods** — it reads the manifest directly off disk — so the fix is the same class of move as Q20/Q118 (repair a static pod manifest), just reached without `kubectl` in hand.
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- **Solution**:
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```bash
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kubectl get nodes # connection refused / timeout -- confirms it's the apiserver, not your network
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{SHELL_CP}
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crictl ps -a | grep apiserver # see it crash-looping
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journalctl -u kubelet -n 50 --no-pager | grep -i apiserver
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vi /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml
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# fix whatever's broken in the command/args (e.g. a typo'd binary name)
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exit
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kubectl get nodes # back to normal
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kubectl -n kube-system get pods -l component=kube-apiserver
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```
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- **Gotchas**: don't reach for `kubectl describe`/`logs` first here — they need the very component that's down, so they'll just hang or refuse to connect. `crictl` talks to containerd directly on the node and works regardless of API server state, making it (along with `journalctl -u kubelet`) your only real diagnostic tool until the fix lands. Once fixed, double-check the *other* static pods (etcd, scheduler, controller-manager) are still healthy — it's easy to nick something else while editing manifests under pressure with no `kubectl` to sanity-check against.
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@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
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{"at": "2026-09-06T22:07", "mode": "drill", "hard": false, "ids": [1, 5, 6, 34, 41], "score_pct": 8.0, "earned": 2, "total": 25, "time_used": 432, "pauses": 0, "paused_seconds": 0, "results": {"1": {"pass": false, "earned": 2, "total": 6, "failed": ["ServiceAccount rbac-app/deploy-bot exists", "Role deploy-manager and RoleBinding deploy-bot-binding exist", "deploy-bot can get/list/watch/create/update/patch/delete deployments"]}, "5": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 5, "failed": ["manifest containing static-web is in /etc/kubernetes/manifests on the node", "mirror pod static-web-<node> is Running", "image is nginx:1.27"]}, "6": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 6, "failed": ["apiserver-expiry.txt records the real expiry month and year", "CSR jane exists with signer kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client", "CSR jane approved and certificate issued", "jane can list pods in default (view) but not delete them"]}, "34": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["path.txt has the correct field path", "Gadget/sample created with the field = 4"]}, "41": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["apiserver and kubelet versions correct", "etcd and runtime versions correct"]}}}
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{"at": "2026-09-08T19:59", "mode": "exam", "hard": false, "ids": [2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 37, 40, 42], "score_pct": 14.3, "earned": 15, "total": 105, "time_used": 2902, "pauses": 4, "paused_seconds": 113639, "results": {"2": {"pass": true, "earned": 7, "total": 7, "failed": []}, "3": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 5, "failed": ["overlay kustomization.yaml exists", "resources deployed into namespace store-prod", "store-api has 3 replicas", "Deployment and Service carry label env=prod"]}, "4": {"pass": true, "earned": 4, "total": 4, "failed": []}, "8": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["pod log-shipper Running with containers app and shipper", "volume logs is an emptyDir mounted at /var/log in both containers", "shipper's logs show lines written by app"]}, "12": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["Service shop-svc is NodePort, port 80 -> targetPort 80", "nodePort is 30080", "Service has endpoints"]}, "13": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 5, "failed": ["ingressClassName nginx and host shop.example.com", "/api (Prefix) -> api:8080", "/ (Prefix) -> web:80"]}, "15": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 6, "failed": ["PV pv-data: 1Gi hostPath /mnt/data, RWO, Retain, class manual", "PVC pvc-data Bound to pv-data", "data-pod Running with claim mounted at /usr/share/data"]}, "16": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 5, "failed": ["StorageClass fast-local: local-path, WaitForFirstConsumer, Delete", "fast-local is default and standard is not", "fast-claim picked up fast-local and is Bound", "fast-pod Running with claim at /data"]}, "17": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 8, "failed": ["node is Ready", "kubelet is active", "kubelet is enabled (survives reboot)"]}, "18": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 7, "failed": ["all payments replicas available", "Service payments has endpoints (selector fixed)", "Service targetPort