CKAD Application Deployment Practice Question
A Deployment named 'web' has replicas: 3 and update strategy type: Recreate. You run 'kubectl set image deployment/web web=nginx:1.22'. What immediate effect will this have on the existing pods?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse the Recreate strategy with a rolling update, assuming pods are updated one by one, or mistakenly think Recreate prevents image updates entirely.
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
✓
All existing pods are terminated simultaneously, then new pods are created.
The Deployment's update strategy type is set to 'Recreate', which means all existing pods are terminated simultaneously before any new pods are created. When you run 'kubectl set image deployment/web web=nginx:1.22', it triggers a rollout that follows the Recreate strategy: first, all current pods are deleted, then the new pods are created with the updated image. This is in contrast to the RollingUpdate strategy, which updates pods gradually.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
One pod is terminated, then a new pod is created, repeating until all are updated.
Why it's wrong here
This describes a rolling update, not Recreate. Under Recreate, the Deployment does not cycle through pods one at a time; instead, it scales the old ReplicaSet to 0 before the new ReplicaSet creates any replacements. A per-pod terminate-then-create sequence is exactly what the RollingUpdate strategy does to preserve availability.
- ✗
The command fails because Recreate does not support image updates.
Why it's wrong here
Recreate fully supports image updates; the strategy only changes how the rollout is executed, not whether image changes are allowed. A Deployment with strategy Recreate will still scale down all existing Pods and then create new Pods running the updated image. The kubectl command would succeed, but with downtime during the transition.
- ✓
All existing pods are terminated simultaneously, then new pods are created.
Why this is correct
With the Recreate update strategy, the Deployment controller first terminates all existing Pods from the old ReplicaSet, then creates the new Pods from the updated ReplicaSet. For replicas: 3, all three old Pods are shut down before any new Pod is scheduled, resulting in a complete but brief period of unavailability. This is the correct behavior of Recreate.
- ✗
The pods are updated in place without termination.
Why it's wrong here
Recreate does not modify Pods in place. Kubernetes Pod specs are largely immutable for image updates, and Recreate explicitly replaces every Pod by terminating old ones and creating new ones. The strategy guarantees no old and new versions run concurrently, but it does not avoid Pod termination.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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