🧑‍💻 CKA Exam Practice Repository

This repository is designed for practical hands-on practice for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam. It contains YAML files, scripts, and notes covering all key domains. Use this README as a guide for your study workflow.

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📌 Repository Structure (Recommended)

cka-practice/
├── README.md                  # This guide
├── pods/                      # Pod creation and management exercises
├── deployments/               # Deployments, ReplicaSets
├── services/                  # Services (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer)
├── configmaps-secrets/        # ConfigMaps & Secrets practice
├── volumes-storage/           # PersistentVolumes, PersistentVolumeClaims, StorageClasses
├── networking/                # NetworkPolicies, Ingress
├── rbac/                      # Users, Roles, RoleBindings
├── troubleshooting/           # Debugging & cluster maintenance exercises
└── manifests/                 # Utility YAMLs for quick testing

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1️⃣ Pods – Core Practice

1.1 Create Pods

Imperative

kubectl run <pod-name> --image=<image-name>:<version> [--labels=key=value]
kubectl run nginx-pod --image=nginx:latest --labels=app=web

• Labels optional
• Pods created this way aren’t managed by controllers (no scaling/replication)

Declarative

kubectl create -f <file.yaml>
kubectl apply -f <file.yaml>

• Example YAML: pods/createpod.yaml
• Edit live pod:

kubectl edit pod <pod-name>

• Generate YAML from command (dry-run):

kubectl run nginx-pod --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml > podnew.yaml

• Export existing pod YAML:

kubectl get pod nginx-pod -o yaml > getpod.yaml

1.2 Inspect & Debug Pods

kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- sh
kubectl delete pod <pod-name>
kubectl delete pods --all

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2️⃣ Deployments & ReplicaSets

• Create a deployment declaratively:

kubectl create -f deployments/nginx-deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f deployments/nginx-deployment.yaml

• Scale:

kubectl scale deployment nginx-deployment --replicas=3

• Rollout status & history:

kubectl rollout status deployment/nginx-deployment
kubectl rollout history deployment/nginx-deployment
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx-deployment

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3️⃣ Services & Networking

• Expose pods or deployments:

kubectl expose pod nginx-pod --type=NodePort --port=80
kubectl expose deployment nginx-deployment --type=ClusterIP --port=80

• Check services:

kubectl get svc
kubectl describe svc <service-name>

• Network policies: create restrictive ingress/egress rules in networking/ folder

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4️⃣ ConfigMaps & Secrets

• Create ConfigMap:

kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.properties

• Create Secret:

kubectl create secret generic db-secret --from-literal=password='mypassword'

• Mount ConfigMap/Secret in Pod via spec.containers[].envFrom or volumeMounts

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5️⃣ Volumes & Storage

• PersistentVolume (PV) + PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC)

kubectl create -f volumes-storage/pv.yaml
kubectl create -f volumes-storage/pvc.yaml
kubectl get pv,pvc

• StorageClass usage for dynamic provisioning

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6️⃣ RBAC & Access Control

• Create Roles and RoleBindings:

kubectl create -f rbac/role.yaml
kubectl create -f rbac/rolebinding.yaml
kubectl auth can-i <action> <resource> --as <user>

• Practice ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding

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7️⃣ Debugging & Maintenance

• Check node status:

kubectl get nodes
kubectl describe node <node-name>

• Check pod logs:

kubectl logs <pod-name>
kubectl logs -f <pod-name>

• Access cluster shell:

kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- /bin/sh

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8️⃣ Tips for CKA Practice

1. Hands-on > Theory — always create, delete, edit, scale resources manually.
2. Use dry-run & YAML generation for practice:

kubectl run nginx --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml > pod.yaml

3. Namespaces — practice switching and creating namespaces:

kubectl create namespace test
kubectl get pods -n test

4. Shortcuts:

kubectl get all
kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl delete pods --all

5. Backup YAMLs — save working configurations to reuse during practice.

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This README serves as the central guide for your CKA repo, and each folder contains examples & exercises to reinforce learning.