CKA Workloads and Scheduling Practice Question
Which of the following creates a ConfigMap named 'my-config' from a file 'app.properties'?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse `--from-file` (which imports a file as a single key-value pair) with `--from-env-file` (which imports a file as multiple key-value pairs, one per line), leading them to choose option D when the file is not in env-file format.
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 create configmap my-config --from-file=app.properties
`kubectl create configmap my-config --from-file=app.properties` reads the file `app.properties` and creates a ConfigMap with a single key-value pair, where the key is the filename (app.properties) and the value is the entire file content. This is the standard way to create a ConfigMap from a file in Kubernetes.
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 create configmap my-config --from-literal=app.properties
Why it's wrong here
This command fails because the `--from-literal` flag strictly requires a key-value pair argument formatted as `key=value`. Providing only a file path or a single string like `app.properties` results in a syntax error during execution because kubectl cannot parse a key name from the input.
- ✓
kubectl create configmap my-config --from-file=app.properties
Why this is correct
This is the correct command because the `--from-file` flag instructs kubectl to read the entire contents of the specified file. It automatically creates a single key in the ConfigMap named `app.properties` with the file's complete text content as its value.
- ✗
kubectl create configmap my-config --from-file=app.properties --from-env-file=app.properties
Why it's wrong here
This command is incorrect because it redundantly and conflictingly attempts to process the same file using two different ingestion methods simultaneously. Mixing `--from-file` and `--from-env-file` on the same source file is invalid and fails to produce a clean ConfigMap with the file preserved as a single key.
- ✗
kubectl create configmap my-config --from-env-file=app.properties
Why it's wrong here
This command is incorrect because the `--from-env-file` flag parses the target file as a list of individual, line-delimited environment variables. It does not preserve the file's overall structure or create a key named `app.properties` containing the file's raw text content.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Installing Kubernetes with kubeadm
Key term
Ingress Resources
Ingress Resources are Kubernetes API objects that manage external access to services inside a cluster, typically HTTP and HTTPS traffic, by defining rules for routing requests based on hostnames and paths.
Key term
ConfigMaps
A ConfigMap is a Kubernetes object that lets you store configuration data separately from your application code, so you can change settings without rebuilding or redeploying your container images.
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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.