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Datadog Fundamentals Cheat Sheet

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Computer Fundamentals

  • 20-25% of exam
  • Shell OS Networking Metadata Hardware Config Files

Infrastructure Development

  • 15-20% of exam
  • Agent Install API Keys App Keys Hostname Running Agent

Networking + Agent Config

  • 10-15% of exam
  • Ports Firewall Autodiscovery IP Allowlisting

Data Collection

  • 20-25% of exam
  • Metrics Tags Logs Integrations DogStatsD Crawlers

Troubleshooting Datadog

  • 10-15% of exam
  • Agent Commands Config Files Agent Logs YAML Errors

Data Visualization + Use

  • 15-20% of exam
  • Host Map Dashboards Monitors Alerts Using Tags

Quick Facts

  • Exam Datadog Fundamentals
  • Questions 90 (75 scored, 15 pretest)
  • Time 2 hours
  • Fee $100 USD
  • Validity 3 years
  • Retakes 3 per 180 days
  • Wait 24-48h between attempts
  • Delivery Kryterion Webassessor
  • Pass score Not disclosed by Datadog
  • Weights Not published by Datadog

Shell + OS CO

  • sudo Run as root Linux
  • systemctl Manage service
  • journalctl Read service logs
  • > Overwrite file
  • >> Append to file
  • YAML Indent-sensitive config
  • JSON API payload format
  • Daemon Background service

Hardware + Metadata CO

  • CPU Processor load
  • RAM Active memory
  • Disk Persistent storage
  • Swap Disk overflow memory
  • Metadata Key-value context
  • Port Logical endpoint
  • TCP Reliable ordered
  • UDP Fire-and-forget

Key Roles IN

  • API submits, App manages
  • API key: ingestion App key: management Service account: shared

API Key vs App Key IN

API key

  • Data ingestion
  • Submit metrics
  • Org-wide

App key

  • Management API
  • Create dashboards
  • User-scoped
  • Submit vs manage

Agent + API Keys IN

  • Agent Background daemon Core
  • API key Data ingestion auth
  • App key Management API auth
  • Service account key Shared automation
  • DD_API_KEY Env var secret
  • DD_SITE Datadog region
  • datadog.yaml Main Agent config
  • conf.d Integration configs

Hostname vs Tags IN

Hostname

  • Host identity
  • Override risk
  • Duplicates if reused

Tags

  • Group + filter
  • env, service
  • Multi-value allowed
  • Identity vs grouping

Agent Behavior IN

  • Restart Apply config changes
  • Hostname override Fixed reported name
  • Duplicate host Reused hostname risk
  • User deactivation Keys deactivated too
  • Browser API key Exposes org secret
  • DD_ prefix Container env config

Datadog Ports NE

  • 8125 UDP metrics, 8126 TCP traces
  • 8125 UDP: DogStatsD 8126 TCP: APM 443: HTTPS outbound

TCP vs UDP NE

TCP

  • Reliable ordered
  • 8126 APM
  • 443 HTTPS

UDP

  • Fire-and-forget
  • 8125 DogStatsD
  • No retransmit
  • Reliable vs fast

Ports + Firewall NE

  • 8125 UDP DogStatsD metrics Port
  • 8126 TCP APM traces Port
  • 443 TCP Outbound HTTPS Port
  • Allowlist domains Not static IPs
  • *.datadoghq.com US1 site domain
  • Autodiscovery Label-based detection
  • Docker labels Container auto-conf
  • K8s annotations Pod auto-conf

Unified Tagging DA

  • env, service, version correlate all
  • env: deployment service: component version: release

Metrics vs Logs DA

Metrics

  • Numeric timeseries
  • Aggregatable
  • Low storage

Logs

  • Text events
  • Per-line
  • High storage
  • Numbers vs text

Metric Source Picker DA

  • Host metrics → Agent ( Default install )
  • App custom metric → DogStatsD ( UDP 8125 )
  • No Agent possible → API POST ( Serverless )
  • Cloud provider metrics → Crawler integration ( Polls API )
  • Log lines → Log collection ( Tail files )
  • App spans → APM trace lib ( TCP 8126 )

