CKAD Exam Tips and kubectl Speed Tricks¶

Exam Environment Setup¶

First Thing: Set Up Your Shell¶

Run these commands at the very start of your exam:

# Essential aliases
alias k=kubectl
alias kn='kubectl config set-context --current --namespace'
alias kgp='kubectl get pods'
alias kgs='kubectl get svc'
alias kgd='kubectl get deployments'

# Shorthand for dry-run YAML generation
export do="--dry-run=client -o yaml"
export now="--force --grace-period=0"

# Verify
k version --client

Configure vim for YAML editing¶

cat >> ~/.vimrc << 'EOF'
set expandtab
set tabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2
set autoindent
set number
EOF

Enable kubectl autocompletion (usually already enabled)¶

source <(kubectl completion bash)
complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k

Imperative Command Reference¶

Pods¶

# Create a Pod
k run nginx --image=nginx:1.25
k run nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --port=80
k run nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --labels="app=web,tier=frontend"
k run nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --env="DB_HOST=db" --env="DB_PORT=5432"
k run nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --requests="cpu=100m,memory=64Mi" --limits="cpu=200m,memory=128Mi"

# Generate YAML
k run nginx --image=nginx:1.25 $do > pod.yaml

# Run a temporary Pod for testing
k run test --image=busybox:1.36 --rm -it -- /bin/sh
k run test --image=busybox:1.36 --rm -it -- wget -qO- http://my-svc:80
k run test --image=busybox:1.36 --rm -it -- nslookup my-svc

# Delete a Pod quickly
k delete pod nginx $now

Deployments¶

# Create
k create deploy nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --replicas=3
k create deploy nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --port=80

# Generate YAML
k create deploy nginx --image=nginx:1.25 --replicas=3 $do > deploy.yaml

# Scale
k scale deploy nginx --replicas=5

# Update image
k set image deploy/nginx nginx=nginx:1.26

# Rollout management
k rollout status deploy/nginx
k rollout history deploy/nginx
k rollout undo deploy/nginx
k rollout undo deploy/nginx --to-revision=2
k rollout restart deploy/nginx

Services¶

# Expose a Deployment
k expose deploy nginx --port=80 --target-port=8080 --type=ClusterIP
k expose deploy nginx --port=80 --target-port=8080 --type=NodePort
k expose deploy nginx --port=80 --target-port=8080 --type=NodePort --name=nginx-svc

# Expose a Pod
k expose pod nginx --port=80 --target-port=80 --name=nginx-svc

# Generate YAML
k expose deploy nginx --port=80 --target-port=8080 $do > svc.yaml

ConfigMaps¶

# From literals
k create cm my-config --from-literal=key1=value1 --from-literal=key2=value2

# From file
k create cm my-config --from-file=config.txt
k create cm my-config --from-file=mykey=config.txt    # Custom key name

# From env file
k create cm my-config --from-env-file=config.env

# Generate YAML
k create cm my-config --from-literal=key=value $do > cm.yaml

Secrets¶

# Generic
k create secret generic my-secret --from-literal=user=admin --from-literal=pass=secret

# Docker registry
k create secret docker-registry my-reg --docker-server=reg.io --docker-username=user --docker-password=pass

# TLS
k create secret tls my-tls --cert=cert.pem --key=key.pem

# Generate YAML
k create secret generic my-secret --from-literal=key=value $do > secret.yaml

Jobs and CronJobs¶

# Job
k create job my-job --image=busybox:1.36 -- echo "Hello"
k create job my-job --image=busybox:1.36 $do > job.yaml -- echo "Hello"

# CronJob
k create cj my-cron --image=busybox:1.36 --schedule="*/5 * * * *" -- echo "Hello"
k create cj my-cron --image=busybox:1.36 --schedule="*/5 * * * *" $do > cron.yaml -- echo "Hello"

Ingress¶

# Create Ingress
k create ingress myingress --class=nginx --rule="host.com/path*=svc:80"

# Multiple rules
k create ingress myingress --class=nginx \
  --rule="host.com/api*=api-svc:8080" \
  --rule="host.com/*=web-svc:80"

# Generate YAML
k create ingress myingress --class=nginx --rule="host.com/*=svc:80" $do > ingress.yaml

Other Resources¶

# Namespace
k create ns my-namespace

# ServiceAccount
k create sa my-sa -n my-namespace

# Role
k create role pod-reader --verb=get,list,watch --resource=pods -n my-namespace

# RoleBinding
k create rolebinding pod-reader-binding --role=pod-reader --serviceaccount=my-namespace:my-sa -n my-namespace