matches container port 80"]}, "19": {"pass": false, "earned": 1, "total": 6, "failed": ["crasher.log captured and contains the DB_HOST failure", "pod crasher Running with DB_HOST set"]}, "20": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 8, "failed": ["kube-scheduler static pod manifest repaired", "new pods get scheduled"]}, "25": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["cka-sim-worker carries workload=batch:NoSchedule", "deployment tolerates the taint", "both pods Running on cka-sim-worker"]}, "28": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["pod Running, init container named setup completed", "emptyDir 'content' shared by both containers", "nginx serves the init-written content"]}, "29": {"pass": false, "earned": 1, "total": 4, "failed": ["deployment now references a different ConfigMap", "all pods available and see mode=new"]}, "30": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["container port 80 named app-port", "Service port 8080 -> targetPort app-port (by name)", "readiness probe uses the named port; endpoints ready"]}, "33": {"pass": false, "earned": 1, "total": 5, "failed": ["ops-44 has an aggregationRule with the right label", "aggregation populated rules from the two labelled roles", "lee can list pods and services cluster-wide"]}, "37": {"pass": false, "earned": 1, "total": 6, "failed": ["CoreDNS Corefile forwards to the node resolver again", "in-cluster and external names resolve from a pod"]}, "40": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 5, "failed": ["join.sh contains a kubeadm join with token and CA hash", "the token in the file exists in the cluster with TTL ~2h"]}, "42": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 4, "failed": ["applies to app=client-47, Egress only", "DNS rule: kube-system namespace + k8s-app=kube-dns, ports 53 UDP and TCP", "TCP 443 to 192.168.100.0/24 only"]}}}
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{"at": "2026-09-10T21:07", "mode": "drill", "hard": true, "ids": [106, 112, 115, 120, 121], "score_pct": 6.5, "earned": 2, "total": 31, "time_used": 30, "pauses": 1, "paused_seconds": 175907, "results": {"106": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 7, "failed": ["CRD exists, Namespaced, replicas has min/max and is required", "good created with environment prod", "replicas 0 is rejected and the message was saved", "defaulting works: defaulted.spec.environment == dev"]}, "112": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 7, "failed": ["Secret portal.lab.local-tls is kubernetes.io/tls with CN portal.lab.local", "Ingress web: class nginx, host, TLS secret, ssl-redirect annotation", "fp.txt matches the secret's certificate fingerprint"]}, "115": {"pass": false, "earned": 1, "total": 6, "failed": ["PVC uses a selector and is Bound to lv-nvme", "consumer Running on the nvme node with /data mounted"]}, "120": {"pass": false, "earned": 0, "total": 5, "failed": ["pod-cidr and service-cidr", "dns-ip and proxy-mode", "cka-sim-worker3 pod CIDR"]}, "121": {"pass": false, "earned": 1, "total": 6, "failed": ["Deployment ledger-14 in ac-omega (the context's namespace), 2 available, owner=ac", "Service ledger-14 port 9000 in the same namespace", "ns.txt has the namespace"]}}}
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@ -196,6 +196,48 @@ srv=$(nx "$CP" 'echo | openssl s_client -connect 127.0.0.1:6443 2>/dev/null | op
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C("expiry.txt matches kubeadm's report for apiserver", 1, r"""exp=$(nx "$CP" 'kubeadm certs check-expiration 2>/dev/null' | awk '$1=="apiserver"{print $2,$3,$4,$5,$6}'); [ -n "$exp" ] && grep -qF "$exp" "$WS/q122/expiry.txt" 2>/dev/null"""),
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],
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},
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{
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"id": 124, "domain": "ARCH", "difficulty": "hard", "title": "Prepare a node join without shell access to the control plane",
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"params": lambda r: {"ctx": "k8s-c1-H"},
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"task": CTX + """
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A new worker node is about to join this cluster, but you can only hand the networking team a
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**file** — no shell access to the control plane.
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1. On the control-plane node, create a **new** bootstrap token with TTL `2h`.
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2. Compute the CA certificate's discovery hash **yourself** with openssl — the same
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SHA-256-of-the-SubjectPublicKeyInfo value `kubeadm join --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash`
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checks against. Do not just copy whatever `kubeadm token create --print-join-command` prints.
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3. Determine the API server's real address as seen **from inside the cluster network** — not the
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`127.0.0.1:<port>` your local kubeconfig uses to reach it from this machine, which a joining
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node cannot use.
