Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Program

The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) program was created by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), in collaboration with The Linux Foundation, to help develop the Kubernetes ecosystem. As one of the highest velocity open source projects, Kubernetes use is exploding.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation is committed to growing the community of Kubernetes Administrators, thereby allowing continued growth across the broad set of companies and organizations that are using Kubernetes. Certification is a key step in that process, allowing certified administrators to quickly establish their credibility and value in the job market, and also allowing companies to more quickly hire high-quality teams to support their growth.

About the Program

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation offers a certification program that allows users to demonstrate their competence in a hands-on, command-line environment. The purpose of the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) program is to provide assurance that CKAs have the skills, knowledge, and competency to perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes administrators.

It is an online, proctored, performance-based test that requires solving multiple issues from a command line.

The CKA program is separate from Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP) program. You can become a CKA without needing to be involved with a KCSP, but for a company to become a KCSP it must employ at least three CKAs. You can learn more about the KCSP program.

CNCF has open sourced the curriculum around which the CKA exam has been created for the benefit of companies offering training. CNCF offers wholesale pricing on our exams to training companies purchasing in bulk. For more information, please contact trainingpartners@cncf.io.

Exam Details

The online exam consists of a set of performance-based items (problems) to be solved in a command line running Version 1.11.1 and candidates have 3 hours to complete the tasks.

The Certification focuses on the skills required to be a successful Kubernetes Administrator in industry today. This includes these general domains and their weights on the exam:

• Application Lifecycle Management 8%
• Installation, Configuration & Validation 12%
• Core Concepts 19%
• Networking 11%
• Scheduling 5%
• Security 12%
• Cluster Maintenance 11%
• Logging / Monitoring 5%
• Storage 7%
• Troubleshooting 10%

The cost is $300 and includes one free retake. For questions on the exam, please reach out to certificationsupport@cncf.io.

Quarterly exam updates are planned to match Kubernetes releases.