CKA CronJob concurrencyPolicy Practice Question
A CronJob runs every hour. The job takes 45 minutes to complete. What is the default behavior if the next scheduled time occurs while the previous job is still running?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap in this question is that many candidates mistakenly believe the default concurrencyPolicy for a CronJob is 'Forbid' to prevent resource exhaustion. However, the default is actually 'Allow', meaning overlapping jobs will run concurrently unless explicitly configured otherwise.
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
✓
The next job starts immediately, running concurrently
By default, CronJobs in Kubernetes have a concurrencyPolicy of 'Allow'. This means that if a new job is scheduled while a previous job is still running, the new job starts immediately and runs concurrently with the previous one. Option C correctly describes this default behavior. If you want to prevent concurrent executions, you must explicitly set concurrencyPolicy to 'Forbid'.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The next job is queued and starts after the previous finishes
Why it's wrong here
By default Kubernetes sets concurrencyPolicy to Allow, so the next hourly job starts even while the previous 45-minute run continues, causing overlap. It is tempting because queuing sounds orderly, and it would be correct if concurrencyPolicy were set to Forbid or Replace.
- ✗
The next job is skipped
Why it's wrong here
Kubernetes defaults concurrencyPolicy to Allow, so the next job starts alongside the still-running one; skipping requires concurrencyPolicy: Forbid. The option is tempting because Forbid is the intuitive choice when overlapping runs would corrupt shared data, but the stem asks only about default behaviour, which permits overlap.
- ✓
The next job starts immediately, running concurrently
Why this is correct
CronJobs default to a concurrency policy of Allow, so a new job is created at each scheduled time regardless of whether the previous run has finished. With a 45-minute runtime and hourly schedule, the next job therefore starts and runs concurrently with the still-executing one.
- ✗
The CronJob is suspended
Why it's wrong here
Suspending a CronJob requires the spec.suspend field to be set true; the scheduler never suspends itself when a previous run overruns, it simply launches another job under the Allow default. Suspension is tempting as a manual maintenance action to pause schedules, not an automatic reaction to overlap.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Installing Kubernetes with kubeadm
Key term
Network Policies
A Kubernetes resource that controls how pods communicate with each other and with other network endpoints, acting as a firewall for pod-to-pod traffic.
Key term
Ingress Resources
Ingress Resources are Kubernetes API objects that manage external access to services inside a cluster, typically HTTP and HTTPS traffic, by defining rules for routing requests based on hostnames and paths.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CKA question from scratch — 726 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.