About Your Instructor
I’m Bryan Krausen, a Principal Solutions Architect based in Central Kentucky. With over 20 years in IT and 4.5 years specializing in Vault, I work directly with HashiCorp partners to implement Vault at customer sites and develop certification content. I co-authored Running HashiCorp Vault in Production and have taught more than 12,000 students, maintaining a 4.62 rating across my courses.
Stay in Touch
Connect with me for updates, code samples, and ongoing Vault discussions:- Twitter: @bryankrausen
- GitHub: btkrausen
- Course Repository: github.com/btkrausen/HashiCorp
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, you will:- Grasp core Vault concepts, use cases, and architecture
- Deploy and manage a highly available Vault cluster with multi-datacenter replication
- Integrate Vault with on-premises and public cloud environments
- Secure Vault using policies (RBAC) and audit devices
- Perform Day 2 operations, monitoring, and backups
- Apply Vault in DevOps workflows and CI/CD pipelines
Training Format
-
Lectures & Slides
- High-level concepts, terminology, and architecture diagrams
- Downloadable PDF slide decks
-
Hands-On Labs
- Live demos using Vault CLI, UI, and API on AWS clusters
- Single-region fundamentals; multi-region replication scenarios
Course Content Structure
Each module includes:- Slides (PDF) – Lecture material for reference
- Resource Links – GitHub repos, HashiCorp Learn tutorials, and official docs
- Mind Maps – Visual outlines of workflows and data flows
- Lab Guides (PDF) – Step-by-step commands and configuration examples
- Quizzes – 5–10 questions to reinforce learning
- Practice Exam – Comprehensive test covering all key objectives
Course Updates & Feedback
- Content updated regularly (latest: 2024)
- Aligned with current Vault releases and exam changes
- Announcements posted on the learning platform
- Feedback welcome in the course discussion area
We monitor HashiCorp’s certification site for new requirements—any changes will be reflected here.
Exam Overview
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Format | Multiple choice, multi-select, and typed commands |
| Duration | 60 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Delivery | Remotely proctored |
| Results | Immediate pass/fail |
| Validity | 2 years (renewal details TBD) |
| Cost | $70.50 USD |
Exam Objectives
You will be assessed on Vault 1.4+ across these core topics:- Compare and configure authentication methods
- Create and manage policies (RBAC)
- Generate and inspect Vault tokens
- Manage leases and renewals
- Enable and configure secrets engines
- Operate with the Vault CLI
- Navigate the Vault UI
- Consume the Vault API
- Explain the Vault architecture
- Describe encryption as a service (Transit engine)
Additional Resources
- Official Exam Page: HashiCorp Vault Associate
- HashiCorp Learn Vault Collection: learn.hashicorp.com/collections/vault
- Vault Documentation: vaultproject.io/docs
- Vault API Reference: vaultproject.io/api
- Practice Exam: Nearly 200 questions (included in this course)
Explore community videos, blog posts, and open-source tools to deepen your understanding of Vault.
With the introduction complete, let’s begin with General Introduction and Use Cases.