# CKA weak spots _Generated by exam from 6 attempt(s); regenerated on every `end`._ ## Domain scores (latest full exam, 2026-09-08T19:59, 14.3%) - **ARCH** 12/228 — Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration (25%) - **WORK** 1/151 — Workloads & Scheduling (15%) - **NET** 0/142 — Services & Networking (20%) - **STOR** 0/66 — Storage (10%) - **TSHOOT** 2/138 — Troubleshooting (30%) ## Drill next (`./exam drill weak`) ### Q03 · ARCH · Kustomize overlay (1/1 failed, last 0/5 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ overlay kustomization.yaml exists - ✗ resources deployed into namespace store-prod - ✗ store-api has 3 replicas - ✗ Deployment and Service carry label env=prod ### Q05 · ARCH · Static pod (1/1 failed, last 0/5 pts, 2026-09-06T22:07) - ✗ manifest containing static-web is in /etc/kubernetes/manifests on the node - ✗ mirror pod static-web- is Running - ✗ image is nginx:1.27 ### Q06 · ARCH · Certificates: expiry check and user CSR (2/2 failed, last 3/6 pts, 2026-09-12T22:17) - ✗ CSR jane exists with signer kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client - ✗ CSR jane approved and certificate issued ### Q08 · WORK · Multi-container pod with shared volume (1/1 failed, last 0/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ 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 ### Q12 · NET · NodePort Service (1/1 failed, last 0/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ Service shop-svc is NodePort, port 80 -> targetPort 80 - ✗ nodePort is 30080 - ✗ Service has endpoints ### Q13 · NET · Ingress routing (1/1 failed, last 0/5 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ ingressClassName nginx and host shop.example.com - ✗ /api (Prefix) -> api:8080 - ✗ / (Prefix) -> web:80 ### Q15 · STOR · PersistentVolume, claim and pod (1/1 failed, last 0/6 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ 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 ### Q16 · STOR · Default StorageClass and dynamic provisioning (1/1 failed, last 0/5 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ 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 ### Q17 · TSHOOT · Node NotReady (3/3 failed, last 4/8 pts, 2026-09-13T01:06) - ✗ kubelet is active - ✗ kubelet is enabled (survives reboot) ### Q18 · TSHOOT · Broken deployment and service (1/1 failed, last 0/7 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ all payments replicas available - ✗ Service payments has endpoints (selector fixed) - ✗ Service targetPort matches container port 80 ### Q19 · TSHOOT · CrashLoopBackOff diagnosis (3/3 failed, last 1/6 pts, 2026-09-13T01:06) - ✗ crasher.log captured and contains the DB_HOST failure - ✗ pod crasher Running with DB_HOST set ### Q20 · TSHOOT · Control plane component failure (1/1 failed, last 0/8 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ kube-scheduler static pod manifest repaired - ✗ new pods get scheduled ### Q25 · WORK · Taints and tolerations (1/1 failed, last 0/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ cka-sim-worker carries workload=batch:NoSchedule - ✗ deployment tolerates the taint - ✗ both pods Running on cka-sim-worker ### Q28 · WORK · Init container prepares content (1/1 failed, last 0/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ pod Running, init container named setup completed - ✗ emptyDir 'content' shared by both containers - ✗ nginx serves the init-written content ### Q29 · WORK · Immutable ConfigMap rotation (1/1 failed, last 1/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ deployment now references a different ConfigMap - ✗ all pods available and see mode=new ### Q30 · NET · Named ports (1/1 failed, last 0/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ container port 80 named app-port - ✗ Service port 8080 -> targetPort app-port (by name) - ✗ readiness probe uses the named port; endpoints ready ### Q33 · ARCH · Aggregated ClusterRole (1/1 failed, last 1/5 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ 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 ### Q37 · TSHOOT · Cluster DNS is broken (3/3 failed, last 1/6 pts, 2026-09-13T01:06) - ✗ CoreDNS Corefile forwards to the node resolver again - ✗ in-cluster and external names resolve from a pod ### Q38 · TSHOOT · Deployments never create pods (2/2 failed, last 0/7 pts, 2026-09-13T01:06) - ✗ kube-controller-manager manifest repaired and pod Running - ✗ a new Deployment gets a ReplicaSet and running pods ### Q39 · TSHOOT · kubelet misconfiguration (2/2 failed, last 4/7 pts, 2026-09-13T01:06) - ✗ kubelet config points at a CA file that exists - ✗ kubelet active and enabled ### Q40 · ARCH · kubeadm join token (1/1 failed, last 0/5 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ join.sh contains a kubeadm join with token and CA hash - ✗ the token in the file exists in the cluster with TTL ~2h ### Q42 · NET · Egress-only NetworkPolicy (1/1 failed, last 0/4 pts, 2026-09-08T19:59) - ✗ 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 ### 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 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 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 | · | · | 3/6 | · | · | | 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 | · | · | 4/8 | 4/8 | | 18 | TSHOOT | Broken deployment and service | · | 0/7 | · | · | · | · | | 19 | TSHOOT | CrashLoopBackOff diagnosis | · | 1/6 | · | · | 1/6 | 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 | · | · | 1/6 | 1/6 | | 38 | TSHOOT | Deployments never create pods | · | · | · | · | 0/7 | 0/7 | | 39 | TSHOOT | kubelet misconfiguration | · | · | · | · | 4/7 | 4/7 | | 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 | · | · | · | · | · | · | | 123 | TSHOOT | Nothing works: kube-apiserver itself is down | · | · | · | · | · | · | | 124 | ARCH | Prepare a node join without shell access to the control plane | · | · | · | · | · | · | | 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 | · | · | · | · | · | · | _E = full exam, D = drill, · = not in that session, n/m = partial credit._