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4. Write exactly these three lines to `{WS}/q124/node-join.env`:
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```
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JOIN_TOKEN=<token>
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CA_HASH=sha256:<hash>
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API_ENDPOINT=<ip>:<port>
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```
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Every value must be genuine: plugged into `kubeadm join $API_ENDPOINT --token $JOIN_TOKEN
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--discovery-token-ca-cert-hash $CA_HASH` right now, it would work.
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""",
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"setup": r"""
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rm -rf "$WS/q124"; mkdir -p "$WS/q124"
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for t in $($K -n kube-system get secrets -o jsonpath='{.items[?(@.type=="bootstrap.kubernetes.io/token")].metadata.name}'); do $K -n kube-system delete secret $t >/dev/null; done
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""",
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"checks": [
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C("a real, unexpired bootstrap token", 2, r"""
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tok=$(grep -oE '^JOIN_TOKEN=[a-z0-9]{6}\.[a-z0-9]{16}' "$WS/q124/node-join.env" 2>/dev/null | cut -d= -f2); [ -n "$tok" ] || exit 1
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id=${tok%%.*}; exp=$(j -n kube-system secret bootstrap-token-$id '{.data.expiration}' | base64 -d 2>/dev/null); [ -n "$exp" ] || exit 1
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[ "$(date -d "$exp" +%s)" -gt "$(date +%s)" ]"""),
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C("CA_HASH computed correctly (matches the real CA's SPKI SHA-256)", 3, r"""
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want=$(nx "$CP" "openssl x509 -pubkey -in /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt | openssl rsa -pubin -outform der 2>/dev/null | openssl dgst -sha256 -hex | sed 's/^.* //'")
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got=$(grep -oE '^CA_HASH=sha256:[0-9a-f]{64}' "$WS/q124/node-join.env" 2>/dev/null | cut -d= -f2 | cut -d: -f2)
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[ -n "$want" ] && eq "$got" "$want" """),
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C("API_ENDPOINT is the real in-cluster address, not the local kubeconfig's", 2, r"""
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want=$($K get endpoints kubernetes -o jsonpath='{.subsets[0].addresses[0].ip}:{.subsets[0].ports[0].port}' 2>/dev/null)
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got=$(grep -oE '^API_ENDPOINT=.*' "$WS/q124/node-join.env" 2>/dev/null | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '[:space:]')
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[ -n "$want" ] && eq "$got" "$want" """),
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],
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},
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# ================================================================ WORK ====
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{
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"id": 107, "domain": "WORK", "breaks": "w1-taint", "difficulty": "hard", "title": "Spread, tolerate, prioritise — under a quota",
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@ -650,6 +692,34 @@ proxy-mode=<kube-proxy mode from its ConfigMap (empty means iptables — write i
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C("%{node} pod CIDR", 1, r"""grep -qx "%{node}-pod-cidr=$(j node %{node} '{.spec.podCIDR}')" "$WS/q120/facts.txt" 2>/dev/null"""),
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],
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},
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{
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"id": 123, "domain": "TSHOOT", "breaks": "apiserver", "difficulty": "hard", "title": "Nothing works: kube-apiserver itself is down", "disruptive": True,
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"params": lambda r: {"ctx": "k8s-c1-H"},
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"task": CTX + """
|
||||
Every `kubectl` command from every context times out or refuses to connect. This is not a
|
||||
network problem — a control-plane component itself is failing to start. `kubectl` is unusable
|
||||
until you fix it, so investigate directly on the control-plane node's containers.
|
||||
|
||||
Repair the failing component on the control-plane node (`{SHELL_CP}`). Afterwards, `kubectl get
|
||||
nodes` must work again, and every other control-plane component must still be healthy.
