Architecture and Components
Domain 1 checks whether you can explain how Cloud Pak for Data v4.x is assembled on Red Hat OpenShift and which component owns each responsibility. The exam favors component-to-function mapping over installer keystrokes.
Layered model
Cloud Pak for Data is not the cluster. OpenShift provides compute, networking, storage, and the operator framework. IBM Cloud Pak foundational services supply shared IAM, certificate management, and licensing. The Cloud Pak for Data platform operator installs the control plane into an operator namespace; the control plane includes Zen (web UI and API gateway), the identity broker, the scheduling service, and the licensing service. Analytics and data services are separate operators installed into projects.
Component responsibilities
- Zen: browser UI, REST endpoint, route entry point.
- IAM: authentication, tokens, role bindings.
- Scheduling service: workload placement and resource quotas.
- Licensing: usage reporting.
- Projects: isolation boundary for service instances, assets, and collaborators.
Worked example
A user reaches the Zen URL but receives a 401 after login. Reason from the layers: the route and Zen are reachable, so networking is not the first suspect. Zen delegates authentication to IAM; check the identity provider configuration, the user’s IdP group mapping, and token issuance. Only after authentication succeeds should you inspect project roles.
Traps
Do not install services into the control plane namespace. Do not assume Cloud Pak for Data includes OpenShift licensing. Do not equate a project with a catalog; projects hold assets and service instances, while catalogs govern and share them.