Kubernetes-and-Cloud-Native-Associate KCNA

Online curated resources that will help you prepare for taking the Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate KCNA Certification exam.

• Please raise an issue, or make a pull request for fixes, new additions, or updates.

Exam Brief

• Duration : one and a half (1.5) hours

• Passing score: 75%

• Certification validity: three (3) years

• Prerequisite: None

• Cost: $250 USD, One (1) year exam eligibility, with a free retake within the year.

• General idea, What is the exam all about? and what was its objectives? Katie Gamanji interview by TFIR/Swapnil

  Linux Foundation offer several discounts around the year, try to check first if there is a discount. e.g. CyberMonday, Kubecon attendees among other special holidays/events

Quick preps:

• First, a history and background
  • Cloud Native Computing Foundation context from a CNCF legend Dan Kohn, in less than 10 minutes Keynote: Stitching Things Together – Dan Kohn, Executive Director, Cloud Native Computing Foundation

Repo Strategy (My opinion on what is important)

This is a good start into Cloud Native and Kubernetes journey; it won't guarantee you a job or salary increase. Your goal should be to learn more about cloud-native computing foundation CNCF, and Kubernetes eco-systems and how that might help you in your career or hobbies.

• Join a CNCF community, local or virtual, be part of the CNCF community

• Understand and learn the basics:

  • Nana and Amigoscode created a 4-hour video covering (Docker and Kubernetes)[https://youtu.be/bhBSlnQcq2k]

• Ensure you start early in understanding and applying best practices:

  • Container image build best practices

• Get more overview of the CNCF ecosystem

  • The CNCF Glossary
  • Saiyam Pathak CNCF minutes
  • Blog posts

• Understand and learn the history, differences and special use cases especially for CNCF projects

  • For example Docker vs. Containerd vs. CRI-o, and other container runtimes e.g. rkt, gvisor, kata.
  • The different Gitops engines: Flusk, ArgoCD, Fleet

• Don't stop learning and always be curious Another opinion: Saiyam KCNA Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate certification https://youtu.be/iGkFHB1kFZ0

Cloud Native definition

• Cloud Native technologies empower organizations to build and run scalable applications in modern, dynamic environments such as public, private, and hybrid clouds. Containers, service meshes, microservices, immutable infrastructure, and declarative APIs exemplify this approach.

• These techniques enable loosely-coupled systems that are resilient, manageable, and observable. Combined with robust automation, they allow engineers to make high-impact changes frequently and predictably with minimal toil.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation seeks to drive adoption of this paradigm by fostering and sustaining an ecosystem of open source, vendor-neutral projects. We democratize state-of-the-art patterns to make these innovations accessible for everyone.

KCNA curriculum repo topics overview

• Kubernetes Fundamentals - 46%
• Container Orchestration - 22%
• Cloud Native Architecture - 16%
• Cloud Native Observability - 8%
• Cloud Native Application Delivery - 8%

Extra helpful materials

• Slack
• Books
• Youtube Videos
• Webinars
• Extra Kubernetes security resources

Kubernetes Fundamentals - 46%

1. Kubernetes Resources
2. • kubectl api-resources
3. • Ivan Velichko Working with Kubernetes API
4. Kubernetes Architecture
5. Kubernetes API
6. Containers
7. Scheduling

Container Orchestration - 22%

1. Container Orchestration Fundamentals
2. [Runtime]
3. [Security]
4. Networking
5. Service Mesh
6. Storage

Cloud Native Architecture - 16%

1. Autoscaling
2. Serverless
3. Community and Governance
4. Personas
5. Open Standards

Cloud Native Observability - 8%

1. Telemetry & Observability
2. Prometheus
3. Cost Management

Cloud Native Application Delivery - 8%

1. Application Delivery Fundamentals
   • CNCF Application Delivery Technical Advisory Group "TAG"
2. GitOps
   • Linux Foundation free Gitops introduction course
   • Codefresh free Gitops certification and course
3. CI/CD
   • CNCF free CI/CD with Kuberentes book

Slack

1. Kubernetes Community - #kcna-exam-prep
2. Kubernetes Community
3. Saiyam's Pathak OpenSource Discord

Training and practice exams:

• UDEMY Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) Practice Exams
• Linux Foundation Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials (LFS250)
• Exampro.co course and practice exams -- in-progress, should be out first-second week of Feburary 2022, watch this space
• VMware Kube Academy
• CIVO k8s Academy

Other Repos

• Mohamed Abukar, AWS community builder KCNA repo

Youtube Videos

1. Saim cloud-native fmpodcast Deep Dive KCNA Exam episode 31

Blogs and writeups

• https://blog.bradmccoy.io/how-to-pass-your-kcna-exam-cf98cfa7d70f
• https://medium.com/@marino.wijay/the-kcna-exam-a-quick-guide-to-kicking-off-your-k8s-and-cloud-native-journey-56a3a5be345