CKAD Application Observability and Maintenance Practice Question
You want to see the IP address and the node on which each pod in the 'default' namespace is running. Which command provides this information?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose `kubectl describe pods` (Option A) because it shows IP and node information, but they overlook that `-o wide` provides a cleaner, tabular view for multiple pods, which is the intended use case in the question.
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 get pods -o wide
`kubectl get pods -o wide` outputs additional columns including the pod's IP address and the node it is scheduled on, which directly answers the question. The `-o wide` flag extends the default output format to show these fields without requiring a full resource description or YAML output.
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 describe pods
Why it's wrong here
kubectl describe pods is incorrect because it produces a verbose, multi-section report for each pod, covering events, conditions, container states, and resource settings, rather than a compact table. Although pod IP and node name appear within the Status and Spec sections, scanning many pods at once is impractical because the output is not columnar. It is designed for deep investigation of one resource, not for concise cross-pod comparisons.
- ✓
kubectl get pods -o wide
Why this is correct
kubectl get pods -o wide is correct because the -o wide flag extends the default pod listing with the IP and NODE columns, displaying each pod's cluster-assigned IP address and the name of the node hosting it. These fields come directly from the pod's status.podIP and spec.nodeName, and the output remains a single-row-per-pod table, making it ideal for quickly answering exactly what the question asks.
- ✗
kubectl get pods --show-labels
Why it's wrong here
kubectl get pods --show-labels is wrong because it merely appends a LABELS column to the default pod table, with the pod's key-value labels used for selection and grouping. It provides no IP or node information, as networking and scheduling details are not part of labels. This flag is intended for label-based organization, not for inspecting runtime placement or addresses.
- ✗
kubectl get pods -o yaml
Why it's wrong here
kubectl get pods -o yaml is wrong because it dumps the entire Pod object definition in YAML syntax, including status.podIP and spec.nodeName among hundreds of other fields, producing an excessively verbose output. Unlike a table, the information is not aligned into per-pod rows for easy visual scanning; you would need to parse with jq or grep to extract the IP and node for every pod. The question asks to 'see' those values, implying a concise columnar presentation rather than a raw serialization.
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