CKA Workloads and Scheduling Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are true about HorizontalPodAutoscaler (HPA)?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume HPA only supports CPU metrics, but it also supports memory and custom metrics, and they confuse horizontal scaling (replicas) with vertical scaling (in-place resizing), which is not supported by HPA.
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
✓
HPA can use custom metrics from the Kubernetes Metrics Server.
The HorizontalPodAutoscaler (HPA) can use custom metrics provided by the Kubernetes Metrics Server, such as requests per second or queue length, in addition to standard CPU and memory metrics. The HPA retrieves these metrics via the `metrics.k8s.io` API (for resource metrics) or custom metrics APIs, enabling scaling based on application-specific behavior.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
HPA can use custom metrics from the Kubernetes Metrics Server.
Why this is correct
HPA can use custom metrics via the custom.metrics.k8s.io API.
- ✗
HPA supports in-place pod resizing.
Why it's wrong here
HPA scales replicas, not pod resources.
- ✗
HPA cannot scale based on memory utilization.
Why it's wrong here
HPA can scale based on memory utilization.
- ✓
HPA can be configured with target average CPU utilization.
Why this is correct
This is a common HPA configuration.
- ✓
HPA can scale Deployments and StatefulSets.
Why this is correct
HPA works with both.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Kubernetes Architecture Overview
Key term
Network Policies
A Kubernetes resource that controls how pods communicate with each other and with other network endpoints, acting as a firewall for pod-to-pod traffic.
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.
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