CKAD Practice Test 2 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A developer reports that a container in a pod is not responding correctly. You need to get an interactive shell in the container to investigate. Which command should you run?

Accepted Answer

kubectl exec -it -- /bin/bash. `kubectl exec -it -- /bin/bash` attaches an interactive terminal to a running container within an existing pod, allowing direct shell access for debugging. The `-it` flags enable interactive mode with a TTY, and `/bin/bash` starts a shell if available in the container image. This is the standard method for troubleshooting a container that is already deployed and running.

Answer

kubectl run -it --rm debug --image=busybox

Answer

kubectl exec <pod> -- /bin/bash

Answer

kubectl debug -it --image=busybox --target=

Question 2

Which field in the container spec controls the time Kubernetes waits after sending SIGTERM before sending SIGKILL during pod shutdown?

Accepted Answer

terminationGracePeriodSeconds. `terminationGracePeriodSeconds` is the field in the Pod spec that defines the duration Kubernetes waits after sending SIGTERM to the main process in each container before forcefully sending SIGKILL. This grace period allows the application to perform clean shutdown tasks, such as closing connections or flushing data. The default value is 30 seconds if not specified.

Answer

timeoutSeconds

Answer

periodSeconds

Answer

activeDeadlineSeconds

Question 3

You want to see all events in the default namespace sorted by timestamp. Which command should you use?

Accepted Answer

kubectl get events. `kubectl get events` retrieves all events in the current namespace (default) and displays them in a table sorted by the `LAST SEEN` timestamp by default. Events are Kubernetes API objects that record actions and state changes (e.g., pod scheduling, container restarts), making this command the standard way to observe cluster activity in a namespace.

Answer

kubectl logs --all-containers

Answer

kubectl top events

Answer

kubectl describe pods

Question 4

You have a pod that takes 2 minutes to start its application. You want to avoid the liveness probe from killing the pod during startup, but still have it active afterward. Which probe should you add to the pod spec?

Accepted Answer

Add a startup probe with a failureThreshold high enough to cover the startup time. A startup probe is designed specifically for slow-starting containers. It runs before the liveness probe and, if it fails, the container is killed. By setting a high failureThreshold (e.g., 12 with a 10-second period gives 120 seconds), you allow the application up to 2 minutes to start without the liveness probe interfering. Once the startup probe succeeds, the liveness probe takes over normally.

Answer

Increase the timeoutSeconds on the liveness probe

Answer

Set periodSeconds on the liveness probe to 120

Answer

Set initialDelaySeconds on the liveness probe to 120

Question 5

Which command exposes a deployment named 'web' as a ClusterIP service on port 80?

Accepted Answer

kubectl expose deployment web --port=80. `kubectl expose deployment web --port=80` creates a ClusterIP service by default, which exposes the deployment on port 80 within the cluster. The `expose` command automatically selects the deployment's pod labels and creates a service that maps port 80 to the target port (defaulting to the same port).

Answer

kubectl create service clusterip web --port=80

Answer

kubectl run web --expose --port=80

Answer

kubectl expose deployment web --port=80 --type=NodePort

Question 6

Which of the following is true about Istio as a service mesh?

Accepted Answer

It injects a sidecar proxy into each pod. Istio is a service mesh that deploys an Envoy sidecar proxy alongside each application pod. This sidecar intercepts all inbound and outbound traffic, enabling advanced traffic management, observability, and security features without modifying application code. The sidecar injection is typically done automatically via a mutating webhook admission controller.

Answer

It replaces kube-proxy for service routing

Answer

It only works with HTTP traffic

Answer

It requires all services to be of type LoadBalancer

Question 7

A user runs 'kubectl get endpoints my-service' and sees no endpoints listed. The service has a selector 'app: my-app'. Pods with that label exist and are running. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The pods are not ready (readiness probe failing). In Kubernetes, a Service creates Endpoints only for pods that match its selector and are ready. Because the pods are labeled app: my-app and match the selector, the missing endpoints indicate the pods are not passing their readiness probes.

Answer

The service selector does not match the pod labels

Answer

The pods are not assigned an IP address

Answer

The service name is incorrect

Question 8

You need to forward a local port to port 8080 on a pod named 'my-pod' in the 'default' namespace. Which kubectl command should you use?

Accepted Answer

kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:8080. The `kubectl port-forward` command requires the resource type (pod/) and the correct port mapping syntax. The question specifies forwarding a local port to port 8080 on the pod, so the local port is 8080 and the pod port is 8080, making `8080:8080` the correct mapping. The full command `kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:8080` establishes a tunnel from localhost:8080 to the pod's port 8080.

Answer

kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:80

Answer

kubectl forward pod/my-pod 8080:8080

Answer

kubectl port-forward my-pod 8080

Question 9

You need to perform a canary deployment where 10% of traffic goes to the new version. You have a Deployment 'app-v1' with 9 replicas and 'app-v2' with 1 replica. What must be true for the Service to distribute traffic roughly 90/10?

Accepted Answer

The Service selector must include a label that both Deployments share, e.g., 'app: myapp'. A Kubernetes Service distributes traffic across all Pods matching its label selector. For a canary deployment with 90/10 traffic split, both Deployments must share a common label (e.g., 'app: myapp') so the Service selects all 10 Pods (9 from v1, 1 from v2), achieving roughly 90% traffic to v1 and 10% to v2 based on replica count. The Service uses round-robin or random load balancing by default, so the ratio of replicas directly determines traffic distribution.

Answer

The Service must have 'sessionAffinity: ClientIP' to ensure sticky sessions

Answer

The Service must not have any selectors, and endpoints must be manually managed

Answer

The Service selector must include only 'version: v2'

Question 10

Which of the following commands creates a deployment named 'webapp' that runs the image 'nginx:1.25' with 3 replicas?

Accepted Answer

kubectl create deployment webapp --image=nginx:1.25 --replicas=3. The correct command to create a Deployment named 'webapp' with the nginx:1.25 image and 3 replicas is 'kubectl create deployment webapp --image=nginx:1.25 --replicas=3'. Option B uses 'kubectl run', which creates a Pod, not a Deployment, and does not support the --replicas flag in modern Kubernetes. Option C is missing the --replicas flag, so it creates a Deployment with only the default of 1 replica. Option D uses 'kubectl expose', which creates a Service, not a Deployment.

Answer

kubectl run webapp --image=nginx:1.25 --replicas=3

Answer

kubectl create deployment webapp --image=nginx:1.25

Answer

kubectl expose deployment webapp --port=80