CKAD Application Observability and Maintenance Practice Question
You run 'kubectl get pods -o wide' and see that a pod's NODE column shows 'node-1'. You want to see more details about that node's resource usage. Which command should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse `kubectl top node` with `kubectl top pod` or `kubectl describe node`, mistakenly thinking that `describe` provides real-time resource usage or that `top pod` can target a node by name.
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
✓
kubectl top node node-1
`kubectl top node node-1` directly displays real-time resource usage (CPU and memory) for the specified node, which is exactly what you need when you want to see more details about a node's resource consumption after identifying the node from `kubectl get pods -o wide`.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
kubectl top pods --all-namespaces
Why it's wrong here
kubectl top pods --all-namespaces is incorrect because it reports resource usage for individual pods across all namespaces, not for the node itself. The metrics-server returns per-pod CPU and memory consumption, which must be aggregated to infer node usage, and this command does not provide that node-level rollup. To see a specific node's usage, you need kubectl top node.
- ✗
kubectl describe node node-1
Why it's wrong here
kubectl describe node node-1 shows configuration, conditions, capacity, and allocatable resources, along with requests and limits of pods currently scheduled on the node. However, it does not show real-time utilization metrics such as current CPU or memory usage. The resource usage data it references (like Non-terminated Pods) are static reservations, not live consumption values.
- ✗
kubectl top pod node-1
Why it's wrong here
kubectl top pod node-1 is invalid because the kubectl top pod subcommand expects a pod name, not a node name. If no pod named node-1 exists, the command will fail with an error; even if such a pod existed, it would only show that pod's usage, not the node's aggregate consumption. To query node-level metrics, the correct syntax is kubectl top node node-1.
- ✓
kubectl top node node-1
Why this is correct
kubectl top node node-1 is correct because it directly queries the metrics-server for that specific node and displays real-time CPU and memory utilization at the node level. This command provides a snapshot of current usage, typically expressed as a percentage and absolute values, fulfilling the requirement to see what resources the node is actually using.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This CKAD question is part of Courseiva's 826-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.