Domain​ ​1:​ ​Orchestration​ ​(25%​ ​of​ ​exam)

• Complete the setup of a swarm mode cluster, with managers and worker nodes
• State the differences between running a container vs running a service
• Demonstrate steps to lock a swarm cluster
• Extend the instructions to run individual containers into running services under swarm
• Interpret the output of “docker inspect” commands
• Convert an application deployment into a stack file using a YAML compose file with “docker stack deploy”
• Manipulate a running stack of services
• Increase # of replicas
• Add networks, publish ports
• Mount volumes
• Illustrate running a replicated vs global service
• Identify the steps needed to troubleshoot a service not deploying
• Apply node labels to demonstrate placement of tasks
• Sketch how a Dockerized application communicates with legacy systems
• Paraphrase the importance of quorum in a swarm cluster
• Demonstrate the usage of templates with “docker service create”

Domain​ ​2:​ ​Image​ ​Creation,​ ​Management,​ ​and​ ​Registry​ ​(20%​ ​of​ ​exam)

• Describe Dockerfile options [add, copy, volumes, expose, entrypoint, etc.]
• Show the main parts of a Dockerfile
• Give examples on how to create an efficient image via a Dockerfile
• Use CLI commands such as list, delete, prune, rmi, etc. to manage images
• Inspect images and report specific attributes using filter and format
• Demonstrate tagging an image
• Utilize a registry to store an image
• Display layers of a Docker image
• Apply a file to create a Docker image
• Modify an image to a single layer
• Describe how image layers work
• Deploy a registry (not architect)
• Configure a registry
• Log into a registry
• Utilize search in a registry
• Tag an image
• Push an image to a registry
• Sign an image in a registry
• Pull an image from a registry
• Describe how image deletion works
• Delete an image from a registry

Domain​ ​3:​ ​Installation​ ​and​ ​Configuration​ ​(15%​ ​of​ ​exam)

• Demonstrate the ability to upgrade the Docker engine
• Complete setup of repo, select a storage driver, and complete installation of Docker engine on multiple platforms
• Configure logging drivers (Splunk, journald, etc.)
• Setup swarm, configure managers, add nodes, and setup backup schedule
• Create and manage user and teams
• Interpret errors to troubleshoot installation issues without assistance
• Outline the sizing requirements prior to installation
• Understand namespaces, cgroups, and configuration of certificates
• Use certificate-based client-server authentication to ensure a Docker daemon has the rights to access images on a registry
• Consistently repeat steps to deploy Docker engine, UCP, and DTR on AWS and on-premises in an HA config
• Complete configuration of backups for UCP and DTR
• Configure the Docker daemon to start on boot

Domain​ ​4:​ ​Networking​ ​(15%​ ​of​ ​exam)

• Create a Docker bridge network for a developer to use for their containers
• Troubleshoot container and engine logs to understand a connectivity issue between containers
• Publish a port so that an application is accessible externally
• Identify which IP and port a container is externally accessible on
• Describe the different types and use cases for the built-in network drivers
• Understand the Container Network Model and how it interfaces with the Docker engine, network, and IPAM drivers
• Configure Docker to use external DNS
• Use Docker to load balance HTTP/HTTPs traffic to an application (Configure L7 load balancing with Docker EE)
• Understand and describe the types of traffic that flow between the Docker engine, registry, and UCP controllers
• Deploy a service on a Docker overlay network
• Describe the difference between “host” and “ingress” port publishing mode

Domain​ ​5:​ ​Security​ ​(15%​ ​of​ ​exam)

• Describe the process of signing an image
• Demonstrate that an image passes a security scan
• Enable Docker Content Trust
• Configure RBAC in UCP
• Integrate UCP with LDAP/AD
• Demonstrate creation of UCP client bundles
• Describe default engine security
• Describe swarm default security
• Describe MTLS
• Identify roles
• Describe the difference between UCP workers and managers
• Describe the process to use external certificates with UCP and DTR