Metrics DA

  • Gauge Snapshot value
  • Count Accumulated rate
  • Rate Per-second count
  • Timer Duration metric
  • Set Unique value count
  • DogStatsD UDP custom metrics
  • Rollup Zoom-out binning
  • Space agg avg vs max

Gauge vs Count DA

Gauge

  • Snapshot value
  • Memory used
  • Point in time

Count

  • Accumulated value
  • Requests/sec
  • Resets periodically
  • Snapshot vs accumulated

Tags DA

  • key:value Tag format Standard
  • env Deployment environment
  • service App component
  • version Release version
  • Unified tagging env, service, version
  • High cardinality Avoid user_id tag
  • Group by tag Split per value
  • From filter Scope metric pool

Logs + Integrations DA

  • Log tailer Reads line by line
  • Newline Entry delimiter
  • Duplicate source Double-tail risk
  • conf.yaml.example Copy to conf.yaml
  • Missing Data Integration no data
  • Crawler Cloud API poller
  • Cloud latency Minutes not seconds
  • Direct API Serverless submission

Agent Command Order TR

  • status, configcheck, flare, restart
  • status: health configcheck: parse flare: support restart: apply

Troubleshoot Picker TR

  • Agent healthy? → status ( First command )
  • Config parsed? → configcheck ( YAML check )
  • Need support help → flare ( Diagnostic bundle )
  • Read Agent logs → journalctl ( systemd )
  • Apply config change → restart ( Reload not enough )
  • Integration no data → conf.yaml + creds ( Check creds )

Agent Commands TR

  • status Health + integrations First
  • configcheck Validate resolved config
  • flare Send support bundle
  • journalctl -u Read Agent logs
  • systemctl status terse service state
  • restart Apply new config
  • Inactive metric Hidden until new data

Monitor vs Notification VI

Monitor

  • Alert condition
  • Query + threshold
  • avg by group

Notification

  • Delivery message
  • Email, Slack
  • Per trigger
  • Condition vs delivery

Visualization Picker VI

  • Spot host outliers → Host Map ( Color grid )
  • Single metric quick → Metrics Explorer ( No save )
  • Saved graph set → Dashboard ( Shareable )
  • Alert on threshold → Monitor ( avg by tag )
  • Filter telemetry → Tags ( env, service )

Dashboards + Monitors VI

  • Host Map Grid colored by metric
  • Metrics Explorer Quick graph
  • Dashboard Saved graph set
  • Monitor Alert condition
  • avg by Group evaluation
  • Monitor tags Route + organize
  • Notification Alert delivery
  • SLO Reliability target

Common Traps

Submit vs manage

  • API key submits data ≠ App key manages resources

Snapshot vs accumulated

  • Gauge is point-in-time ≠ Count resets periodically

Tag vs metric name

  • env:prod tag filters ≠ Embedded name clutters namespace

Identity vs grouping

  • Hostname identifies host ≠ Tags group + filter

Condition vs delivery

  • Monitor defines threshold ≠ Notification delivers message

Reload vs restart

  • Edit does not apply ≠ Restart Agent for config

Static IP vs domain

  • IPs change silently ≠ Allowlist domains instead

Last Minute

  • 1. 90 Q = 75 scored + 15 pretest
  • 2. 2 hours, $100, 3-year validity
  • 3. 3 attempts / 180 days, 24-48h wait
  • 4. No published weights or pass score
  • 5. API key submits; App key manages
  • 6. env, service, version = unified tagging
  • 7. 8125 DogStatsD, 8126 APM, 443 HTTPS
  • 8. status, configcheck, flare, restart
  • 9. Restart Agent after datadog.yaml edits
  • 10. Allowlist domains, not static IPs
  • 11. Gauge = snapshot; Count = accumulated
  • 12. Hostname = identity; Tags = grouping

Datadog Fundamentals

  • Practice Questions 220 questions Study Guide 24 topics Cheat Sheet 77 facts Flashcards 50 cards Free CE Podcast