Phase 1 · Trips 1–15
Linux CLI Fundamentals
Navigate Linux, understand the filesystem, and manipulate files confidently.
0 / 15One progressive learning path
Linux CLI to Kubernetes Developer
A progressive learning path from your first Linux command to building, deploying, and troubleshooting Kubernetes applications. Learn through focused, practical Trips using local, free tools.
11 phases135 TripsLocal practiceEN / DE
Linux CLI → Bash → Networking → Containers → Kubernetes → CKAD
Curriculum preview
Explore Trip 1 →All learning goals, dependencies, and checkpoints are organized here. Runnable walkthroughs are still to be written. Mark skills you have already practiced yourself.
Your route through the phases
Phase 2 · Trips 16–27
Text Processing and CLI Productivity
Process structured and unstructured text efficiently.
0 / 12Phase 3 · Trips 28–40
Bash Scripting and Automation
Automate repetitive development and operations tasks.
0 / 13Phase 4 · Trips 41–56
Linux Processes, Networking, and Troubleshooting
Understand the operating-system concepts that directly affect containerized applications.
0 / 16Phase 5 · Trips 57–70
Containers and Image Development
Understand containers before introducing Kubernetes orchestration.
0 / 14Phase 6 · Trips 71–84
Kubernetes Fundamentals
Learn the Kubernetes object model and essential kubectl workflows.
0 / 14Phase 7 · Trips 85–95
Kubernetes Application Deployment
Deploy applications reliably and manage their lifecycle.
0 / 11Phase 8 · Trips 96–103
Kubernetes Networking
Understand how applications communicate inside and outside a cluster.
0 / 8Phase 9 · Trips 104–114
Configuration, Security, and Storage
Configure applications securely and manage persistent data.
0 / 11Phase 10 · Trips 115–126
Application Reliability and Troubleshooting
Develop the practical diagnostic skills required for CKAD-style exercises.
0 / 12Phase 11 · Trips 127–135
CKAD Practical Preparation
Build speed, accuracy, and confidence under time pressure.
0 / 9Find a Trip
- Trip 1 · Phase 1Need to know where I amUse pwd, ls, and cd
- Trip 2 · Phase 1Need to create files and directoriesUse mkdir, touch, and rmdir
- Trip 3 · Phase 1Need to copy and move filesUse cp, mv, and rm
- Trip 4 · Phase 1Need to inspect file contentsUse cat, less, head, and tail
- Trip 5 · Phase 1Need to understand file pathsWork with absolute paths, relative paths, . and ..
- Trip 6 · Phase 1Need to find filesUse find and filename patterns
- Trip 7 · Phase 1Need to search file contentsUse grep and regular expressions
- Trip 8 · Phase 1Need to combine commandsUse pipes and tee
- Trip 9 · Phase 1Need to redirect command outputUse >, >>, and 2>
- Trip 10 · Phase 1Need to understand command failuresInspect exit codes with $?
- Trip 11 · Phase 1Need to get command helpUse man, --help, and type
- Trip 12 · Phase 1Need to understand file permissionsUse ls -l, chmod, and chown
- Trip 13 · Phase 1Need to understand users and groupsUse id, whoami, and groups
- Trip 14 · Phase 1Need temporary administrator accessUse sudo safely
- Trip 15 · Phase 1Need to compress and extract filesUse tar, gzip, and unzip
- Trip 16 · Phase 2Need to sort command outputUse sort and uniq
- Trip 17 · Phase 2Need to count files and linesUse wc
- Trip 18 · Phase 2Need to extract columnsUse cut and awk
- Trip 19 · Phase 2Need to modify textUse sed
- Trip 20 · Phase 2Need to compare filesUse diff
- Trip 21 · Phase 2Need to inspect JSONUse jq
- Trip 22 · Phase 2Need to inspect YAMLUse yq
- Trip 23 · Phase 2Need to edit configuration filesUse vim or nano
- Trip 24 · Phase 2Need to reuse previous commandsUse shell history and reverse search
- Trip 25 · Phase 2Need to run repeated commandsUse xargs and safe command substitution
- Trip 26 · Phase 2Need to control command outputCombine filters, pipes, and redirects
- Trip 27 · Phase 2Need to manage environment variablesUse export, env, and printenv
- Trip 28 · Phase 3Need to execute multiple commandsCreate a Bash script
- Trip 29 · Phase 3Need to make scripts executableUse shebangs and chmod
- Trip 30 · Phase 3Need to accept script argumentsUse $1, $@, and argument validation
- Trip 31 · Phase 3Need to store valuesUse variables and quoting correctly
- Trip 32 · Phase 3Need conditional behaviorUse if, elif, and case
- Trip 33 · Phase 3Need repeated executionUse for and while
- Trip 34 · Phase 3Need reusable logicCreate Bash functions
- Trip 35 · Phase 3Need reliable error handlingUse exit codes, set -euo pipefail, and explicit checks
- Trip 36 · Phase 3Need to handle temporary resourcesUse trap and cleanup functions
- Trip 37 · Phase 3Need to process files line by lineUse read and loops
- Trip 38 · Phase 3Need to automate HTTP requestsCombine curl, Bash, and jq
- Trip 39 · Phase 3Need to validate configurationWrite a script that checks required commands and variables
