CKA Workloads and Scheduling Practice Question
You have a ResourceQuota in a namespace that sets limits: pods: 10, requests.cpu: 4, requests.memory: 8Gi. You try to create a Pod with requests.cpu: 1, requests.memory: 2Gi, and no limits. The namespace currently has 8 pods using 3 CPUs and 5Gi memory in total requests. What happens?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume a ResourceQuota enforces both requests and limits simultaneously, or that creating a pod without limits will be rejected, but Kubernetes only rejects pods if the sum of requests (or limits, if specified) would exceed the quota, and it does not require limits unless a LimitRange is present.
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
✓
The pod is created successfully.
The ResourceQuota only enforces the total sum of requests across all pods in the namespace. Currently, the namespace has 8 pods using 3 CPUs and 5Gi memory. Adding a pod with requests.cpu: 1 and requests.memory: 2Gi would bring totals to 4 CPUs (3+1) and 7Gi memory (5+2), both within the quota limits of 4 CPUs and 8Gi. The pod does not specify limits, but ResourceQuota does not require limits unless a LimitRange enforces default limits; here, no LimitRange is mentioned, so the pod is allowed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The pod is created successfully.
Why this is correct
The new pod's resource requests are 1 CPU and 2Gi memory. When combined with the existing pods' total requests of 3 CPU and 5Gi memory, the cumulative resource consumption becomes 4 CPU and 7Gi memory. Since the ResourceQuota specifies hard limits of 4 CPU and 8Gi memory for requests, both the CPU and memory totals remain at or below their respective quotas. Therefore, the admission controller allows the pod to be created without any quota violations.
- ✗
The pod is rejected because it exceeds the memory request quota.
Why it's wrong here
The ResourceQuota sets a hard limit of 8Gi for total memory requests in the namespace. With existing pods consuming 5Gi of memory requests and the new pod requesting an additional 2Gi, the cumulative memory request would be 7Gi. This total of 7Gi is strictly less than the 8Gi quota. Consequently, the pod would not be rejected for exceeding the memory request quota, as it remains well within the allowed limits.
- ✗
The pod is rejected because it exceeds the CPU request quota.
Why it's wrong here
The ResourceQuota establishes a hard limit of 4 CPU for total CPU requests within the namespace. The existing pods are currently requesting 3 CPU, and the new pod intends to request an additional 1 CPU. Adding these together results in a cumulative CPU request of 4 CPU. While this sum precisely matches the quota's hard limit, it does not *exceed* it, meaning no violation occurs. Therefore, the pod would not be rejected on the grounds of exceeding the CPU request quota.
- ✗
The pod is rejected because it does not specify CPU and memory limits.
Why it's wrong here
A ResourceQuota primarily enforces aggregate resource consumption and does not inherently require pods to specify resource *limits* unless explicitly configured to do so. The question stem indicates the quota sets hard limits on *requests*, not that it mandates the presence of `limits` fields in pod specifications. Without a `LimitRange` or specific `ResourceQuota` fields like `limits.cpu` or `limits.memory` being set to a non-zero value, omitting resource limits is not a rejection criterion.
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