|
||||
""",
|
||||
"setup": r"""
|
||||
nx "$CP" '
|
||||
f=/etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml
|
||||
grep -q "^ *- kube-apiserver$" $f && sed -i "s|^\( *\)- kube-apiserver$|\1- kube-apiserverr|" $f
|
||||
'
|
||||
""",
|
||||
"checks": [
|
||||
C("kube-apiserver manifest repaired and Running", 4, r"""nx "$CP" 'grep -q "^ *- kube-apiserver$" /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml' && eq "$(j -n kube-system pod -l component=kube-apiserver '{.items[0].status.phase}')" Running"""),
|
||||
C("cluster fully reachable again (get nodes, create a pod)", 4, r"""
|
||||
$K get nodes >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 1
|
||||
$K -n default delete pod api-probe --ignore-not-found --wait=true >/dev/null 2>&1
|
||||
$K -n default run api-probe --image=busybox:1.36 --restart=Never -- sleep 60 >/dev/null 2>&1
|
||||
ok=1; for i in $(seq 1 20); do [ "$(j -n default pod api-probe '{.status.phase}')" = Running ] && { ok=0; break; }; sleep 3; done
|
||||
$K -n default delete pod api-probe --wait=false >/dev/null 2>&1; exit $ok"""),
|
||||
C("etcd, scheduler and controller-manager unaffected (no collateral damage)", 2, r"""for c in etcd kube-scheduler kube-controller-manager; do eq "$(j -n kube-system pod -l component=$c '{.items[0].status.phase}')" Running || exit 1; done"""),
|
||||
],
|
||||
},
|
||||
]
|
||||
|
||||
# derived params: w2 = 100 - w for the canary split
|
||||
|
||||
@ -445,6 +445,32 @@ cp /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf ~/.kube/config
|
||||
kubeadm certs check-expiration | grep '^apiserver '
|
||||
"""
|
||||
|
||||
S[124] = """# Step 1: On the control-plane node, create a fresh bootstrap token
|
||||
{SHELL_CP}
|
||||
kubeadm token create --ttl 2h
|
||||
# -> prints a token like abcdef.0123456789abcdef
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 2: Compute the CA discovery hash yourself. This is exactly what
|
||||
# `kubeadm join --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash` verifies against, so you should never have to
|
||||
# trust a value someone else hands you without being able to check it independently.
|
||||
openssl x509 -pubkey -in /etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt | \\
|
||||
openssl rsa -pubin -outform der 2>/dev/null | \\
|
||||
openssl dgst -sha256 -hex | sed 's/^.* //'
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 3: Find the real in-cluster API endpoint -- NOT what your local kubeconfig uses.
|
||||
# kind maps the API server to 127.0.0.1:<random-host-port> for YOUR machine only; a node
|
||||
# joining over the cluster network needs the address the apiserver actually advertises.
|
||||
exit
|
||||
kubectl get endpoints kubernetes -o jsonpath='{.subsets[0].addresses[0].ip}:{.subsets[0].ports[0].port}{"\\n"}'
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 4: Assemble the handoff file
|
||||
cat > {WS}/q124/node-join.env <<EOF
|
||||
JOIN_TOKEN=<token from step 1>
|
||||
CA_HASH=sha256:<hash from step 2>
|
||||
API_ENDPOINT=<ip:port from step 3>
|
||||
EOF
|
||||
"""
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
# ================================================================= WORK ====
|
||||
# Domain 2: Workloads & Scheduling (15%)
|
||||
@ -1543,3 +1569,23 @@ k -n kube-system get cm kube-proxy -o yaml | grep '^ *mode:' # Empty string
|
||||
# Step 5: Query individual node Pod CIDR
|
||||
k get node %{node} -o jsonpath='{.spec.podCIDR}'
|
||||
"""
|
||||
|
||||
S[123] = """# Step 1: Confirm nothing works through kubectl at all
|
||||
kubectl get nodes # connection refused / timeout -- the API server itself is down
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 2: Access the control-plane node directly (kubectl can't help you here)
|
||||
{SHELL_CP}
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 3: Check what containerd/kubelet is trying (and failing) to run
|
||||
crictl ps -a | grep apiserver
|
||||
journalctl -u kubelet -n 50 --no-pager | grep -i apiserver
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 4: Fix the static pod manifest
|
||||
vi /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml
|
||||
# kube-apiserverr -> kube-apiserver
|
||||
|
||||
# Step 5: Confirm recovery from your own terminal
|
||||
exit
|
||||
kubectl get nodes
|
||||
kubectl -n kube-system get pods -l component=kube-apiserver
|
||||
"""
|
||||
|
