HashiCorp Security Automation Certification

Prerequisites

• Basic terminal skills
• Basic understanding of on premise or cloud architecture
• Basic level of security understanding

Product version tested

Vault 1.6.0 and higher

Preparing for the exam

The Vault Associate exam has both a study guide and a review guide. While much of the information in these two guides are the same, they are presented differently for different uses. Use the study guide if you want to study all the exam objectives. Use the review guide if you already have Vault 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.

Renewing your Vault Associate certification

To renew your Vault Associate certification, you will need to take and pass the Vault Associate or Vault Operations Professional exam.

If you hold an unexpired Vault Associate certification there are two ways to recertify:

1. You can take the same Vault Associate exam again starting 18 months after your previous exam date. When you pass the exam, the expiration date on your credentials will be extended.
2. You can take the Vault Professional level exam starting 18 months after your previous exam date. When you pass the exam, you will receive a new set of credentials for the Vault Professional certification, and the expiration date will be extended on your Vault Associate credentials.

If you hold an expired Vault Associate certification: You are eligible to take the same Vault Associate exam again at any time. When you pass the exam, you will receive a new, second 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	Compare authentication methods
1a	Describe authentication methods
1b	Choose an authentication method based on use case
1c	Differentiate human vs. system auth methods

2	Create Vault policies
2a	Illustrate the value of Vault policy
2b	Describe Vault policy syntax: path
2c	Describe Vault policy syntax: capabilities
2d	Craft a Vault policy based on requirements

3	Assess Vault tokens
3a	Describe Vault token
3b	Differentiate between service and batch tokens. Choose one based on use-case
3c	Describe root token uses and lifecycle
3d	Define token accessors
3e	Explain time-to-live
3f	Explain orphaned tokens
3g	Create tokens based on need

4	Manage Vault leases
4a	Explain the purpose of a lease ID
4b	Renew leases
4c	Revoke leases

5	Compare and configure Vault secrets engines
5a	Choose a secret method based on use case
5b	Contrast dynamic secrets vs. static secrets and their use cases
5c	Define transit engine
5d	Define secrets engines

6	Utilize Vault CLI
6a	Authenticate to Vault
6b	Configure authentication methods
6c	Configure Vault policies
6d	Access Vault secrets
6e	Enable Secret engines
6f	Configure environment variables

7	Utilize Vault UI
7a	Authenticate to Vault
7b	Configure authentication methods
7c	Configure Vault policies
7d	Access Vault secrets
7e	Enable Secret engines

8	Be aware of the Vault API
8a	Authenticate to Vault via Curl
8b	Access Vault secrets via Curl

9	Explain Vault architecture
9a	Describe the encryption of data stored by Vault
9b	Describe cluster strategy
9c	Describe storage backends
9d	Describe the Vault agent
9e	Describe secrets caching
9f	Be aware of identities and groups
9g	Describe Shamir secret sharing and unsealing
9h	Be aware of replication
9i	Describe seal/unseal
9j	Explain response wrapping
9k	Explain the value of short-lived, dynamically generated secrets

10	Explain encryption as a service
10a	Configure transit secret engine
10b	Encrypt and decrypt secrets
10c	Rotate the encryption key