This CKA practice question tests your understanding of services & networking. 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 wants to expose a web application running as a Deployment with 3 replicas to external users. They need a stable IP address that does not change and the ability to terminate TLS. Which resource should they use?
LoadBalancer Service
Why wrong: LoadBalancer provides a stable IP but TLS termination requires additional configuration (e.g., an Ingress or a cloud LB).
ClusterIP Service
Why wrong: ClusterIP is only accessible within the cluster.
Ingress resource with a TLS certificate
Ingress provides a stable IP and can terminate TLS.
NodePort Service
Why wrong: NodePort does not provide a stable IP; uses node IPs that may change.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Ingress resource with a TLS certificate
An Ingress resource with a TLS certificate is the correct choice because it provides a stable IP address (via the underlying LoadBalancer or NodePort Service) and terminates TLS at the ingress controller, allowing the web application to serve HTTPS traffic without modifying the Deployment. This meets the requirements of exposing the application externally with a fixed IP and TLS termination.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
LoadBalancer Service
Why it's wrong here
LoadBalancer provides a stable IP but TLS termination requires additional configuration (e.g., an Ingress or a cloud LB).
ClusterIP Service
Why it's wrong here
ClusterIP is only accessible within the cluster.
Ingress resource with a TLS certificate
Why this is correct
Ingress provides a stable IP and can terminate TLS.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
NodePort Service
Why it's wrong here
NodePort does not provide a stable IP; uses node IPs that may change.
Common exam traps
CNCF often tests the misconception that a LoadBalancer Service alone can terminate TLS, but in Kubernetes, TLS termination is not a built-in feature of Services; it requires an Ingress or a custom proxy, making the Ingress resource the correct choice for this requirement.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, an Ingress resource relies on an Ingress controller (e.g., NGINX, Traefik) that runs as a pod in the cluster, which typically uses a LoadBalancer Service or NodePort Service to receive external traffic. The TLS certificate is stored as a Kubernetes Secret and is decrypted by the Ingress controller before forwarding traffic to the backend Service, enabling end-to-end encryption without exposing the backend pods directly. In real-world scenarios, this allows centralized TLS management and routing rules, such as path-based or host-based routing, while maintaining a stable IP through the underlying load balancer.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Services & Networking — This question tests Services & Networking — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Ingress resource with a TLS certificate — An Ingress resource with a TLS certificate is the correct choice because it provides a stable IP address (via the underlying LoadBalancer or NodePort Service) and terminates TLS at the ingress controller, allowing the web application to serve HTTPS traffic without modifying the Deployment. This meets the requirements of exposing the application externally with a fixed IP and TLS termination.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This CKA practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CKA exam.
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