Exams Vouchers: Mirantis Certified OpenStack Administrator (MIR-COA)

Certify on OpenStack Administration

The Certified OpenStack Administrator exam is the only professional certification offered by the Open Infrastructure Foundation.

Open Infrastructure Foundation Certified OpenStack Administrators have the skills required to provide day-to-day operation and management of an OpenStack cloud.

Preparation for this exam can be done by attending the course OS250: OpenStack Administration Bootcamp

The certification is valid for 36 months after the passing date.

Updated Sept 2026

- The COA exam is currently offered in English.

- There are no retakes for this exam.

- Delivery Method: Online Delivery

- Duration: 3 Hours

- Exams scores are typically completed and delivered within 7-10 business days.

Target Audience :

OpenStack professionals with at least six months of experience managing an OpenStack cloud environment.

The OpenStack Foundation offers a performance based certification program that allows users to demonstrate their competence in a hands-on, command-line environment. The purpose of the OpenStack Foundation Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA) Certification is to provide assurance that Certificate holders have the skills, knowledge and competency to perform the responsibilities of OpenStack system administrators.

Earning the Certified OpenStack Administrator Certification (COA) gives you:

• Recognition in the industry
• Increased customer confidence
• Proof of knowledge and skills
• Certification verification for employers and customers
• New career opportunities
  

Identity management - 15%

• Manage and create domains, projects, users, and roles
• Understand the differences between the member and admin roles
• Create roles for the environment
• Create and manage policy files and user access rules
• Create and manage RC files to authenticate with Keystone for command line use

Compute - 35%

• Create and manage flavors
• Create and manage compute instances (for example, launch, shutdown, terminate)
• Generate and manage SSH keys for use when connecting to instances
• Access an instance using an SSH key
• Configure an instance with a floating IP address;use it to connect to the instance
• Create instances with security groups
• Manage Nova host consoles (VNC, NOVNC, spice)
• Manage instance snapshots
• Manage instance quotas

Object Storage - 5%

• Use the command line client to upload and manage files to Swift containers
• Manage permissions on a container in object storage

Block Storage - 10%

• Create and manage volumes
• Attach volumes to instances
• Create a new Block Storage volume and mount it to a Nova instance
• Manage volume quotas
• Backup and restore volumes
• Manage volume snapshots (for example, create, list, recover)

Networking - 30%

• Manage network resources (routers, networks, subnets)
• Create external/public networks
• Create project networks
• Create project routers
• Attach routers to public and project networks
• Manage network services for a virtual environment
• Manage network quotas
• Manage network interfaces on compute instances
• Create and manage project security groups and rules
• Assign security group to instance
• Create and manage floating IP addresses
• Assign floating IP address to instance
• Detach floating IP address from instance

Image management - 5%

• Upload a new image to an OpenStack image repository
• Manage images (for example, add, update, remove)
• Understand the difference between public versus private images
• Manage image metadata/properties
• Manage image types and backends

• A basic understanding of Ubuntu Linux process management is assumed.
• OpenStack APIs: candidates must know how to use the available APIs to complete the COA tasks:
• Use the Dashboard UI (Horizon)
• Use the OpenStack CLI client

Technical prerequisites:

Exams are delivered online and closely monitored by proctors via webcam, audio, and remote screen viewing. Candidates must provide their own front-end hardware to take exams, including a computer with:

• Chrome or Chromium Browser
• Latest Zoom Desktop Client
• Reliable Internet Access
• Webcam
• Microphone

Hardware Compatibility Check: Candidates should run the port compatibility check tool provided below to verify that their hardware meets the minimum requirements. The tool is located at: https://shorturl.at/a1HQz

Exams are virtual and hosted through Zoom.

Candidate’s exam connection details will be shared with them by email 7 days before the start of their session. A secondary reminder with identical information will be sent 24 hours before the start of the scheduled exam session. This email will contain confirmation of exam details (exam type, date, time, etc) along with the necessary Zoom connection details required to join the session.