||||
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
||||
# CKA weak spots
|
||||
|
||||
_Generated by exam from 2 attempt(s); regenerated on every `end`._
|
||||
_Generated by exam from 3 attempt(s); regenerated on every `end`._
|
||||
|
||||
## Domain scores (latest full exam, 2026-09-08T19:59, 14.3%)
|
||||
|
||||
@ -123,108 +123,133 @@ _Generated by exam from 2 attempt(s); regenerated on every `end`._
|
||||
- ✗ DNS rule: kube-system namespace + k8s-app=kube-dns, ports 53 UDP and TCP
|
||||
- ✗ TCP 443 to 192.168.100.0/24 only
|
||||
|
||||
### Q106 · ARCH · CRD with validation and defaults (1/1 failed, last 0/7 pts, 2026-09-10T21:07)
|
||||
- ✗ CRD exists, Namespaced, replicas has min/max and is required
|
||||
- ✗ good created with environment prod
|
||||
- ✗ replicas 0 is rejected and the message was saved
|
||||
- ✗ defaulting works: defaulted.spec.environment == dev
|
||||
|
||||
### Q112 · NET · TLS Ingress with a generated certificate (1/1 failed, last 0/7 pts, 2026-09-10T21:07)
|
||||
- ✗ Secret portal.lab.local-tls is kubernetes.io/tls with CN portal.lab.local
|
||||
- ✗ Ingress web: class nginx, host, TLS secret, ssl-redirect annotation
|
||||
- ✗ fp.txt matches the secret's certificate fingerprint
|
||||
|
||||
### Q115 · STOR · Bind the right local volume (1/1 failed, last 1/6 pts, 2026-09-10T21:07)
|
||||
- ✗ PVC uses a selector and is Bound to lv-nvme
|
||||
- ✗ consumer Running on the nvme node with /data mounted
|
||||
|
||||
### Q120 · TSHOOT · Cluster facts, exactly (1/1 failed, last 0/5 pts, 2026-09-10T21:07)
|
||||
- ✗ pod-cidr and service-cidr
|
||||
- ✗ dns-ip and proxy-mode
|
||||
- ✗ cka-sim-worker3 pod CIDR
|
||||
|
||||
### Q121 · WORK · The context's namespace (1/1 failed, last 1/6 pts, 2026-09-10T21:07)
|
||||
- ✗ Deployment ledger-14 in ac-omega (the context's namespace), 2 available, owner=ac
|
||||
- ✗ Service ledger-14 port 9000 in the same namespace
|
||||
- ✗ ns.txt has the namespace
|
||||
|
||||
## Attempt matrix
|
||||
|
||||
| Q | Domain | Title | D1 | E2 |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 1 | ARCH | RBAC for a deployment bot | 2/6 | · |
|
||||
| 2 | ARCH | etcd snapshot | · | ✓ |
|
||||
| 3 | ARCH | Kustomize overlay | · | 0/5 |
|
||||
| 4 | ARCH | CustomResourceDefinition | · | ✓ |
|
||||
| 5 | ARCH | Static pod | 0/5 | · |
|
||||
| 6 | ARCH | Certificates: expiry check and user CSR | 0/6 | · |
|
||||
| 7 | WORK | Rolling update & scaling | · | · |
|
||||
| 8 | WORK | Multi-container pod with shared volume | · | 0/4 |
|
||||
| 9 | WORK | Scheduling with node affinity and resources | · | · |
|
||||
| 10 | WORK | ConfigMap and Secret consumption | · | · |
|
||||
| 11 | NET | NetworkPolicy | · | · |
|
||||
| 12 | NET | NodePort Service | · | 0/4 |
|
||||
| 13 | NET | Ingress routing | · | 0/5 |
|
||||
| 14 | NET | Cluster DNS | · | · |
|
||||
| 15 | STOR | PersistentVolume, claim and pod | · | 0/6 |
|
||||
| 16 | STOR | Default StorageClass and dynamic provisioning | · | 0/5 |
|
||||
| 17 | TSHOOT | Node NotReady | · | 0/8 |
|
||||
| 18 | TSHOOT | Broken deployment and service | · | 0/7 |
|
||||
| 19 | TSHOOT | CrashLoopBackOff diagnosis | · | 1/6 |
|
||||
| 20 | TSHOOT | Control plane component failure | · | 0/8 |
|
||||
| 21 | ARCH | Helm release install and upgrade | · | · |
|
||||
| 22 | NET | Gateway API HTTPRoute | · | · |
|
||||
| 23 | WORK | metrics-server repair and HPA | · | · |
|
||||
| 24 | WORK | PriorityClass | · | · |
|
||||
| 25 | WORK | Taints and tolerations | · | 0/4 |
|
||||
| 26 | WORK | DaemonSet on every node | · | · |
|
||||
| 27 | WORK | CronJob with a manual run | · | · |
|
||||
| 28 | WORK | Init container prepares content | · | 0/4 |
|
||||
| 29 | WORK | Immutable ConfigMap rotation | · | 1/4 |
|
||||
| 30 | NET | Named ports | · | 0/4 |
|
||||
| 31 | WORK | Parallel Job | · | · |
|
||||
| 32 | WORK | ResourceQuota and LimitRange | · | · |
|
||||
| 33 | ARCH | Aggregated ClusterRole | · | 1/5 |
|
||||
| 34 | ARCH | Discover a CRD field with kubectl explain | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 35 | STOR | Re-bind a Released PersistentVolume | · | · |
|
||||
| 36 | STOR | Data survives the pod | · | · |
|
||||
| 37 | TSHOOT | Cluster DNS is broken | · | 1/6 |
|
||||
| 38 | TSHOOT | Deployments never create pods | · | · |
|
||||
| 39 | TSHOOT | kubelet misconfiguration | · | · |
|
||||
| 40 | ARCH | kubeadm join token | · | 0/5 |
