CKAD Application Deployment Practice Question
When performing a rolling update of a Deployment with 'maxSurge: 1' and 'maxUnavailable: 0', how many additional pods can be created above the desired replicas during the update?
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
✓
1
maxSurge defines the maximum number of pods that can be created above the desired replicas. With maxSurge=1, exactly one extra pod can exist during the update.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
1
Why this is correct
The correct value is 1 because maxSurge is defined as the number of additional pods that can be created above the desired replica count during a rolling update. Setting maxSurge=1 means that while updating, the deployment may temporarily run one extra pod beyond the desired replicas, ensuring that new pods are available before old ones are terminated, thereby maintaining service availability without exceeding a small, controlled increase in resources.
- ✗
0
Why it's wrong here
A value of 0 would mean that no additional pods are allowed beyond the desired replica count during the update. This forces the deployment to first scale down old replicas before scaling up new ones, which can cause downtime or reduced capacity because new pods cannot start until old ones are fully terminated. Since the actual setting is maxSurge=1, it explicitly permits one extra pod, so 0 is incorrect.
- ✗
Unlimited
Why it's wrong here
Unlimited is incorrect because maxSurge is a hard cap on the number of extra pods allowed during a rolling update; it is not unbounded. Kubernetes enforces this limit to prevent resource exhaustion and to guarantee that the update does not overwhelm the cluster with too many concurrent pods. With maxSurge set to 1, the cap is exactly one extra pod, so 'unlimited' contradicts the explicit numeric constraint.
- ✗
100%
Why it's wrong here
The value 100% would interpret maxSurge as a percentage of the desired replica count, meaning the deployment could create a full extra set of replicas (e.g., doubling the running pods during the update). In contrast, the deployment is configured with an absolute number 1, which caps the surge to a single pod regardless of the total replica count. This shows that 100% is a fundamentally different and overly permissive setting compared to the actual absolute value of 1.
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