SAN FRANCISCO – November 18, 2021 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, and The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, have announced the Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) exam, announced last month, is now generally available for enrollment and scheduling. Additionally, a new online training course, Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials (LFS250), has been released to both prepare individuals for entry-level cloud roles and to sit for the KCNA exam.
KCNA consists of a multiple-choice certification exam testing entry-level knowledge and skills in Kubernetes and the wider cloud native ecosystem. This exam is intended to demonstrate this knowledge, including how to deploy an application using basic kubectl commands, the architecture of Kubernetes (containers, pods, nodes, clusters), understanding the cloud native landscape and projects (storage, networking, GitOps, service mesh), and understanding the principles of cloud native security.
“Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials” provides an overview of cloud native technologies, and then dives into container orchestration. Participants will review the high-level architecture of Kubernetes, understand the challenges of container orchestration and how to deliver and monitor applications in distributed environments. The course also discusses how container orchestration differs from legacy environments and much more. This course is designed for existing and aspiring developers, administrators, architects, and managers who are new to the world of cloud native technologies and container orchestration.
The new training course and KCNA certification are intended to prepare candidates to work with cloud native technologies and pursue further CNCF credentials, including Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), and Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS). Specific knowledge tested in the KCNA exam includes:
- Kubernetes Fundamentals (46%)
- Including resources, architecture, APIs, containers, and scheduling
- Container Orchestration (22%)
- Including container orchestration fundamentals, runtime, security, networking, service mesh, and storage
- Cloud Native Architecture (16%)
- Including cloud native architecture fundamentals, autoscaling, serverless, community & governance, personas, and open standards
- Cloud Native Observability (8%)
- Telemetry & observability, Prometheus, and cost management
- Cloud Native Application Delivery (8%)
- Application delivery fundamentals, GitOps, and CI/CD
“As cloud native has grown beyond just Kubernetes, the need to understand the landscape has moved beyond just the engineering department,” said Chris Aniszczk, CTO, CNCF. “Everyone from marketing to management can benefit from gaining an understanding of terminology and core technology concepts. Cloud native is the way forward and organizations can empower themselves for a successful cloud native digital transformation by taking this course.”
“We designed this course because our community expressed the need for more beginner-friendly training materials and certifications,” said Katie Gamanji, Ecosystem Advocate, CNCF. “Kubernetes certifications are incredibly popular, with more than 100,000 registrations to date. The launch during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America last month saw all 400 beta slots claimed within an hour. We’re excited to offer these materials to everyone from students and those looking to make a career change and to pave the way for them to pursue further CNCF credentials, including CKA, CKAD, and CKS.”
“Our recent Open Source Jobs Report found more demand for cloud skills than any other technology, but at the same time hiring managers are having massive difficulties finding enough qualified individuals to fill their open positions,” said Clyde Seepersad, SVP, and general manager of training & certification at The Linux Foundation. “This new training course and the KCNA certification are designed to provide a clear onramp for those considering a role working with cloud technology or IT generally to help close this talent gap and provide more career opportunities for aspiring professionals.”
The KCNA exam was developed in partnership with Certiverse. The company’s online platform enabled a global group of 15 subject matter experts to create test content asynchronously.
“Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials” was developed by Timo Heinrichs from inovex, a certified Kubernetes Training Partner and Service Provider. He holds three Kubernetes certifications, CKAD, CKA and CKS, while also teaching the corresponding courses for the Linux Foundation and CNCF. He has experience in planning and developing big Kubernetes platforms for enterprises as well as small businesses.
Both the KCNA exam and Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials are available for immediate enrollment. Through November 28, 2021, the standalone exam is discounted to $125 with code KCNANOV21 (regular price $250), standalone LFS250 is discounted to $50 with code NEWLFS250 (regular price $99) or a bundle of the KCNA exam plus the “Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials” training course is discounted to $105 with code KCNA250 (regular price $299).
About Cloud Native Computing Foundation
Cloud native computing empowers organizations to build and run scalable applications with an open source software stack in public, private, and hybrid clouds. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts critical components of the global technology infrastructure, including Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Envoy. CNCF brings together the industry’s top developers, end users, and vendors, and runs the largest open source developer conferences in the world. Supported by more than 500 members, including the world’s largest cloud computing and software companies, as well as over 200 innovative startups, CNCF is part of the nonprofit Linux Foundation. For more information, please visit www.cncf.io.
About the Linux Foundation
Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1,000 members and is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation’s projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundation’s methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.
The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
