- A
Change the service type from ClusterIP to NodePort and configure an external load balancer.
Why wrong: NodePort does not improve resilience; the underlying pod distribution remains unchanged.
- B
Increase the number of replicas to 10 and use a node selector to schedule all pods on the largest instance type.
Why wrong: More replicas on one node still fail if that node fails.
- C
Configure a PodDisruptionBudget with a maxUnavailable of 1, and add pod anti-affinity rules to spread pods across different nodes.
These steps ensure that a single node failure does not take down all replicas, and voluntary disruptions are limited.
- D
Enable HorizontalPodAutoscaler with a target CPU utilization of 50% to automatically scale the Deployment.
Why wrong: Autoscaling does not prevent downtime during a node failure; it only adds capacity based on metrics.
Quick Answer
The correct answer is to configure a PodDisruptionBudget with maxUnavailable=1 and add pod anti-affinity rules to spread pods across different nodes. This combination directly addresses the need for high availability during node failures: the PodDisruptionBudget ensures that no more than one pod can be voluntarily disrupted at a time, while anti-affinity rules force the Kubernetes scheduler to distribute replicas across distinct nodes, preventing a single node failure from taking down all three replicas. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to layer voluntary disruption controls with topology-aware scheduling to achieve resilience without modifying infrastructure. A common trap is relying solely on a Deployment’s replica count or a ClusterIP service, which do not protect against node-level failures. Memory tip: think “PDB + anti-affinity = no single point of failure” — the PDB limits how many pods can be down at once, and anti-affinity ensures they aren’t all on the same node.
DOP-C02 Resilient Cloud Solutions Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of resilient cloud solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company runs a containerized microservices application on Amazon EKS. The application includes a critical service that processes real-time financial transactions. This service must be highly available and resilient to node failures. The current setup uses a Deployment with 3 replicas and a ClusterIP service. During a recent node failure, the application experienced a brief period of unavailability. Which action should the DevOps engineer take to improve resilience without changing the underlying infrastructure?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Configure a PodDisruptionBudget with a maxUnavailable of 1, and add pod anti-affinity rules to spread pods across different nodes.
Option C is correct because a PodDisruptionBudget with maxUnavailable=1 ensures that at most one pod is unavailable during voluntary disruptions, while pod anti-affinity rules force the scheduler to distribute pods across different nodes. This combination prevents a single node failure from taking down all replicas, maintaining service availability without altering the underlying infrastructure.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Change the service type from ClusterIP to NodePort and configure an external load balancer.
Why it's wrong here
NodePort does not improve resilience; the underlying pod distribution remains unchanged.
- ✗
Increase the number of replicas to 10 and use a node selector to schedule all pods on the largest instance type.
Why it's wrong here
More replicas on one node still fail if that node fails.
- ✓
Configure a PodDisruptionBudget with a maxUnavailable of 1, and add pod anti-affinity rules to spread pods across different nodes.
Why this is correct
These steps ensure that a single node failure does not take down all replicas, and voluntary disruptions are limited.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Enable HorizontalPodAutoscaler with a target CPU utilization of 50% to automatically scale the Deployment.
Why it's wrong here
Autoscaling does not prevent downtime during a node failure; it only adds capacity based on metrics.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse scaling (HPA or more replicas) with resilience, failing to realize that without proper pod distribution and disruption budgets, scaling alone cannot prevent downtime from node failures.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) uses the Kubernetes API to enforce a minimum availability constraint during voluntary disruptions like node drains, while pod anti-affinity rules leverage the 'podAntiAffinity' field in the pod spec to enforce topology-based scheduling. Under the hood, the scheduler uses the 'requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution' policy to ensure pods are placed on different nodes, and the PDB controller interacts with the eviction API to block evictions that would violate the budget. In a real-world scenario, this setup is critical for stateful workloads like financial transaction processors where even a few seconds of downtime can cause data inconsistency or financial loss.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DOP-C02 question test?
Resilient Cloud Solutions — This question tests Resilient Cloud Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure a PodDisruptionBudget with a maxUnavailable of 1, and add pod anti-affinity rules to spread pods across different nodes. — Option C is correct because a PodDisruptionBudget with maxUnavailable=1 ensures that at most one pod is unavailable during voluntary disruptions, while pod anti-affinity rules force the scheduler to distribute pods across different nodes. This combination prevents a single node failure from taking down all replicas, maintaining service availability without altering the underlying infrastructure.
What should I do if I get this DOP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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