Task ids used to jump 1-43 / 101-124 / 401-418 / 501-517. They now run
contiguously in the same order:
1-43 unchanged (base and extra)
44-67 hard pool (was 101-124)
68-85 Simulator Set C (was 401-418)
86-102 Simulator Set D (was 501-517)
Every reference moved with its task: ids, solution keys, workspace paths
({WS}/qNN and the graders' hidden .qNN-* files), temp paths, the one
hardcoded id in code (Q56's derived canary weight), and Q-number
cross-references in the harness, README and the explainer. Each task's
paths were checked to carry only its own new number. History entries and
the local session state were remapped so past attempts stay attached to the
same tasks; retired set A/B ids keep their old numbers and match nothing.
weak-spots is regenerated.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Mhxm4rsUfuE5HoytYbu2YW
Removes tracks/cka/bank_sim_a.py and bank_sim_b.py (34 tasks, ids 201-217 and
301-317). The previous commit holds their last versions, with every fix from
the audit applied and both sets verified end to end - restore with
`git show HEAD~1:tracks/cka/bank_sim_a.py` if one is ever wanted back.
The baseline keeps repairing what those sets could leave on a cluster that
ran them (the maintenance taint, cordons, Q317's controller flag, Q314's static
pod) - only its comments changed. `breaks` keys that existed solely to keep
pool tasks apart from set A/B tasks are gone. History keeps its raw entries;
weak-spots is regenerated without the retired tasks. A mistyped drill argument
now gets a usage message instead of a traceback.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Every changed task was seeded, graded untouched, solved and re-graded on a
separate kind cluster. The four sim sets were rehearsed as full sittings (real
baseline, seed everything, solve in order, grade at the end): A 150/150,
B 176/176, C 163/163, D 122/122. Every random-pool task was either passed in a
real session or cycled the same way.
Graders that could never pass, or passed for free:
Q306 (local-path cannot resize; now graded as an in-place resize), Q314 (GNU
grep prefixed file names), Q305 (plain `get events` has no SOURCE column and
events expire; now managedFields), Q410 (kindnet DOES enforce NetworkPolicy;
the expected answer is now derived from the CNI), Q35, Q212 (missing `]`),
Q101 (`can-i create pods/exec` asks about a pod NAMED exec; multi-type get),
Q109 (an emptyDir over nginx's /var/log crash-loops it), Q40 (TTL was
measured at grading time), Q121, Q106, Q104, Q41, Q26, Q403, Q409, Q417,
Q113, Q22, Q24/Q108 (flaky right after a rollout), and free points on
untouched Q24/Q102/Q108/Q119/Q122.
Reference solutions: S[43], S[107], S[121], S[106] rewritten; S[116] (a
Completed Job pod still pins its PVC), S[119] (a pods quota equal to replicas
deadlocks the rollout); DNS checks use FQDNs; the explainer and exam guide
are corrected (etcd restore is etcdutl's job on 3.6+).
Cross-session leaks: the pre-session baseline now also repairs Q114 (the
kube-system NetworkPolicy and CoreDNS replicas), Q117/Q39 kubelet CA paths,
Q317, kubelet drop-in binary paths, a moved scheduler manifest, leftover
static pods and the default StorageClass. Q115 releases its fixed PVs from
claims left by earlier sessions.
Conflicts: `breaks` may be a list and `solo` keeps Q102's etcd restore out of
mixed sessions. Q118, Q5/Q103, Q26 vs the W1 taints, set A 203/204/208/212 and
set B 305/309 no longer sabotage each other. Q317 now disables only CSR
signing (the old break killed the whole controller-manager). Q110/Q311 no
longer compare against the whole cluster at submit time. Two delete/recreate
races in setups are fixed.
Harness: the weak list clears after two clean passes in a row, weak entries
show the latest attempt's failures, domain scores use the exam's own tasks,
history entries can be marked synthetic (entry 11 is), the web UI lists
every sim set, `./exam grade` refuses mid-exam (--force), preflight checks W1.
Set D (`./exam sim d`): 17 original killer.sh-style tasks, ids 501-517,
122 points - control-plane inventory, event forensics with crictl, a broken
kubelet unit, kubelet certificates, manual scheduling with the scheduler
stopped, Helm housekeeping with a stuck release, an enforced AND-vs-OR
NetworkPolicy, dnsPolicy and access-mode troubleshooting, and more.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Two things in one regeneration of the data files:
- Stripped "pauses" and "paused_seconds" from all 10 existing entries, so the
data matches the code change in 01877f0 rather than leaving historical
telemetry behind. Nothing else in those entries was touched.
- Attempt #11: Simulator Set C, 163/163. Recorded for completeness, but it is
not a measure of skill - the tasks were completed programmatically to verify
the new bank end to end on a freshly seeded cluster, not solved by hand.
Set C tasks carry set="c" and are excluded from POOL, so this does not
affect `./exam drill weak` or `./exam drill all` selection; `./exam sim c`
re-runs the full set regardless of history.
The genuine result from this week is attempt #10: an 18-task drill at 39.7%,
8 of 11 attempted tasks at full credit, 7 never opened.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NziZdvBvy7CpEAAbZNgp8i
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>
