This CKA practice question tests your understanding of storage. 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 DevOps team is deploying a stateful application that requires persistent storage with ReadWriteMany access mode across multiple pods running on different nodes in a Kubernetes cluster. Which storage solution should they choose to meet this requirement?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure a PersistentVolume backed by NFS and a PersistentVolumeClaim with accessModes: ReadWriteMany
NFS supports ReadWriteMany (RWX) access mode, allowing multiple pods across different nodes to read and write to the same persistent storage simultaneously. A PersistentVolume backed by NFS, combined with a PersistentVolumeClaim specifying accessModes: ReadWriteMany, meets the requirement for a stateful application needing shared storage across nodes.
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.
✗
Use an emptyDir volume and share it among pods via a service
Why it's wrong here
emptyDir is per-pod and ephemeral.
✗
Create a local PersistentVolume on each node and use nodeSelector to pin pods
Why it's wrong here
local volumes are RWO and not shared.
✗
Use a hostPath volume mounted in each pod with the same path on each node
Why it's wrong here
hostPath is RWO and node-specific.
✓
Configure a PersistentVolume backed by NFS and a PersistentVolumeClaim with accessModes: ReadWriteMany
Why this is correct
NFS supports RWX across nodes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse hostPath or local volumes as viable for multi-node sharing, not realizing that only network-based storage solutions like NFS, GlusterFS, or cloud-native RWX volumes (e.g., Azure Files, EFS) can provide ReadWriteMany access across nodes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NFS (Network File System) operates over the network using protocols like NFSv3 or NFSv4, allowing multiple clients to mount the same export concurrently with file-level locking. In Kubernetes, the NFS PersistentVolume must specify the server and path, and the PersistentVolumeClaim binds to it with accessModes: ReadWriteMany; however, the underlying NFS server must be configured to support concurrent writes and handle cache coherency, as Kubernetes does not enforce POSIX compliance. A real-world scenario is a shared filesystem for a CMS or analytics pipeline where multiple replicas need to write to the same storage.
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
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CKA question in full detail.
Storage — This question tests Storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure a PersistentVolume backed by NFS and a PersistentVolumeClaim with accessModes: ReadWriteMany — NFS supports ReadWriteMany (RWX) access mode, allowing multiple pods across different nodes to read and write to the same persistent storage simultaneously. A PersistentVolume backed by NFS, combined with a PersistentVolumeClaim specifying accessModes: ReadWriteMany, meets the requirement for a stateful application needing shared storage across nodes.
What should I do if I get this CKA 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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Question Discussion
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