CKA Resolve DiskPressure on node Practice Question
A Node is reporting DiskPressure condition. Which action is most appropriate to resolve this without losing data?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse DiskPressure with node unavailability and choose `kubectl drain` (Option C) to evacuate pods, not realizing that draining does not resolve the disk space issue and can cause data loss for stateful workloads.
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
✓
Add additional disk space to the node or clean up unused images and logs
DiskPressure indicates that the node's disk usage has exceeded the eviction threshold (default 85% for imagefs.available and nodefs.available). Adding disk space or cleaning up unused container images (via `crictl rmi` or `docker image prune`) and logs (via log rotation or `journalctl --vacuum`) directly frees up space without affecting running workloads or causing data loss, addressing the root cause.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
kubectl delete node <node-name>
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the Node object with kubectl only removes it from the cluster's control plane registry; the physical machine remains untouched and kubelet will recreate the Node resource on its next sync. This action doesn't free any blocks on the underlying filesystem, so the kubelet's eviction manager will still observe the same high disk usage and re-enter DiskPressure. It also risks separating workloads from the node without safely draining them.
- ✓
Add additional disk space to the node or clean up unused images and logs
Why this is correct
The kubelet continuously monitors filesystem usage against eviction thresholds, and DiskPressure is cleared only when usage falls below the configured soft-eviction threshold. Adding physical storage increases available capacity, while cleaning up unused container images, stopped container writable layers, and journal/application logs directly reclaims space. After space is freed, kubelet automatically updates the condition and scheduling on the node resumes.
- ✗
kubectl drain <node-name> --ignore-daemonsets
Why it's wrong here
kubectl drain --ignore-daemonsets gracefully evicts pods and marks the node unschedulable, but it doesn't remove container images, logs, or other local storage. Eviction can actually write additional data to disk, such as checkpointed logs or temporary files, during the pod termination process. The filesystem usage that triggered DiskPressure remains largely unchanged, so the node will stay in DiskPressure after the drain completes.
- ✗
Restart the kubelet service
Why it's wrong here
Restarting the kubelet service forces a fresh evaluation of the node's conditions, but it does not alter the actual disk-usage statistics collected from the container runtime and OS. If the underlying filesystem is still above the eviction hard/soft thresholds, kubelet will quickly set DiskPressure again. A restart may also unmount volumes briefly and disrupt running pods, while failing to address the root cause.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CKA exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Add additional disk space to the node or clean up unused images and logsCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
The kubelet continuously monitors filesystem usage against eviction thresholds, and DiskPressure is cleared only when usage falls below the configured soft-eviction threshold. Adding physical storage increases available capacity, while cleaning up unused container images, stopped container writable layers, and journal/application logs directly reclaims space. After space is freed, kubelet automatically updates the condition and scheduling on the node resumes.
✗kubectl delete node <node-name>Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Deleting the node removes it from cluster; does not fix disk pressure.
✗kubectl drain <node-name> --ignore-daemonsetsWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Drain evicts pods but does not free disk space; disk pressure persists.
✗Restart the kubelet serviceWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Restarting kubelet does not free disk space; pressure will remain.
Analysis generated from the official CKAblueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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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.