CKAD Application Design and Build Practice Question
You need to run a batch job that processes a queue and must ensure exactly 5 pods run successfully in parallel. Which Job configuration field should be set?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse `spec.parallelism` (concurrent Pods) with `spec.completions` (total successful Pods), leading candidates to pick D when the question explicitly asks for parallel execution.
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
✓
spec.parallelism: 5
`spec.parallelism` controls the maximum number of Pods that can run concurrently for a Job. Setting `parallelism: 5` ensures exactly 5 Pods run in parallel, which matches the requirement to process a queue with five simultaneous workers.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
spec.backoffLimit: 5
Why it's wrong here
spec.backoffLimit specifies how many times the Job controller retries a failing Pod before marking the Job as failed. It is a failure-handling mechanism that applies to individual Pod restarts, not to the number of Pods running at once. Increasing it to 5 would only allow more retries on failure, not increase the concurrency of queue processing.
- ✗
spec.ttlSecondsAfterFinished: 5
Why it's wrong here
spec.ttlSecondsAfterFinished controls when a finished Job and its Pods are garbage-collected by the TTL controller. Setting it to 5 only schedules deletion five seconds after the Job reaches a terminal state, which has no bearing on how many Pods execute concurrently. It is a lifecycle cleanup mechanism, not a concurrency or parallelism setting.
- ✓
spec.parallelism: 5
Why this is correct
spec.parallelism defines the desired number of Pods that the Job controller runs simultaneously, which is exactly what you need when processing a queue with five concurrent workers. Setting it to 5 makes the controller create up to five Pods at the same time, each pulling items from the queue in parallel. This directly satisfies the requirement to run a batch job that processes a queue with a concurrency of five.
- ✗
spec.completions: 5
Why it's wrong here
spec.completions sets the total number of Pods that must finish successfully for the Job to be considered complete, regardless of whether they run sequentially or in parallel. With completions: 5, the Job could run one Pod after another, so it does not guarantee five concurrent workers. It controls the aggregate success count, not the level of parallelism, and would not create five simultaneous queue consumers.
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