This CKA practice question tests your understanding of troubleshooting. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 developer reports that a newly deployed Deployment named 'web-app' is not serving traffic. The Deployment has 3 replicas, a Service of type ClusterIP, and an Ingress. Which TWO commands should you run first to diagnose the issue?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
kubectl describe svc web-app
Shows endpoints and selector matching.
kubectl logs deployment/web-app
Why wrong: Logs are useful after confirming pods are running.
kubectl get pods -l app=web-app
Shows if pods are running and ready.
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
Why wrong: Events are less immediate than pod status.
kubectl describe ingress web-app
Why wrong: Ingress is not the first diagnostic step.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
kubectl describe svc web-app
Option A is correct because `kubectl describe svc web-app` shows the Service's ClusterIP, port mapping, and endpoint list. If the endpoints are empty, the Service has no healthy Pods to route traffic to, which is a common cause of traffic failure. This command directly checks whether the Service is correctly wired to the Pods.
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.
kubectl describe svc web-app
Why this is correct
Shows endpoints and selector matching.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
kubectl logs deployment/web-app
Why it's wrong here
Logs are useful after confirming pods are running.
kubectl get pods -l app=web-app
Why this is correct
Shows if pods are running and ready.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
Why it's wrong here
Events are less immediate than pod status.
kubectl describe ingress web-app
Why it's wrong here
Ingress is not the first diagnostic step.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often jump to Ingress or logs first, but the CKA exam tests the systematic troubleshooting approach: verify the Service's endpoints and Pod health before examining higher-level abstractions like Ingress or cluster events.
Detailed technical explanation
When a Service of type ClusterIP is created, the kube-controller-manager's endpoint controller automatically creates an Endpoints object that lists the IPs of Pods matching the Service's label selector. If `kubectl describe svc web-app` shows no endpoints, the selector may be mismatched or the Pods may not be Ready. Checking Pod status with `kubectl get pods -l app=web-app` (Option C) then reveals if Pods are in CrashLoopBackOff, ImagePullBackOff, or Pending state, which would prevent them from receiving traffic.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CKA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Troubleshooting — This question tests Troubleshooting — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: kubectl describe svc web-app — Option A is correct because `kubectl describe svc web-app` shows the Service's ClusterIP, port mapping, and endpoint list. If the endpoints are empty, the Service has no healthy Pods to route traffic to, which is a common cause of traffic failure. This command directly checks whether the Service is correctly wired to the Pods.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 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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