This CKAD practice question tests your understanding of application design and build. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
A developer is designing a Job that should run exactly once and then stop. The Job runs a batch process that is expected to complete within one hour. Which restartPolicy and backoffLimit are appropriate?
restartPolicy: Always, backoffLimit: 6
Why wrong: Always is not allowed for Jobs.
restartPolicy: OnFailure, backoffLimit: 4
OnFailure retries within the backoff limit; Job completes when pod succeeds.
restartPolicy: Never, backoffLimit: 0
Why wrong: Never means no retries; backoffLimit 0 is default but no retries.
restartPolicy: Always, backoffLimit: 0
Why wrong: Always is not valid for Jobs; it's for Deployments.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
restartPolicy: OnFailure, backoffLimit: 4
Option B is correct because a Job designed to run exactly once and stop should use `restartPolicy: OnFailure` or `Never`, and `backoffLimit: 4` provides a reasonable number of retries (up to 4) before the Job is marked as Failed, ensuring the batch process can recover from transient errors within the expected one-hour completion window. The `restartPolicy: Always` is invalid for Jobs (only `OnFailure` or `Never` are allowed), and `backoffLimit: 0` would prevent any retries, which is too restrictive for a batch process that may encounter temporary failures.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
restartPolicy: Always, backoffLimit: 6
Why it's wrong here
Always is not allowed for Jobs.
restartPolicy: OnFailure, backoffLimit: 4
Why this is correct
OnFailure retries within the backoff limit; Job completes when pod succeeds.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
restartPolicy: Never, backoffLimit: 0
Why it's wrong here
Never means no retries; backoffLimit 0 is default but no retries.
restartPolicy: Always, backoffLimit: 0
Why it's wrong here
Always is not valid for Jobs; it's for Deployments.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the `restartPolicy` for Pods in a Job with the `restartPolicy` for Deployments, forgetting that Jobs only accept `OnFailure` or `Never`, and that `backoffLimit` controls retries at the Job level, not the container level.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, the Job controller uses `backoffLimit` to limit the number of retries before marking the Job as Failed; each retry is subject to exponential backoff (starting at 10 seconds, doubling up to 6 minutes) to avoid overwhelming the cluster. The `restartPolicy` only applies to the Pod's containers within the Job, not the Job itself — `OnFailure` restarts the container on failure without creating a new Pod, while `Never` leaves the Pod in a failed state. In real-world scenarios, a batch data processing Job might fail due to a temporary network blip, and a `backoffLimit: 4` gives enough retries to succeed without infinite looping.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CKAD exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Application Design and Build — This question tests Application Design and Build — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: restartPolicy: OnFailure, backoffLimit: 4 — Option B is correct because a Job designed to run exactly once and stop should use `restartPolicy: OnFailure` or `Never`, and `backoffLimit: 4` provides a reasonable number of retries (up to 4) before the Job is marked as Failed, ensuring the batch process can recover from transient errors within the expected one-hour completion window. The `restartPolicy: Always` is invalid for Jobs (only `OnFailure` or `Never` are allowed), and `backoffLimit: 0` would prevent any retries, which is too restrictive for a batch process that may encounter temporary failures.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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