Domain​ ​6:​ ​Storage​ ​and​ ​Volumes​ ​(10%​ ​of​ ​exam)

• State which graph driver should be used on which OS
• Demonstrate how to configure devicemapper
• Compare object storage to block storage and explain which one is preferable when available
• Summarize how an application is composed of layers and where those layers reside on the filesystem
• Describe how volumes are used with Docker for persistent storage
• Identify the steps you would take to clean up unused images on a filesystem, also on DTR
• Demonstrate how storage can be used across cluster nodes

CKA Curriculum V1.13.0

5% – Scheduling

• Use label selectors to schedule Pods.
• Understand the role of Daemon Sets.
• Understand how resource limits can affect Pod scheduling.
• Understand how to run multiple schedulers and how to configure Pods to use them.
• Manually schedule a pod without a scheduler.
• Display scheduler events.
• Know how to configure the Kubernetes scheduler.

5% – Logging/Monitoring

• Understand how to monitor all cluster components.
• Understand how to monitor applications.
• Manage cluster component logs.
• Manage application logs.

8% – Application Lifecycle Management

• Understand Deployments and how to perform rolling updates and rollbacks.
• Know various ways to configure applications.
• Know how to scale applications.
• Understand the primitives necessary to create a self-healing application.

11% – Cluster

• Understand Kubernetes cluster upgrade process.
• Facilitate operating system upgrades.
• Implement backup and restore methodologies.

12% – Security

• Know how to configure authentication and authorization.
• Understand Kubernetes security primitives.
• Know how to configure network policies.
• Create and manage TLS certificates for cluster components.
• Work with images securely.
• Define security contexts.
• Secure persistent key-value store.

7% – Storage

• Understand persistent volumes and know how to create them.
• Understand access modes for volumes.
• Understand persistent volume claims primitive.
• Understand Kubernetes storage objects.
• Know how to configure applications with persistent storage.

10% – Troubleshooting

• Troubleshoot application failure.
• Troubleshoot control plane failure.
• Troubleshoot worker node failure.
• Troubleshoot networking.

19% – Core Concepts

• Understand the Kubernetes API primitives.
• Understand the Kubernetes cluster architecture.
• Understand Services and other network primitives.

11% – Networking

• Understand the networking configuration on the cluster nodes.
• Understand Pod networking concepts.
• Understand Service networking.
• Deploy and configure network load balancer.
• Know how to use Ingress rules.
• Know how to configure and use the cluster DNS.
• Understand CNI.

12% – Installation, Configuration & Validation

• Design a Kubernetes cluster.
• Install Kubernetes masters and nodes.
• Configure secure cluster communications.
• Configure a Highly-Available Kubernetes cluster.
• Know where to get the Kubernetes release binaries.
• Provision underlying infrastructure to deploy a Kubernetes cluster.
• Choose a network solution.
• Choose your Kubernetes infrastructure configuration.
• Run end-to-end tests on your cluster.
• Analyze end-to-end test results.
• Run Node end-to-end tests.

Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Exam Curriculum v1.13.0

13% – Core Concepts

• Understand Kubernetes API primitives
• Create and configure basic Pods

18% – Configuration

• Understand Config Maps
• Understand Security Contexts
• Define an application’s resource requirements
• Create & consume Secrets
• Understand Service Accounts

10% – Multi-Container Pods

• Understand Multi-Container Pod design patterns (e.g., ambassador, adapter, sidecar)

18% – Observability

• Understand Liveness Probes and Readiness Probes
• Understand container logging
• Understand how to monitor applications in Kubernetes
• Understand debugging in Kubernetes

20% – Pod Design

• Understand how to use Labels, Selectors, and Annotations
• Understand Deployments and how to perform rolling updates
• Understand Deployments and how to perform rollbacks
• Understand Jobs and CronJobs

13% – Services & Networking

• Understand Services
• Demonstrate a basic understanding of Network Policies

8% – State Persistence

• Understand Persistent Volume Claims for storage