- Trip 40 · Phase 3Need to debug a scriptUse bash -x and ShellCheck
- Trip 41 · Phase 4Need to inspect running processesUse ps, top, and pgrep
- Trip 42 · Phase 4Need to stop a processUse kill and understand signals
- Trip 43 · Phase 4Need to understand background executionUse &, jobs, fg, and bg
- Trip 44 · Phase 4Need to inspect memory and CPUUse free, uptime, and process tools
- Trip 45 · Phase 4Need to inspect disk usageUse df and du
- Trip 46 · Phase 4Need to understand Linux servicesInspect systemd services with systemctl
- Trip 47 · Phase 4Need to inspect system logsUse journalctl
- Trip 48 · Phase 4Need to inspect network interfacesUse ip addr and ip route
- Trip 49 · Phase 4Need to troubleshoot DNSUse dig and getent hosts
- Trip 50 · Phase 4Need to test HTTP endpointsUse curl with headers and status codes
- Trip 51 · Phase 4Need to inspect listening portsUse ss
- Trip 52 · Phase 4Need to test TCP connectivityUse nc
- Trip 53 · Phase 4Need to understand TLS connectionsInspect certificates using openssl s_client
- Trip 54 · Phase 4Need to understand process isolationExplore Linux namespaces
- Trip 55 · Phase 4Need to understand resource isolationExplore cgroups
- Trip 56 · Phase 4Need to understand application shutdownHandle SIGTERM and graceful termination
- Trip 57 · Phase 5Need to run an isolated applicationStart a container with Docker or Podman
- Trip 58 · Phase 5Need to inspect running containersUse container CLI inspection commands
- Trip 59 · Phase 5Need to view container logsInspect standard output and error
- Trip 60 · Phase 5Need to execute commands inside containersUse exec
- Trip 61 · Phase 5Need to build a container imageWrite a Dockerfile
- Trip 62 · Phase 5Need to reduce image sizeUse multi-stage builds
- Trip 63 · Phase 5Need to configure an applicationPass environment variables
- Trip 64 · Phase 5Need to persist container dataUse volumes and bind mounts
- Trip 65 · Phase 5Need containers to communicateCreate a container network
- Trip 66 · Phase 5Need to publish an application portConfigure port mappings
- Trip 67 · Phase 5Need to diagnose container failuresInspect exit codes, logs, and health checks
- Trip 68 · Phase 5Need to distribute imagesTag and push images to a registry
- Trip 69 · Phase 5Need to avoid running as rootConfigure a non-root container user
- Trip 70 · Phase 5Need to understand image identityCompare tags and immutable digests
- Trip 71 · Phase 6Need a local Kubernetes environmentInstall kind and create a cluster
- Trip 72 · Phase 6Need to interact with KubernetesConfigure kubectl and inspect contexts
- Trip 73 · Phase 6Need to understand cluster componentsInspect nodes, control plane, and workloads
- Trip 74 · Phase 6Need to run an applicationCreate a Pod
- Trip 75 · Phase 6Need to describe Kubernetes resourcesWrite a Pod YAML manifest
- Trip 76 · Phase 6Need to manage resources declarativelyUse kubectl apply
- Trip 77 · Phase 6Need to organize resourcesCreate and use namespaces
- Trip 78 · Phase 6Need to inspect workload stateUse get, describe, and -o wide
- Trip 79 · Phase 6Need to inspect container outputUse kubectl logs
- Trip 80 · Phase 6Need to run commands in a PodUse kubectl exec
- Trip 81 · Phase 6Need to copy files to or from a containerUse kubectl cp
- Trip 82 · Phase 6Need to generate manifests quicklyUse --dry-run=client -o yaml
- Trip 83 · Phase 6Need to modify existing resourcesUse edit, patch, and set
- Trip 84 · Phase 6Need to clean up resourcesUse delete and understand finalizers
- Trip 85 · Phase 7Need application replicasCreate a Deployment
- Trip 86 · Phase 7Need to change replica countScale a Deployment
- Trip 87 · Phase 7Need to update an applicationPerform a rolling update
- Trip 88 · Phase 7Need to recover from a failed updateRoll back a Deployment
- Trip 89 · Phase 7Need to control rollout behaviorConfigure rollout strategy
- Trip 90 · Phase 7Need a task to run onceCreate a Job
- Trip 91 · Phase 7Need a task to run on a scheduleCreate a CronJob
- Trip 92 · Phase 7Need an application on every nodeUnderstand and create a DaemonSet
- Trip 93 · Phase 7Need stable workload identitiesUnderstand StatefulSets
- Trip 94 · Phase 7Need to understand Pod schedulingConfigure node selectors and affinity
- Trip 95 · Phase 7Need workload placement restrictionsConfigure taints and tolerations
- Trip 96 · Phase 8Need stable access to PodsCreate a ClusterIP Service
- Trip 97 · Phase 8Need external accessConfigure NodePort and understand LoadBalancer Services
- Trip 98 · Phase 8Need local application accessUse kubectl port-forward
- Trip 99 · Phase 8Need service discoveryTest Kubernetes DNS
- Trip 100 · Phase 8Need HTTP routingConfigure an Ingress controller and Ingress rules
- Trip 101 · Phase 8Need modern HTTP routingUnderstand Gateway API fundamentals
