This CKA practice question tests your understanding of workloads and scheduling. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO of the following are valid strategies for a Deployment's rolling update? (Select TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
maxUnavailable: 0
Option A is correct because setting `maxUnavailable: 0` ensures that during a rolling update, no Pods are taken down below the desired replica count, guaranteeing zero downtime. This is a valid strategy when you want to maintain full availability at the cost of potentially slower updates, as new Pods must be created before any old ones are terminated.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
maxUnavailable: 0
Why this is correct
maxUnavailable defines the maximum number of pods that can be unavailable during the update.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
maxSurge: 1
Why this is correct
maxSurge defines the maximum number of pods that can be created above the desired replicas during an update.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
podManagementPolicy: OrderedReady
Why it's wrong here
This is a StatefulSet field, not Deployment.
✗
scaleUp: 2
Why it's wrong here
There is no 'scaleUp' field in Deployment strategy.
✗
type: Recreate
Why it's wrong here
Recreate is a different update strategy, not a rolling update.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse `podManagementPolicy` (a StatefulSet-only field) with Deployment update strategies, or incorrectly assume that `scaleUp` is a valid rolling update parameter, when in fact only `maxSurge` and `maxUnavailable` are used.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, a Deployment's rolling update is controlled by a ReplicaSet controller that gradually scales down the old ReplicaSet and scales up the new one, respecting `maxSurge` and `maxUnavailable` as integer or percentage values. A subtle behavior is that setting `maxUnavailable: 0` combined with `maxSurge: 0` is invalid because at least one must be greater than zero to allow the update to proceed; this is enforced by the API validation. In real-world scenarios, using `maxUnavailable: 0` is critical for production services that cannot tolerate any downtime, such as API gateways or load balancers.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CKA question in full detail.
Workloads and Scheduling — This question tests Workloads and Scheduling — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: maxUnavailable: 0 — Option A is correct because setting `maxUnavailable: 0` ensures that during a rolling update, no Pods are taken down below the desired replica count, guaranteeing zero downtime. This is a valid strategy when you want to maintain full availability at the cost of potentially slower updates, as new Pods must be created before any old ones are terminated.
What should I do if I get this CKA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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