Exam availability dates
Coming in May 2024.
Which exam to take
The Consul Associate 002 certification is still relevant and will be accepted as validation of Consul knowledge until each individual badge’s expiration date. Receiving a Consul Associate 003 certification will not impact any existing Consul Associate 002 credentials, and a single candidate can hold both at the same time. However, either certification alone can be used to validate Consul knowledge at the associate level.
If you have studied for the Consul Associate 002 and are prepared to take it now, schedule and take your 002 exam at your earliest convenience.
If you are not ready to schedule and take your exam until early 2024, we advise studying for the 003 exam and taking that version of the exam after it launches in early 2024.
Content differences between exams
| (002) objectives not covered in (003) |
4 |
Access the Consul key/value (KV) |
| (002) objectives now covered within other objectives in (003) |
| 1 |
Explain Consul architecture |
| 2 |
Deploy a single datacenter |
| 7 |
Secure agent communication |
| 9 |
Use gossip encryption |
| New objectives in (003) |
| 1c |
Summarize how Consul controls access to services at point of entry |
| 1d |
Discuss how Consul automates networking tasks |
| 2d |
Understand that Consul can run on multiple platforms |
| 3c |
Configure and start Consul on Kubernetes |
| 8 |
Secure and connect service mesh applications at scale |
| 9 |
Monitor Consul |
Prerequisites
- Containerization
- Basic terminal skills
- Load balancing architecture
- Distributed systems knowledge
- Basic security practices knowledge
- OSI Model familiarity
- Cloud & Platform awareness (AWS, Google, Azure, Kubernetes, VMs)
Product version tested
Consul product version 1.15
Renewing your Consul Associate certification
To renew your Consul Associate certification, you will need to take and pass the Consul Associate exam. Each version of the exam has its own version of the badge, so while your 002 badge may expire, having a current version of either 002 or 003 badge validates Consul knowledge at the associate level.
If you hold an unexpired Consul Associate 002 certification: You can take the exam again starting 18 months after your previous exam date.
* Passing the 002 version of the exam with a current 002 badge will extend the lifespan of the existing 002 badge.
* Passing the 003 version of the exam with a current 003 badge will create a new 003 badge.
If you hold an expired Consul Associate 002 certification: You are eligible to recertify at any time. When you pass either exam, you will receive a new, separate set of credentials with a new expiration date.
Exam details
| Assessment Type |
Multiple choice |
| Format |
Online proctored |
| Duration |
1 hour |
| Price |
$70.50 USD plus locally applicable taxes and fees Free retake not included
|
| Language |
English |
| Expiration |
2 years |
Exam objectives
| 1 |
Understand the pillars of service networking |
| 1a |
Understand how Consul discovers, tracks, and monitors the health of services |
| 1b |
Explain how Consul secures service to service communication |
| 1c |
Summarize how Consul controls access to services at point of entry |
| 1d |
Discuss how Consul automates networking tasks |
| 2 |
Describe Consul architecture |
| 2a |
Identify Consul datacenter components including agents and communication protocols |
| 2b |
Review Consul server high availability & scalability options |
| 2c |
Differentiate between server agents and data plane components (client agents and Consul Dataplane) |
| 2d |
Understand that Consul can run on multiple platforms |
| 3 |
Deploy a single datacenter |
| 3a |
Configure, bootstrap, and start Consul server agents |
| 3b |
Configure and start Consul client agents |
| 3c |
Configure and start Consul on Kubernetes |
| 3d |
Explain Consul agent join methods and behavior |
| 4 |
Register services and use service discovery |
| 4a |
Interpret a service registration |
| 4b |
Differentiate between service registration methods |
| 4c |
Understand service health check configuration options and behaviors |
| 4d |
Query Consul's service catalog via CLI, API, UI, and/or DNS, and interpret the results |
| 4e |
Interpret & use prepared queries |
| 5 |
Use Consul service mesh |
| 5a |
Consider high level architecture & key benefits of Consul service mesh |
| 5b |
Understand Consul service mesh intentions & when to use them |
| 5c |
Apply proxy configuration options within Consul service mesh |
| 6 |
Secure agent communication |
| 6a |
Understand Consul security/threat model |
| 6b |
Differentiate certificate types needed for TLS encryption |
| 6c |
Interpret TLS encryption settings & intended use |
| 6d |
Configure gossip encryption |
| 7 |
Secure services with basic access control lists (ACLs) |
| 7a |
Understand Consul ACL system components and usage |
| 7b |
Create and configure ACL policies and tokens |
| 7c |
Use ACL tokens to communicate securely with Consul services and agents |
| 8 |
Secure and connect service mesh applications |
| 8a |
Use Consul gateways to securely connect and access services into, out of, and within the service mesh |
| 8b |
Understand how to enable communication between multiple Consul datacenters |
| 9 |
Monitor Consul |
| 9a |
Describe Consul service mesh observability |
| 9b |
Review Consul datacenter observability |
| 10 |
Operate and maintain Consul |
| 10a |
Manage Consul servers |
| 10b |
Maintain Consul communications security |
| 10c |
Backup and restore Consul cluster state |
| 10d |
Understand Consul datacenter troubleshooting options |
