CKA Troubleshooting Practice Question
To view the logs of a specific container in a multi-container pod named 'web-pod', which command is correct?
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
✓
kubectl logs web-pod --container app-container
The correct command is 'kubectl logs web-pod -c app-container'. The -c flag specifies the container name.
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 logs web-pod --all-containers
Why it's wrong here
The --all-containers flag tells kubectl logs to stream output from every container in the pod, not a single named container. This would interleave logs from all containers, making it impossible to isolate the specific container's output. Since the goal is to inspect logs from one container only, this flag is inappropriate.
- ✓
kubectl logs web-pod --container app-container
Why this is correct
The kubectl logs command uses the --container (or shorthand -c) flag to select a specific container in a multi-container pod. Here, web-pod is the pod name and app-container is the container name, which is the exact syntax required. This command correctly returns only the logs from app-container, making it the right choice.
- ✗
kubectl logs app-container -p web-pod
Why it's wrong here
This command incorrectly places the container name as the first positional argument, but kubectl logs expects the pod name immediately after the subcommand. Additionally, -p is the shorthand for --previous, which shows logs from the previous incarnation of a container (e.g., after a crash or restart), not a way to specify a container. The container selector must be provided with -c/--container after the pod name.
- ✗
kubectl logs -c web-pod app-container
Why it's wrong here
Although -c is a valid shorthand for --container, the argument order is wrong: kubectl logs expects the pod name as the first positional argument, followed by the container flag and its value. In this command, kubectl would interpret web-pod as the container name and app-container as the pod name, looking for a pod named app-container with a container named web-pod. This will cause an error or return unexpected logs.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Key term
kubectl Command Reference
kubectl is the command-line tool used to interact with and manage Kubernetes clusters by sending commands to the Kubernetes API.
Key term
Log Analysis
Log analysis is the process of reviewing and interpreting system-generated records to understand what happened in an application or infrastructure.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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