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Networking
Automation Certification

Pass the Consul Associate certification exam to validate your networking automation skills.

HashiCorp Certified:

Consul Associate (003)

Product version tested:Consul 1.15

The Consul Associate 003 is an upcoming update to the Consul Associate certification. Like Consul Associate 002, this exam is for site reliability engineers (SREs), solutions architects (SAs), DevOps professionals, or other cloud engineers who know HashiCorp Consul fundamentals and have the skills to build, secure, and maintain Consul. You understand what Consul Enterprise features exist and can differentiate between Enterprise and Community Edition. You will be best prepared for this exam if you have professional experience using Consul in production, but performing the exam objectives in a personal demo environment may also be sufficient.

Prepare for the examComing Soon

Coming in May 2024.

You can use either exam to validate Consul knowledge at the associate level. The Consul Associate 002 certification is still relevant and will be accepted as validation of Consul knowledge until the badge’s expiration date. You can hold both the Consul Associate 002 and Consul Associate 003 at the same time.

If you have studied for Consul Associate 002 and are prepared to take it now, schedule and take the 002 exam before April 30.

If you are not ready to schedule and take the exam, we advise studying for Consul Associate 003 and taking it in May 2024.

Content Differences Between Exams

(002) objectives NOT covered in (003)
4Access the Consul key/value (KV)
(002) objectives now covered within other objectives in (003)
1Explain Consul Architecture
2Deploy a single datacenter
7Secure agent communication
9Use gossip encryption
NEW objectives in (003)
1cSummarize how Consul controls access to services at point of entry
1dDiscuss how Consul automates networking tasks
2dUnderstand that Consul can run on multiple platforms
3cConfigure and start Consul on Kubernetes
8Secure and connect service mesh applications at scale
9Monitor Consul
  • 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)
Assessment TypeMultiple choice
FormatOnline proctored
Duration1 hour
Price$70.50 USD, plus locally applicable taxes and fees. Free retake not included.
LanguageEnglish
Expiration2 years
1Understand the pillars of service networking
1aUnderstand how Consul discovers, tracks, and monitors the health of services
1bExplain how Consul secures service to service communication
1cSummarize how Consul controls access to services at point of entry
1dDiscuss how Consul automates networking tasks
2Describe Consul architecture
2aIdentify Consul datacenter components including agents and communication protocols
2bReview Consul server high availability & scalability options
2cDifferentiate between server agents and data plane components (client agents and Consul Dataplane)
2dUnderstand that Consul can run on multiple platforms
3Deploy a single datacenter
3aConfigure, bootstrap, and start Consul server agents
3bConfigure and start Consul client agents
3cConfigure and start Consul on Kubernetes
3dExplain Consul agent join methods and behavior
4Register services and use service discovery
4aInterpret a service registration
4bDifferentiate between service registration methods
4cUnderstand service health check configuration options and behaviors
4dQuery Consul's service catalog via CLI, API, UI, and/or DNS, and interpret the results
4eInterpret & use prepared queries
5Use Consul service mesh
5aConsider high level architecture & key benefits of Consul service mesh
5bUnderstand Consul service mesh intentions & when to use them
5cApply proxy configuration options within Consul service mesh
6Secure agent communication
6aUnderstand Consul security/threat model
6bDifferentiate certificate types needed for TLS encryption
6cInterpret TLS encryption settings & intended use
6dConfigure gossip encryption
7Secure services with basic access control lists (ACLs)
7aUnderstand Consul ACL system components and usage
7bCreate and configure ACL policies and tokens
7cUse ACL tokens to communicate securely with Consul services and agents
8Secure and connect service mesh applications
8aUse Consul gateways to securely connect and access services into, out of, and within the service mesh
8bUnderstand how to enable communication between multiple Consul datacenters
9Monitor Consul
9aDescribe Consul service mesh observability
9bReview Consul datacenter observability
10Operate and maintain Consul
10aManage Consul servers
10bMaintain Consul communications security
10cBackup and restore Consul cluster state
10dUnderstand Consul datacenter troubleshooting options

Visit the Exam-taker Handbook to learn about the requirements and policies for taking exams.

HashiCorp Certified:

Consul Associate (002)

Product version tested:Consul 1.8 or higher

The Consul Associate Certification is for site reliability engineers (SREs), solutions architects (SAs), DevOps professionals, or other cloud engineers who know the basic concepts and skills to build, secure, and maintain Consul. You understand what Enterprise features exist and can differentiate between Consul Enterprise and Community Edition. You will be best prepared for this exam if you have professional experience using Consul in production, but performing the exam objectives in a personal demo environment may be sufficient.

  • Containerization knowledge
  • Basic terminal skills
  • Networking skills including load balancing and distributed systems
  • Understand the purpose of ACLs
  • Experience with TLS certificate lifecycle
Assessment TypeMultiple choice
FormatOnline proctored
Duration1 hour
Price$70.50 USD, plus locally applicable taxes and fees. Free retake not included.
LanguageEnglish
Expiration2 years
1Explain Consul architecture
1aIdentify the components of Consul datacenter, including agents and communication protocols
1bPrepare Consul for high availability and performance
1cIdentify Consul's core functionality
1dDifferentiate agent roles
2Deploy a single datacenter
2aStart and manage the Consul process
2bInterpret a Consul agent configuration
2cConfigure Consul network addresses and ports
2dDescribe and configure agent join and leave behaviors
3Register services and use service discovery
3aInterpret a service registration
3bDifferentiate ways to register a single service
3cInterpret a service configuration with health check
3dCheck the service catalog status from the output of the DNS/API interface or via the Consul UI
3eInterpret a prepared query
3fUse a prepared query
4Access the Consul key/value (KV)
4aUnderstand the capabilities and limitations of the KV store
4bInteract with the KV store using both the Consul CLI and UI
4cMonitor KV changes using watch
4dMonitor KV changes using envconsul and consul-template
5Back up and restore
5aDescribe the content of a snapshot
5bBack up and restore the datacenter
5c[Enterprise] Describe the benefits of snapshot agent features
6Use Consul service mesh
6aUnderstand Consul Connect service mesh high level architecture
6bDescribe configuration for registering a service proxy
6cDescribe intentions for Consul Connect service mesh
6dCheck intentions in both the Consul CLI and UI
7Secure agent communication
7aUnderstanding Consul security/threat model
7bDifferentiate certificate types needed for TLS encryption
7cUnderstand the different TLS encryption settings for a fully secure datacenter
8Secure services with basic access control lists (ACL)
8aSet up and configure a basic ACL system
8bCreate policies
8cManage token lifecycle: multiple policies, token revoking, ACL roles, service identities
8dPerform a CLI request using a token
8ePerform an API request using a token
9Use gossip encryption
9aUnderstanding the Consul security/threat model
9bConfigure gossip encryption for the existing data center
9cManage the lifecycle of encryption keys

Visit the Exam-taker Handbook to learn about the requirements and policies for taking exams.

To renew your Consul Associate certification, you will need to take and pass a Consul Associate exam.

If you hold an unexpired Consul Associate certification: You can take the exam again starting 18 months after your previous exam date. When you pass the exam, the expiration date on your credentials will be extended. You may want to wait until Consul Associate 003 is released.

If you hold an expired Consul Associate certification: You are eligible to recertify at any time. When you pass a Consul Associate exam again, you will receive a new, separate set of credentials with a new expiration date.