Prerequisites
- Containerization
- Basic terminal skills
- Load balancing architecture
- Distributed systems knowledge (NoSQL data stores)
- Understand the purpose of ACLs
Product Version Tested
Consul 1.7 or higher
Preparing for the Exam
You will be tested based on the objectives below. The Getting Started content on the HashiCorp Learn platform was referenced heavily during exam creation and is a good place to start studying. Visit the review guide if you already have Consul experience and/or training and want to pick and choose which objectives to review before taking the exam. There are also sample questions available so you can get a feel for what the exam will be like.
Exam Details
| Type | Multiple choice |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1 hour |
| Language | English |
Beta Exam Objectives
| 1 | Explain Consul architecture |
|---|---|
| 1a | Identify the components of Consul datacenter, including agents and communication protocols |
| 1b | Prepare Consul for high availability and performance |
| 1c | Identify Consul's core functionality |
| 1d | Differentiate agent roles |
| 2 | Deploy a single datacenter |
|---|---|
| 2a | Start and manage the Consul process |
| 2b | Interpret a simple Consul agent configuration |
| 2c | Choose a method to bind the server to one specific address |
| 2d | Choose a method for joining existing nodes |
| 3 | Register services and use service discovery |
|---|---|
| 3a | Interpret a simple service registration |
| 3b | Differentiate ways to register a single service |
| 3c | Interpret a service configuration with health check |
| 3d | Check the service catalog status from the output of the DNS/API interface or via the Consul UI |
| 3e | Identify a prepared query |
| 3f | Use a prepared query |
| 4 | Access the Consul key/value (KV) |
|---|---|
| 4a | Understand the capabilities and limitations of the KV store |
| 4b | Interact with the KV store using both the Consul CLI and UI |
| 4c | Monitor KV changes using watch |
| 4d | Monitor KV changes using envconsul and consul-template |
| 5 | Back up and restore |
|---|---|
| 5a | Describe the content of a snapshot |
| 5b | Run snapshot save and snapshot restore` |
| 5c | [Enterprise] Describe the benefits of snapshot agent features |
| 6 | Register a service proxy |
|---|---|
| 6a | Understand Consul Connect service mesh high level architecture |
| 6b | Describe configuration for registering a service proxy |
| 6c | Describe intentions for Consul Connect service mesh |
| 6d | Check intentions in both the Consul CLI and UI |
| 7 | Secure agent communication |
|---|---|
| 7a | Understanding Consul security/threat model |
| 7b | Differentiate certificate types needed for TLS encryption |
| 7c | Understand the different TLS encryption settings for a fully secure datacenter |
| 8 | Secure services with basic access control lists (ACL) |
|---|---|
| 8a | Set up and configure a basic ACL system |
| 8b | Create simple policies |
| 8c | Combine multiple policies in a single token |
| 8d | Perform a CLI request using a token |
| 8e | Perform an API request using a token |
| 9 | Use gossip encryption |
|---|---|
| 9a | Understanding the Consul security/threat model |
| 9b | Configure gossip encryption for the existing data center |
| 9c | Describe the importance and cadence of rotating encryption keys |
*Beta exam objectives are subject to change before general release.