The KCNA is a certification aimed for individuals who want to advance to the professional level by demonstrating an understanding of the core knowledge and abilities of Kubernetes. This certification is ideal for students learning about or candidates interested in working with cloud native technologies.

Exam Brief

• Duration : 1.5 hours

• Passing score: 75%

• Certification validity: 3 years

• Prerequisite: None

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

• Result: Emailed 24 hours after exam completion

• Official KCNA curriculum

The exam consists of around 60 MCQ questions.

KCNA Topics

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

KCNA topics overview

46% - Kubernetes Fundamentals

Kubernetes Resources

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/components/

Kubernetes Architecture

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/

Kubernetes API

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/kubernetes-api/

Containers

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/containers/

Scheduling

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/scheduling-eviction/

22% - Container Orchestration

Container Orchestration Fundamentals

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/container-orchestration

Runtime

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/containers/runtime-class/

Security

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/security/

Networking

https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/network/

Service Mesh

https://glossary.cncf.io/service_mesh/

https://openservicemesh.io/

https://istio.io/latest/about/service-mesh/

Storage

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/storage/

16% - Cloud Native Architecture

Open Standards: Anchoring Extensibility for Cloud-Native Tooling - Katie Gamanji, CNCF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMj92DK6R-A

Cloud Native Landscape

https://landscape.cncf.io

Cloud Native Glossary

https://glossary.cncf.io/

Cloud Native Architecture Fundamentals

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/architecture/architecture/practices/cloud-native-principles/

Autoscaling

https://glossary.cncf.io/auto_scaling/

Serverless

https://glossary.cncf.io/serverless/

Community and Governance

https://www.cncf.io/blog/2019/08/30/cncf-technical-principles-and-open-governance-success/

Personas

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/cp-management/1.3.0?topic=about-personas-use-cases

Open Standards

Container Runtime Interface (CRI) CRI implemented for Kubernetes for OCI (Open Container Initiative)

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/

Container Network Interface (CNI)

https://github.com/containernetworking/cni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2BS_kuQxBA

Container Storage Interface (CSI)

https://kubernetes.io/blog/2019/01/15/container-storage-interface-ga/

https://kubernetes-csi.github.io/docs/

Service Mesh Interface (SMI)

https://github.com/servicemeshinterface/smi-spec/blob/main/SPEC_LATEST_STABLE.md

https://smi-spec.io/

Cloud Provider Interface (CPI)

https://cloud-provider-vsphere.sigs.k8s.io/cloud_provider_interface.html

8% - Cloud Native Observability

Telemetry & Observability Metrics, Events, Logs, Traces

OpenTelemetry

https://opentelemetry.io/

https://glossary.cncf.io/observability/

Prometheus

https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/overview/

Cost Management

https://www.finops.org/introduction/what-is-finops/

8% - Cloud Native Application Delivery

Application Delivery Fundamentals

https://glossary.cncf.io/agile_software_development/

https://glossary.cncf.io/application_programming_interface/

GitOps

https://www.weave.works/technologies/gitops/

https://www.weave.works/technologies/monitoring-kubernetes-with-prometheus/#deploy-new-features

GitOps E-book

https://www.gitops.tech/

CI/CD

https://glossary.cncf.io/continuous_integration/

https://glossary.cncf.io/continuous_delivery/

https://glossary.cncf.io/continuous_deployment/

Useful training material:

• Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials by The Linux Foundation
• Kubernetes Certified (KCNA) + Hands On Labs + Practice Exams
• Introduction to GitOps by The Linux Foundation
• Introduction to DevOps & Site Reliability Engineering by The Linux Foundation
• Oh My Git! An open source game about learning Git!
• Learn Git Branching
• Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA)

Books

• Kubernetes: Up and Running by O’Reilly
• 7 Best Books to Get You Started with Kubernetes

Useful Youtube videos

• CNCF Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate Certification Course (KCNA) - Pass the Exam! by Andrew Brown
• Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) exam - Katie Gamanji, CNCF
• KCNA breakdown by Saiyam Pathak
• Open Source Values & Advocacy & Deep Dive KCNA Exam | CLOUDNATIVE.FM Ep 31
• KCNA Deep Dive by Katie Gamanji - The CLOUDNATIVEFM With SAIM
• KCNA Prep - Kubernetes Fundamentals Part 1
• KCNA Prep - Kubernetes Fundamentals Part 2