|
||||
| 41 | ARCH | Component versions | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 42 | NET | Egress-only NetworkPolicy | · | 0/4 |
|
||||
| 43 | NET | Headless and ExternalName services | · | · |
|
||||
| 101 | ARCH | Exact RBAC with an existing over-grant | · | · |
|
||||
| 102 | ARCH | etcd restore | · | · |
|
||||
| 103 | ARCH | Static pod on a relocated manifest path | · | · |
|
||||
| 104 | ARCH | User onboarding to a working kubeconfig | · | · |
|
||||
| 105 | ARCH | Kustomize with generators and patches | · | · |
|
||||
| 106 | ARCH | CRD with validation and defaults | · | · |
|
||||
| 107 | WORK | Spread, tolerate, prioritise — under a quota | · | · |
|
||||
| 108 | WORK | Rollback to a specific revision, then pause | · | · |
|
||||
| 109 | WORK | Native sidecar with probes and an exact report | · | · |
|
||||
| 110 | WORK | Cluster audit to exact files | · | · |
|
||||
| 111 | NET | Zero-trust namespace | · | · |
|
||||
| 112 | NET | TLS Ingress with a generated certificate | · | · |
|
||||
| 113 | NET | Gateway API canary with header match | · | · |
|
||||
| 114 | NET | DNS down: three faults | · | · |
|
||||
| 115 | STOR | Bind the right local volume | · | · |
|
||||
| 116 | STOR | Migrate data between claims | · | · |
|
||||
| 117 | TSHOOT | Worker node: three things wrong | · | · |
|
||||
| 118 | TSHOOT | Two control-plane components down | · | · |
|
||||
| 119 | TSHOOT | Application down for four reasons | · | · |
|
||||
| 120 | TSHOOT | Cluster facts, exactly | · | · |
|
||||
| 121 | WORK | The context's namespace | · | · |
|
||||
| 122 | ARCH | Renew control-plane certificates | · | · |
|
||||
| 201 | ARCH | kubeconfig forensics | · | · |
|
||||
| 202 | ARCH | Helm chart with CRDs, then a custom resource | · | · |
|
||||
| 203 | WORK | Find the controller, then scale it | · | · |
|
||||
| 204 | WORK | Which Pods get evicted first | · | · |
|
||||
| 205 | ARCH | Kustomize: drop a ConfigMap, add an HPA, override in prod | · | · |
|
||||
| 206 | STOR | PV, PVC and a Deployment that mounts it | · | · |
|
||||
| 207 | TSHOOT | Resource usage scripts | · | · |
|
||||
| 208 | ARCH | Drain a node for maintenance | · | · |
|
||||
| 209 | ARCH | Query the API from inside a Pod | · | · |
|
||||
| 210 | ARCH | ServiceAccount limited to two resources | · | · |
|
||||
| 211 | WORK | DaemonSet on every node | · | · |
|
||||
| 212 | WORK | One Pod per node, on purpose | · | · |
|
||||
| 213 | NET | Convert an Ingress to Gateway API, then split on a header | · | · |
|
||||
| 214 | ARCH | Certificate expiry, two ways | · | · |
|
||||
| 215 | NET | Egress policy with paired destinations | · | · |
|
||||
| 216 | NET | CoreDNS: back up, extend, verify | · | · |
|
||||
| 217 | TSHOOT | Inspect a container with crictl | · | · |
|
||||
| 301 | ARCH | etcd configuration facts | · | · |
|
||||
| 302 | NET | Service rules on the node | · | · |
|
||||
| 303 | NET | A second Service CIDR | · | · |
|
||||
| 304 | ARCH | Bound tokens versus legacy tokens | · | · |
|
||||
| 305 | WORK | Schedule without the scheduler | · | · |
|
||||
| 306 | STOR | Grow a volume in place | · | · |
|
||||
| 307 | TSHOOT | Node accepts nothing new | · | · |
|
||||
| 308 | ARCH | API resource reference card | · | · |
|
||||
| 309 | WORK | A PodDisruptionBudget that blocks maintenance | · | · |
|
||||
| 310 | NET | Route to something outside the cluster | · | · |
|
||||
| 311 | ARCH | Image inventory across the cluster | · | · |
|
||||
| 312 | WORK | A Job that fails, then one that doesn't | · | · |
|
||||
| 313 | NET | Two hosts, TLS, and a default backend | · | · |
|
||||
| 314 | TSHOOT | A static pod that never starts | · | · |
|
||||
| 315 | STOR | Keep the data when the claim goes | · | · |
|
||||
| 316 | ARCH | Plan a control-plane upgrade | · | · |
|
||||
| 317 | TSHOOT | Certificates stop being issued | · | · |
|
||||
| Q | Domain | Title | D1 | E2 | D3 |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 1 | ARCH | RBAC for a deployment bot | 2/6 | · | · |
|
||||
| 2 | ARCH | etcd snapshot | · | ✓ | · |
|
||||
| 3 | ARCH | Kustomize overlay | · | 0/5 | · |
|
||||
| 4 | ARCH | CustomResourceDefinition | · | ✓ | · |
|
||||
| 5 | ARCH | Static pod | 0/5 | · | · |
|
||||
| 6 | ARCH | Certificates: expiry check and user CSR | 0/6 | · | · |
|
||||
