CKA Troubleshooting Practice Question
A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. Which TWO of the following are common causes?
⚠ Common exam trap
The CKA exam often tests the distinction between pre-scheduling failures (Pending) and post-scheduling failures (CrashLoopBackOff, ImagePullBackOff), so candidates mistakenly select image or probe issues that occur after the pod is running.
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
✓
A taint on the node that the pod does not tolerate
A pod enters 'Pending' state when it cannot be scheduled onto a node. Taints on a node with `NoSchedule` or `NoExecute` effects prevent pods that do not have matching tolerations from being scheduled there. This is a common cause because the scheduler skips tainted nodes unless the pod explicitly tolerates the taint, leaving the pod unscheduled and stuck in Pending.
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 service account does not exist
Why it's wrong here
Missing service account would cause the pod to fail to start (e.g., CreateContainerConfigError), but typically not Pending.
- ✓
A taint on the node that the pod does not tolerate
Why this is correct
Taints that are not tolerated prevent scheduling, causing Pending.
- ✗
The pod's liveness probe is failing
Why it's wrong here
Liveness probe failures occur after the pod is running, not during scheduling.
- ✓
Insufficient CPU or memory resources on any node
Why this is correct
If no node has enough resources, the pod remains Pending.
- ✗
The pod's container image does not exist
Why it's wrong here
This would cause ImagePullBackOff after scheduling, not keep the pod Pending.
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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.