Welcome and thank you for your interest in learning more about Cloud Native!

At TU Wien, LVA-194.131 offers students to work with cloud native components on a cloud native platform to create a mock-startup project.

This lab is to inform you about what to expect in the live exams of the LVA.

A lab just like this will appear whenever it's time for an exam.

Last Updated: 2024-2-12

Why do I have to suffer through an admission test?

Two reasons:

  1. It is held in the exact same format as the actual graded exams, so you will already know what to expect and hopefully be less nervous
  2. This LVA can be rather demanding in how many different parts of the technology stack are involved and the admission test ensures that you are comfortable with the basics that you minimally need to succeed.

FAQ

  1. Is this admission test graded : no
  2. Are any records of the admission test kept: no
  3. Can I give feedback about the admission test: yes
  4. Can I complain about the selection process: yes, if you feel that something went wrong, please point it out constructively
  5. How long do I have to complete the test: you can use the full 3 days during the windows when the live environments are open
  6. What if I get stuck: there is a slack channel dedicated to this admission test, any general questions or things that look like a bug can be reported there, you can also DM-chat with your instructor in case you really think, something is broken just for you.
  7. Is the admission test proctored? Not directly, but all input and traffic on the live environments is live monitored

What is allowed to bring

All exams are fully open book, you can bring whatever you want as long as you dont bother your colleagues or instructors. You can use the internet, copilot etc, but you should complete the admission test in such a way that you can honestly say "you did it your way and with your own skills".

All exams are on live environments. You are prohibited from actively harming these environments and from interfering with your colleagues' environments. You are also agreeing to the Terms & Conditions for any CTF that will be listed on the entry page of the live environment.

How should I prepare for the admission test

You should self-assess if your skills in the following could use a brushup:

Not really necessary, but highly helpful for the entire class

If you want to take any of the Linux Foundation Courses, CKD is great to take before this LVA, CKA has overlaps but is more operational than this class, CKS is more advanced and should be taken after this class.

What is different between the admission test and the actual exams?

All exams are onsite

(please don't bring excessively smelly food or stuff that can spill)

The exams are fully silent and any form of exchanging information with another human whether in form of talking, chatting, phone, sms, email or similar is strictly prohibited.

If you are sick (with an excuse), your instructor will make a reasonable effort to give you a fair alternative. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis

What you'll need

Desired Learning Outcome

What you'll learn

Homework (Flipped Classroom)

Prepare

PreRead

Register and Login

Your instructor will give you the URL that the ctf tool is used on. Then you need to register yourself using your tuwien email address.

The registration code will be supplied to you in a group email from TISS. If you are lost or cant find it, check on the dedicated slack channel (sign up here https://join.slack.com/t/aocc-public/shared_invite/zt-2cfkph952-fDHa1g~fPU90o46bvaOMmA )

How Challenges work

Challenges have points and some will only be revealed to you once you have completed a previous challenge.

If more than one challenge is visible you can solve them in any order.

The text of the challenge often contains a lot more than is obvious on first read, so make sure you very clearly read the instructions and the entire text of the challenge.

Sometimes, you will be supplied with a file or key during a challenge. You should download them and check what is inside.

Once you found the Flag, you enter it (case sensitive) in the box and if it goes green, it was correct.

How Hints work

Sometimes, we get stuck on a rabbit hole, or time is running out. Your instructor has put some of the steps that she took in her own solutions into the hints. They are not guaranteed to solve all your problems, but to get you a fresh idea or get you unstuck.

The "cost" of the hint will be subtracted from your score/grade.

The cost of the Hint will be in the Challenge description and you cannot unbuy it.

This is why sharing the hints over slack is not allowed.

Ask emergency question

Having lots of people on live systems, can lead to strange things or things that seem strange.

Please report anything that looks broken on the slack channel.

Do not reveal hints/solutions on the slack channel.

Alternative grading (manual): Submit writeup instead of using your points

Let's say that for whatever reason, you can't get the flags/points in the CTF system. There is the alternative option to submit a report to your instructor via email.

She will make every attempt to be fair and evaluate your skills based on how you showcase your understanding of the challenge in your writeup.

If you submit a writeup via email, you are waiving your CTF points for that challenge. This is irreversible.

However: please keep in mind that she is only one person and this is a large class, so please only use this option if really required.

Email: constanze.roedig@tuwien.ac.at

Format: Markdown: Please make it easy to understand and paste exact commands used. Explain your logic. Do not just copy-paste dump an AI generated thingy into an email, please.

Oral checks

Your instructor reserves the right to question students during or immediately after the exam individually or in groups to ascertain that true understanding and honest engineering was used to solve the challenges.

Nothing to see here

Your instructions

Congratulations, you've successfully completed the sample challenge!

What's next?

Further reading

Reference docs