CKAD Application Deployment Practice Question
Which field in a Deployment's rolling update strategy controls the maximum number of pods that can be created above the desired replicas during a rolling update?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse `maxSurge` with `maxUnavailable`, as both are percentage-based fields in the rolling update strategy, but `maxSurge` controls the extra pods above the desired count while `maxUnavailable` controls the deficit below it.
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
✓
maxSurge
In a Deployment's rolling update strategy, `maxSurge` controls the maximum number of pods that can be created above the desired replica count during the update. This allows the system to spin up new pods before terminating old ones, ensuring zero downtime. The value can be an absolute number or a percentage of the desired replicas.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
maxUnavailable
Why it's wrong here
It controls the maximum number of pods that can be unavailable during a rolling update, allowing the Deployment to scale down old ReplicaSets before scaling up new ones, potentially causing temporary capacity reduction. It is the counterpart to maxSurge, but it does not control the number of pods above the desired count; instead, it limits the shortfall. So it's wrong because it regulates the deficit, not the surplus.
- ✓
maxSurge
Why this is correct
It is the correct field because it defines how many extra pods can be created over the desired replica count during a rolling update, enabling faster rollout by ensuring new pods become ready before old ones are terminated. The default value is 25% of the desired pods, and the total number of pods can temporarily exceed the desired count by this amount.
- ✗
revisionHistoryLimit
Why it's wrong here
This field specifies how many old ReplicaSets to retain for rollback purposes, not related to the rolling update's surge limits. It controls the number of revisions kept in the Deployment's history, allowing you to revert to a previous state, but it has no impact on the number of pods created during an update.
- ✗
minReadySeconds
Why it's wrong here
This field sets the minimum duration a pod must be ready and passing readiness checks before it is considered available, which affects the speed of a rolling update but does not determine how many pods exceed the desired count. It is a delay before a newly created pod is counted as ready for the update progression, but it doesn't control the maximum surplus.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CKAD 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 CKAD exam.