| 7 | WORK | Rolling update & scaling | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 8 | WORK | Multi-container pod with shared volume | · | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 9 | WORK | Scheduling with node affinity and resources | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 10 | WORK | ConfigMap and Secret consumption | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 11 | NET | NetworkPolicy | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 12 | NET | NodePort Service | · | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 13 | NET | Ingress routing | · | 0/5 | · |
|
||||
| 14 | NET | Cluster DNS | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 15 | STOR | PersistentVolume, claim and pod | · | 0/6 | · |
|
||||
| 16 | STOR | Default StorageClass and dynamic provisioning | · | 0/5 | · |
|
||||
| 17 | TSHOOT | Node NotReady | · | 0/8 | · |
|
||||
| 18 | TSHOOT | Broken deployment and service | · | 0/7 | · |
|
||||
| 19 | TSHOOT | CrashLoopBackOff diagnosis | · | 1/6 | · |
|
||||
| 20 | TSHOOT | Control plane component failure | · | 0/8 | · |
|
||||
| 21 | ARCH | Helm release install and upgrade | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 22 | NET | Gateway API HTTPRoute | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 23 | WORK | metrics-server repair and HPA | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 24 | WORK | PriorityClass | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 25 | WORK | Taints and tolerations | · | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 26 | WORK | DaemonSet on every node | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 27 | WORK | CronJob with a manual run | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 28 | WORK | Init container prepares content | · | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 29 | WORK | Immutable ConfigMap rotation | · | 1/4 | · |
|
||||
| 30 | NET | Named ports | · | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 31 | WORK | Parallel Job | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 32 | WORK | ResourceQuota and LimitRange | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 33 | ARCH | Aggregated ClusterRole | · | 1/5 | · |
|
||||
| 34 | ARCH | Discover a CRD field with kubectl explain | 0/4 | · | · |
|
||||
| 35 | STOR | Re-bind a Released PersistentVolume | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 36 | STOR | Data survives the pod | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 37 | TSHOOT | Cluster DNS is broken | · | 1/6 | · |
|
||||
| 38 | TSHOOT | Deployments never create pods | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 39 | TSHOOT | kubelet misconfiguration | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 40 | ARCH | kubeadm join token | · | 0/5 | · |
|
||||
| 41 | ARCH | Component versions | 0/4 | · | · |
|
||||
| 42 | NET | Egress-only NetworkPolicy | · | 0/4 | · |
|
||||
| 43 | NET | Headless and ExternalName services | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 101 | ARCH | Exact RBAC with an existing over-grant | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 102 | ARCH | etcd restore | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 103 | ARCH | Static pod on a relocated manifest path | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 104 | ARCH | User onboarding to a working kubeconfig | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 105 | ARCH | Kustomize with generators and patches | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 106 | ARCH | CRD with validation and defaults | · | · | 0/7 |
|
||||
| 107 | WORK | Spread, tolerate, prioritise — under a quota | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 108 | WORK | Rollback to a specific revision, then pause | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 109 | WORK | Native sidecar with probes and an exact report | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 110 | WORK | Cluster audit to exact files | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 111 | NET | Zero-trust namespace | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 112 | NET | TLS Ingress with a generated certificate | · | · | 0/7 |
|
||||
| 113 | NET | Gateway API canary with header match | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 114 | NET | DNS down: three faults | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 115 | STOR | Bind the right local volume | · | · | 1/6 |
