KCNA Kubernetes Fundamentals Practice Question
A cluster administrator needs to ensure that a logging agent runs on every node in the cluster, including nodes added in the future. The agent should collect logs from each node and forward them to a central system. Which Kubernetes resource should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is thinking that a Deployment with many replicas can cover all nodes, but it lacks the automatic per-node scheduling that DaemonSet provides.
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
✓
DaemonSet
DaemonSet is specifically designed to run a pod on each node, automatically handling new nodes as they join. This makes it the correct choice for node-level agents like log collectors. Deployments, StatefulSets, and Jobs do not provide this per-node guarantee; they manage replicas or batch tasks without ensuring coverage of every node.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Job
Why it's wrong here
A Job runs pods until successful completion and is intended for batch tasks. It does not maintain long-running pods on each node. Once the job finishes, the pods terminate. A logging agent needs to run continuously on every node, so a Job is fundamentally inappropriate for this use case, as it would not provide persistent node-level coverage.
- ✓
DaemonSet
Why this is correct
DaemonSet ensures that a copy of a pod runs on all (or selected) nodes. When new nodes are added to the cluster, the DaemonSet controller automatically schedules a pod on them. This is ideal for node-level services like log collectors, monitoring agents, or network plugins. It directly meets the requirement of running a logging agent on every node, including future ones, without manual intervention.
- ✗
Deployment
Why it's wrong here
A Deployment manages a specified number of pod replicas but does not guarantee that one pod runs on every node. It schedules pods based on available resources and constraints, and the number of replicas is fixed. To cover all nodes, you would need to manually set replicas to match the node count and use pod anti-affinity, which is not automatic. Thus, Deployment is not suitable for ensuring a pod on each node.
- ✗
StatefulSet
Why it's wrong here
StatefulSet is designed for stateful applications requiring stable network identities and persistent storage. It manages a fixed number of pods with ordinal indices, not one per node. It does not automatically scale with the number of nodes, and its pods are not guaranteed to be distributed across all nodes. Therefore, it cannot ensure a logging agent runs on every node.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CNCF exam blueprint
This KCNA 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 KCNA exam.