CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) is a performance-based certification from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. It validates hands-on Kubernetes administration skills through tasks performed in a live cluster, against CNCF's published, openly licensed curriculum.
What it means
CNCF publishes the CKA domains and weights along with an open-source curriculum (CC BY 4.0), and the Linux Foundation provides a free candidate handbook for exam logistics. CKA is task-based — candidates configure and troubleshoot real Kubernetes clusters covering areas like cluster architecture, workloads, networking, storage, and troubleshooting. The exam itself is paid.