|
||||
| 116 | STOR | Migrate data between claims | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 117 | TSHOOT | Worker node: three things wrong | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 118 | TSHOOT | Two control-plane components down | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 119 | TSHOOT | Application down for four reasons | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 120 | TSHOOT | Cluster facts, exactly | · | · | 0/5 |
|
||||
| 121 | WORK | The context's namespace | · | · | 1/6 |
|
||||
| 122 | ARCH | Renew control-plane certificates | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 201 | ARCH | kubeconfig forensics | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 202 | ARCH | Helm chart with CRDs, then a custom resource | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 203 | WORK | Find the controller, then scale it | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 204 | WORK | Which Pods get evicted first | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 205 | ARCH | Kustomize: drop a ConfigMap, add an HPA, override in prod | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 206 | STOR | PV, PVC and a Deployment that mounts it | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 207 | TSHOOT | Resource usage scripts | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 208 | ARCH | Drain a node for maintenance | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 209 | ARCH | Query the API from inside a Pod | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 210 | ARCH | ServiceAccount limited to two resources | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 211 | WORK | DaemonSet on every node | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 212 | WORK | One Pod per node, on purpose | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 213 | NET | Convert an Ingress to Gateway API, then split on a header | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 214 | ARCH | Certificate expiry, two ways | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 215 | NET | Egress policy with paired destinations | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 216 | NET | CoreDNS: back up, extend, verify | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 217 | TSHOOT | Inspect a container with crictl | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 301 | ARCH | etcd configuration facts | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 302 | NET | Service rules on the node | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 303 | NET | A second Service CIDR | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 304 | ARCH | Bound tokens versus legacy tokens | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 305 | WORK | Schedule without the scheduler | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 306 | STOR | Grow a volume in place | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 307 | TSHOOT | Node accepts nothing new | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 308 | ARCH | API resource reference card | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 309 | WORK | A PodDisruptionBudget that blocks maintenance | · | · | · |
|
||||
| 310 | NET | Route to something outside the cluster | · | · | · |
|
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| 311 | ARCH | Image inventory across the cluster | · | · | · |
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| 312 | WORK | A Job that fails, then one that doesn't | · | · | · |
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| 313 | NET | Two hosts, TLS, and a default backend | · | · | · |
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| 314 | TSHOOT | A static pod that never starts | · | · | · |
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| 315 | STOR | Keep the data when the claim goes | · | · | · |
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| 316 | ARCH | Plan a control-plane upgrade | · | · | · |
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| 317 | TSHOOT | Certificates stop being issued | · | · | · |
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_E = full exam, D = drill, · = not in that session, n/m = partial credit._
|
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|
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Loading…
Reference in New Issue
Block a user