KCNA Practice Test 35 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You want to view the logs of a running pod named 'my-pod'. Which kubectl command should you use?

Accepted Answer

kubectl logs my-pod. The `kubectl logs my-pod` command is the correct way to retrieve the standard output and standard error logs from a running pod in Kubernetes. It directly fetches the container logs from the kubelet, which are stored on the node and rotated by the container runtime (e.g., containerd or CRI-O). This is the dedicated command for log inspection, as defined in the Kubernetes CLI documentation.

Answer

kubectl exec my-pod -- cat /var/log/container.log

Answer

kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml

Answer

kubectl describe pod my-pod

Question 2

Which API version is correct for a Deployment in modern Kubernetes (v1.29+)?

Accepted Answer

apiVersion: apps/v1. In modern Kubernetes (v1.29+), the `apps/v1` API version is the stable and recommended version for the Deployment resource. The `apps/v1` API has been the default since Kubernetes 1.9, and all older beta versions (e.g., `apps/v1beta2`, `extensions/v1beta1`) have been removed as of Kubernetes 1.16. Using `apps/v1` ensures compatibility with current cluster features and avoids deprecation warnings.

Answer

apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1

Answer

apiVersion: v1

Answer

apiVersion: apps/v1beta2

Question 3

You create a Service of type NodePort with nodePort: 30080. The cluster's nodes have IP addresses 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2. From outside the cluster, which address and port can you use to access the Service?

Accepted Answer

10.0.0.1:30080. A NodePort service exposes the same port (nodePort: 30080) on every node in the cluster. From outside the cluster, you can reach the service using the IP address of any node (e.g., 10.0.0.1) combined with the nodePort (30080). The kube-proxy on that node will forward traffic to the service's ClusterIP and then to the selected pods.

Answer

10.0.0.1:80

Answer

ClusterIP:80

Answer

10.0.0.2:8080

Question 4

Which Kubernetes resource provides stable network endpoints for a set of pods, enabling service discovery and load balancing?

Accepted Answer

Service. A Service is the correct Kubernetes resource because it provides a stable virtual IP (ClusterIP) and DNS name that persists independently of pod lifecycles, enabling reliable service discovery and client-side load balancing across a set of pods selected by labels. This abstraction decouples clients from ephemeral pod IPs, ensuring traffic is routed to healthy pods via kube-proxy and iptables/IPVS rules.

Answer

NetworkPolicy

Answer

Ingress

Answer

EndpointSlice

Question 5

Which resource type provides a stable IP address and DNS name to access a set of Pods, regardless of Pod IP changes?

Accepted Answer

Service. A Service in Kubernetes provides a stable virtual IP (ClusterIP) and a DNS name (via CoreDNS) that remains constant even as Pods are created, destroyed, or rescheduled. This decouples client access from the ephemeral nature of Pod IPs, ensuring reliable connectivity to the Pods selected by the Service's label selector.

Answer

Ingress

Answer

ConfigMap

Answer

Deployment

Question 6

An application requires external configuration that varies between environments (dev, staging, prod). Following the 12-factor app methodology, how should this configuration be provided?

Accepted Answer

Use environment variables. The 12-factor app methodology (Factor III: Config) explicitly states that configuration should be stored in environment variables, not in code or version-controlled files. This keeps config strictly separate from code so the same build artifact can be deployed unchanged across dev, staging, and prod by simply changing environment variables.

Answer

Store configuration in a config file that is version-controlled

Answer

Use a centralized database for configuration

Answer

Hard-code the configuration in the application code

Question 7

Which TWO of the following are essential components of a GitOps workflow? (Select two.)

Accepted Answer

An operator that synchronizes the cluster state with the Git repository. A GitOps workflow relies on an operator (such as Argo CD or Flux) that continuously reconciles the actual cluster state with the desired state declared in a Git repository. This operator automatically detects drift and applies changes to ensure the cluster matches the Git source, which is the core feedback loop of GitOps.

Answer

A separate database for storing desired state

Answer

A monitoring dashboard for visualizations

Answer

A CI/CD pipeline that manually applies changes

Question 8

You want to expose a set of pods running a web application on port 80 internally within the cluster, with a stable IP address, so that other services can reach them. Which Kubernetes resource should you create?

