===== Datadog Fundamentals Study Guide =====

Based on the Jan 2025 [[DD Fundamentals Certification Exam Guide]].
==== Section 1: Foundational Knowledge ====

  * **Hardware & OS**
    * Know what CPU, RAM, and storage do
    * Understand how to use Linux CLI (e.g., 'cat', 'uname', 'lsb_release', 'df')
  * **File Formats & Scripting**
    * Recognize & read: 'YAML', 'JSON', 'Python', and shell scripts ('.sh')
  * **Networking Basics**
    * Understand 'IP addresses', 'subnets', and protocols: 'HTTP', 'TCP', 'UDP'

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==== Section 2: Datadog Agent & Integrations ====

  * **Agent Installation**
    * Install and verify Agent on Linux, Docker, and cloud environments
  * **Agent Configuration**
    * Edit 'datadog.yaml'
    * Understand Agent hostname ('hostname', 'hostname_fqdn')
    * Know how to run Agent: 'datadog-agent status', 'check', 'configcheck', 'health'
  * **Agent Discovery**
    * Understand Autodiscovery using labels/annotations
    * Learn how the Agent discovers services in Docker and Kubernetes
  * **Integrations**
    * Install common integrations (e.g., MySQL, Apache, NGINX)
    * Configuration files: usually in <code>etc/datadog-agent/conf.d/<integration_name>.d/</code>

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==== Section 3: Networking & Access ====

  * **Datadog Connectivity**
    * Know which ports the Agent uses (e.g., '8125/UDP' for DogStatsD)
    * Familiarity with IP address requirements (outbound)
  * **Keys**
    * Differentiate: API Key (required for Agent), Application Key (used for API access)

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==== Section 4: Data Collection & Tagging ====

  * **DogStatsD**
    * Send custom metrics using DogStatsD
    * Syntax: 'statsd.increment("my.metric", tags=["env:prod"])'
  * **Metrics & Timeseries**
    * Understand metric types: 'gauge', 'counter', 'rate'
    * Metric resolution and time rollups
  * **Tags & Metadata**
    * Apply and search using tags ('env:prod', 'service:api')
    * Tagging best practices: use consistent keys, avoid cardinality explosion


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==== Section 5: Troubleshooting Tools ====

  * **Agent Commands**
    * 'status', 'check', 'configcheck', 'health', 'flare'
  * **Agent Logs**
    * Found at '/var/log/datadog/'
  * **Check Config**
    * Use 'configcheck' to verify YAML formatting issues
    * Use 'check' to manually run a specific integration check


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==== Section 6: Visualization & Monitoring ====

  * **Dashboards**
    * Create timeboards and screenboards
    * Add widgets: query values, timeseries, toplists
  * **Monitors**
    * Types: metric, log, service check, process, composite
    * Set alert thresholds and notifications (email, Slack, webhooks)
  * **Host Map**
    * Visualize hosts by tags, monitor status, or custom metadata


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==== Section 7: Practice Exam & Readiness ====

  * Expect **75 scored multiple choice questions** + **15 unscored trial items**
  * Max duration: **2 hours**


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===== Suggested Study Order (Non-video) =====

^Topic Area             ^Resources                                                                         ^
|**Agent Basics**       |[[https://docs.datadoghq.com/agent/|Datadog Agent Docs]]                          |
|**Install & Configure**|Try installing Agent locally or in Docker                                         |
|**Metrics & Tags**     |[[https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/|Metrics Docs]]                              |
|**API Keys**           |[[https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/api-app-keys/|API & App Key Docs]]|
|**DogStatsD**          |[[https://docs.datadoghq.com/developers/dogstatsd/|DogStatsD Docs]]               |
|**Monitors**           |[[https://docs.datadoghq.com/monitors/|Monitor Docs]]                             |
|**Dashboards**         |[[https://docs.datadoghq.com/dashboards/|Dashboards Docs]]                        |

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===== Tips for Success =====

  * Review output of 'datadog-agent status' and sample 'datadog.yaml'
  * Get comfortable identifying metric types and troubleshooting YAML
  * Practice building a dashboard or monitor in a free Datadog account