- Trip 102 · Phase 8Need to restrict trafficApply NetworkPolicies
- Trip 103 · Phase 8Need to troubleshoot service connectivityInspect endpoints, DNS, and selectors
- Trip 104 · Phase 9Need externalized configurationCreate and consume ConfigMaps
- Trip 105 · Phase 9Need application secretsCreate and consume Kubernetes Secrets
- Trip 106 · Phase 9Need to understand Secret limitationsReview encryption at rest and external secret management
- Trip 107 · Phase 9Need resource boundariesConfigure CPU and memory requests and limits
- Trip 108 · Phase 9Need secure container executionConfigure security contexts
- Trip 109 · Phase 9Need to restrict API accessCreate ServiceAccounts and RBAC roles
- Trip 110 · Phase 9Need temporary Pod storageConfigure emptyDir
- Trip 111 · Phase 9Need persistent application dataCreate PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims
- Trip 112 · Phase 9Need storage provisioningUse StorageClasses and dynamic provisioning
- Trip 113 · Phase 9Need to initialize an applicationConfigure init containers
- Trip 114 · Phase 9Need supporting container behaviorConfigure a sidecar container
- Trip 115 · Phase 10Need to know when a container is healthyConfigure a liveness probe
- Trip 116 · Phase 10Need to know when an application can receive trafficConfigure a readiness probe
- Trip 117 · Phase 10Need to support slow startupConfigure a startup probe
- Trip 118 · Phase 10Need safe application shutdownConfigure lifecycle hooks and termination grace periods
- Trip 119 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot Pending PodsInvestigate scheduling and resource constraints
- Trip 120 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot CrashLoopBackOffInspect container failures and logs
- Trip 121 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot image pull failuresInvestigate image references and registry credentials
- Trip 122 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot OOMKilled containersInspect memory usage and limits
- Trip 123 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot DNS failuresTest service discovery from inside a Pod
- Trip 124 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot unavailable ServicesInspect selectors, endpoints, and ports
- Trip 125 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot storage failuresInspect PVCs and Pod events
- Trip 126 · Phase 10Need to troubleshoot permissionsInspect ServiceAccounts, RBAC, and security contexts
- Trip 127 · Phase 11Need faster kubectl workflowsConfigure aliases, completion, and output shortcuts
- Trip 128 · Phase 11Need to generate manifests under time pressurePractice imperative commands and YAML generation
- Trip 129 · Phase 11Need to locate Kubernetes documentation quicklyPractice documentation-based problem solving
- Trip 130 · Phase 11Need to manage multiple cluster contextsPractice safe context and namespace switching
- Trip 131 · Phase 11Need to complete deployment tasks quicklyTimed Deployment, Job, and CronJob exercises
- Trip 132 · Phase 11Need to solve networking tasks quicklyTimed Services, DNS, and NetworkPolicy exercises
- Trip 133 · Phase 11Need to solve configuration tasks quicklyTimed ConfigMap, Secret, and volume exercises
- Trip 134 · Phase 11Need to solve troubleshooting tasks quicklyTimed broken-Pod and broken-Service exercises
- Trip 135 · Phase 11Need to demonstrate complete competencyRun a full practical CKAD-style mock examination
The planned local lab
Walkthroughs will target a Linux environment with Bash. The shared baseline is Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on a local machine or VM. Windows learners can use Ubuntu in WSL2; macOS learners need a Linux VM for Linux-specific exercises.
The systemd, namespace, and cgroup exercises belong in the Linux system. Container and Pod exercises will identify where each command runs. Container tooling alone does not replace this Linux environment.
Tools enter progressively: Bash, curl, jq, yq (Mike Farah), ShellCheck, Docker Engine or Podman, kind, and kubectl. Individual walkthroughs will include compatible versions, setup instructions, and verification.
One example grows with you
The planned example is a small HTTP application called Trip Notes in ~/cloudtrips-linux-k8s. You begin with its files, logs, and configuration, then automate checks, build a container image, and operate it with networking, storage, and security in Kubernetes. The application and exercise files will accompany the walkthroughs.
Understand → Execute → Verify → Break → Troubleshoot → Automate
Learning path outcome
A learner can independently build, deploy, configure, secure, troubleshoot, and maintain Kubernetes applications using CLI tools.
The CKAD phase practices application-development tasks. Use the official providers for current exam details: