Free Kubernetes Mock Test

Understanding the CKA Exam Environment & Structure

The CKA exam is a performance-based test delivered on a remote desktop browser terminal. You are given access to multiple Kubernetes clusters (e.g. k8s, main, prod) and must solve real-world problems.

Key Exam domains & Weight

1. Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration (25%): Focuses on bootstrapping a cluster using kubeadm, node upgrades, cluster backup/restore, and etcd snapshot maintenance.

2. Workloads & Scheduling (15%): Deployments, rolling updates, ConfigMaps, Secrets, multi-container pods, and scheduling properties.

3. Services & Networking (20%): CoreDNS verification, Service definition, Ingress configurations, and NetworkPolicy enforcement.

4. Storage (10%): PersistentVolumes (PV), PersistentVolumeClaims (PVC), storage classes, and dynamic volume provisioning.

5. Troubleshooting (30%): Repairing worker node kubelet failures, recovering from etcd outages, and resolving application runtime errors.

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Step-by-Step CKA Simulator Labs

Scenario 1: Upgrading a Control Plane Node

You are asked to upgrade a master control plane node from version 1.28.0 to 1.29.0 using kubeadm.

Step 1: Drain the Master Node

Prevent new pods from scheduling on the node while evicting active workloads:

kubectl drain control-plane-01 --ignore-daemonsets --force

Step 2: Upgrade Kubeadm Package

Update the package repository lists and download the target version:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y --allow-change-held-packages kubeadm=1.29.0-1.1

Step 3: Run Kubeadm Upgrade Plan & Apply

Verify the upgrade path and execute the binaries upgrade:

sudo kubeadm upgrade plan
sudo kubeadm upgrade apply v1.29.0

Step 4: Upgrade Kubelet & Kubectl

Upgrade and restart the node-level agent:

sudo apt-get install -y --allow-change-held-packages kubelet=1.29.0-1.1 kubectl=1.29.0-1.1
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart kubelet

Step 5: Uncordon the Node

Mark the master node as schedulable again:

kubectl uncordon control-plane-01

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Core CKA Manifest Configurations

Persistent Volume & Claim Binding Manifests

You must configure a PersistentVolume named task-pv-volume that mounts a host path, and a corresponding PersistentVolumeClaim that requests storage from it:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: task-pv-volume
  labels:
    type: local
spec:
  storageClassName: manual
  capacity:
    storage: 5Gi
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  hostPath:
    path: "/mnt/data"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: task-pv-claim
spec:
  storageClassName: manual
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 2Gi

To test if a PVC binds successfully, run:

kubectl get pvc task-pv-claim

If the state remains Pending, check if the storageClassName and accessModes match the PV exactly.

NetworkPolicy Restriction Example

Create a NetworkPolicy that restricts incoming database access to pods carrying the label app: backend:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: db-network-policy
  namespace: default
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      role: db
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          app: backend
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 5432

This policy acts as an ingress firewall, blocking all external traffic targeting pods labeled role: db on port 5432, unless the connection originates from a pod labeled app: backend.