Accepted Answer

Service (ClusterIP). A Service of type ClusterIP provides a stable virtual IP address and DNS name that load-balances traffic to a set of pods. Since the requirement is internal cluster access with a stable IP, ClusterIP is the correct choice — it exposes the pods on a cluster-internal IP that other services can reach reliably, without needing external exposure.

Answer

Ingress

Answer

Deployment

Answer

Pod

Question 9

Which Kubernetes object provides stable network endpoints and load balancing for a set of pods?

Accepted Answer

Service. A Kubernetes Service provides a stable virtual IP (ClusterIP) and DNS name that remains constant even as Pods are created or destroyed. It uses label selectors to identify target Pods and performs TCP/UDP load balancing across them, ensuring reliable network access without requiring clients to track ephemeral Pod IPs.

Answer

Deployment

Answer

ConfigMap

Answer

Pod

Question 10

A development team wants to implement a GitOps workflow for their Kubernetes deployments. Which tool is specifically designed for GitOps on Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

ArgoCD. ArgoCD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes that continuously monitors Git repositories and synchronizes the desired state with the cluster. It is purpose-built for GitOps workflows, automatically detecting drift and applying changes. Helm, Jenkins, and Terraform are not specifically designed for GitOps on Kubernetes.

Answer

Helm

Answer

Jenkins

Answer

Terraform

Question 11

Which kubectl command would you use to view detailed information about a specific pod, including events and container status?

Accepted Answer

kubectl describe pod . `kubectl describe pod ` provides a comprehensive view of a pod's metadata, spec, status, conditions, container resource usage, and a chronological list of events (e.g., scheduling, pulling images, container restarts). This command aggregates information from the Kubernetes API server, including the pod's current state and lifecycle events, which is essential for debugging pod failures or unexpected behavior.

Answer

kubectl explain pod

Answer

kubectl get pod <pod-name>

Answer

kubectl logs pod <pod-name>

Question 12

A Service of type ClusterIP has been created, but pods in the same namespace cannot reach it by its DNS name. The Service selector matches the pods. What is a likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The kube-dns or CoreDNS pod is not running. The DNS name resolution for a ClusterIP Service relies on the cluster's DNS service (kube-dns or CoreDNS). If the DNS pod is not running, the Service's DNS record (e.g., ..svc.cluster.local) cannot be resolved, even if the Service itself is properly configured and the pods match the selector. Without DNS, pods must use the Service's ClusterIP directly, which is not the expected behavior for name-based access.

Answer

The Service YAML does not specify a port

Answer

The Service is not exposed on a node port

Answer

The pods are using an incorrect container runtime

Question 13

You need to run a one-time batch job that processes data and then exits. The job should run to completion and not be restarted. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?

Accepted Answer

Job. A Kubernetes Job is designed for one-time batch processing tasks that run to completion and are not restarted. It creates one or more Pods and ensures they successfully terminate, making it the correct choice for a non-repeating, finite workload.

Answer

DaemonSet

Answer

Deployment

Answer

StatefulSet

Question 14

In OpenTelemetry, which component is responsible for receiving, processing, and exporting telemetry data from multiple sources?

Accepted Answer

OpenTelemetry Collector. The OpenTelemetry Collector is a vendor-agnostic proxy that can receive, process, and export telemetry data from multiple sources. It supports various receivers (e.g., OTLP, Jaeger, Prometheus) to ingest data, processors to modify or filter it, and exporters to send it to backends. This central component decouples instrumentation from backends, enabling flexible pipelines.

Answer

OpenTelemetry SDK

Answer

OpenTelemetry Exporter

Answer

OpenTelemetry API

Question 15

Which Kubernetes control plane component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster by running controller loops?

Accepted Answer

kube-controller-manager. The kube-controller-manager is the control plane component that runs controller loops, which are continuous processes that watch the shared state of the cluster through the kube-apiserver and make changes to drive the current state toward the desired state. Each controller (e.g., ReplicaSet, Node, Deployment) is a separate loop that handles a specific aspect of cluster management, ensuring that the actual cluster state matches the desired configuration defined in the API objects.

Answer

etcd

Answer

kube-apiserver

Answer

kube-scheduler