CKA Troubleshooting Practice Question
You are troubleshooting a connectivity issue between two pods in the same cluster. Pod A cannot reach Pod B's IP. Which command would you run from Pod A to test connectivity?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose `kubectl describe pod-b` (option D) thinking it shows connectivity status, but it only displays static pod metadata and does not perform any active network test.
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 exec pod-a -- curl <pod-b-ip>
`kubectl exec pod-a -- curl <pod-b-ip>` runs the `curl` command inside Pod A, directly testing Layer 3 connectivity to Pod B's IP address. This bypasses any service or DNS abstraction and verifies whether the pod network (e.g., CNI plugin like Calico or Flannel) is functioning correctly between the two pods.
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 exec pod-a -- curl <pod-b-ip>
Why this is correct
This command initiates an interactive execution context within the container of pod-a, allowing you to run curl directly from its network namespace. By targeting the IP address of pod-b, you can verify if the Kubernetes network plugin (CNI) is correctly routing traffic between these specific endpoints. It is the most direct way to validate data-plane connectivity from the source pod's perspective.
- ✗
kubectl top pod pod-b
Why it's wrong here
This command queries the Metrics Server to retrieve real-time CPU and memory utilization statistics for the containers running inside pod-b. While useful for diagnosing performance bottlenecks or resource exhaustion, it provides absolutely no information about network routing, firewall rules, or network policy configurations blocking traffic.
- ✗
kubectl logs pod-b
Why it's wrong here
Running this command retrieves the standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) streams from the containers in pod-b. Although application logs might occasionally show connection timeout errors if the application itself logs them, this command does not actively test or verify the network path between the two pods.
- ✗
kubectl describe pod-b
Why it's wrong here
This command fetches detailed configuration and state information about pod-b from the Kubernetes API server, including its IP address, node assignment, and recent lifecycle events. While it helps confirm if the target pod is running and has an IP assigned, it cannot actively probe the network data plane to test if packets can actually traverse between the pods.
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JA
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.