# ResourceQuota
k create quota my-quota --hard=pods=10,requests.cpu=4,requests.memory=8Gi -n my-namespace

YAML Generation and Editing Tricks¶

Generate, Edit, Apply Workflow¶

This is the fastest approach for creating resources that need customization:

# 1. Generate the base YAML
k run myapp --image=nginx:1.25 $do > myapp.yaml

# 2. Edit to add what you need (probes, volumes, etc.)
vim myapp.yaml

# 3. Apply
k apply -f myapp.yaml

# 4. Verify
k get pod myapp
k describe pod myapp

Quick YAML Snippets to Memorize¶

Resource requests and limits:

resources:
  requests:
    cpu: 100m
    memory: 128Mi
  limits:
    cpu: 200m
    memory: 256Mi

Liveness probe (HTTP):

livenessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /healthz
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 10
  periodSeconds: 5

Readiness probe (TCP):

readinessProbe:
  tcpSocket:
    port: 3306
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 10

Volume mount (emptyDir):

# In containers:
volumeMounts:
  - name: data
    mountPath: /data
# In spec:
volumes:
  - name: data
    emptyDir: {}

ConfigMap as env:

envFrom:
  - configMapRef:
      name: my-config

Secret as env:

envFrom:
  - secretRef:
      name: my-secret

SecurityContext (container):

securityContext:
  runAsUser: 1000
  runAsNonRoot: true
  readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
  allowPrivilegeEscalation: false

vim Tips for the Exam¶

Essential vim Commands¶

i           Enter insert mode
Esc         Exit insert mode
:w          Save
:q          Quit
:wq         Save and quit
:q!         Quit without saving

dd          Delete current line
5dd         Delete 5 lines
yy          Copy current line
5yy         Copy 5 lines
p           Paste below
P           Paste above

gg          Go to top of file
G           Go to bottom of file
:10         Go to line 10

/pattern    Search forward
?pattern    Search backward
n           Next match
N           Previous match

u           Undo
Ctrl+r      Redo

v           Visual mode (select text)
V           Visual line mode
d           Delete selection (in visual mode)
y           Copy selection (in visual mode)

>>          Indent line
<<          Unindent line
5>>         Indent 5 lines

:%s/old/new/g    Replace all occurrences in file

YAML-Specific vim Tricks¶

# Select and indent a block
V           (visual line mode)
j/k         (select lines)
>           (indent) or < (unindent)

# Duplicate a section
V           (visual line mode)
j/k         (select the block)
y           (yank/copy)
p           (paste below cursor)

Time Management¶

Strategy¶

Read the task completely before starting (30 seconds)
Check context and namespace - run the provided context command
Start with imperative commands - fastest approach
Use $do to generate YAML when you need to add custom fields
Verify your work - kubectl get, kubectl describe
Move on if a task takes more than 8 minutes

Task Priority¶

Do first: Tasks you know well (quick wins, bank points)
Do second: Tasks that need some YAML editing but are straightforward
Do last: Complex tasks or topics you are less confident in
Always attempt: Even partial solutions may earn points

Time Allocation (2 hours, ~15-20 tasks)¶

First 80 minutes: Work through all tasks in order, skip hard ones
Next 30 minutes: Return to skipped tasks
Final 10 minutes: Verify completed work, attempt remaining tasks

Common Gotchas¶

Context and Namespace¶

Every task may use a different cluster context - always run the provided kubectl config use-context command
Always check the namespace - use -n <namespace> or set it with kn <namespace>
Forgetting the namespace is the most common mistake on the exam

YAML Issues¶

Indentation matters - use 2 spaces, never tabs
Labels must match - spec.selector.matchLabels must match spec.template.metadata.labels in Deployments
Name conflicts - check if a resource with the same name already exists: k get <resource> <name> -n <namespace>

Resource-Specific Gotchas¶

Jobs: restartPolicy must be Never or OnFailure, not Always
CronJobs: The concurrencyPolicy goes in spec, not in spec.jobTemplate.spec
NetworkPolicies: Once any policy selects a Pod, all unmatched traffic is denied
Secrets: kubectl create secret handles base64 encoding for you; in YAML manifests, data must be base64-encoded (use stringData for plain text)
Probes: Without a startupProbe, the livenessProbe can kill slow-starting containers
Services: targetPort is the container port, port is the Service port - do not confuse them
Ingress: Requires an Ingress controller - the Ingress resource alone does nothing

Exam Environment Gotchas¶

Copy-paste may work differently in the PSI browser (right-click menu)
The terminal may have limited screen real estate - use short aliases
File paths in tasks are usually absolute - pay attention to where files should be created
Some clusters may have different configurations - do not assume anything carries over between tasks