KCNA Cloud Native Application Delivery Practice Question
A delivery team's manifests are nearly identical across dev, staging, and production, differing only in replica counts, image tags, and resource limits. They want to keep one shared base and apply environment-specific changes without introducing a templating language. Which approach fits best?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is treating environment differences as a reason to duplicate manifests or reach for templating, when overlays patch a shared base without either.
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
✓
Use Kustomize with a common base and per-environment overlays that patch the differing fields
A single base with per-environment overlays is exactly Kustomize's model: the base holds common resources, and each overlay patches only what differs, using plain YAML rather than templates. This keeps one source of truth while making environment deltas small, explicit, and reviewable in version control.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Store three copies of every manifest in Git and use a CI job to copy the correct directory at deploy time
Why it's wrong here
Copying whole manifest trees replicates the same duplication problem and relies on a custom CI convention rather than a declarative mechanism, so the base is not truly shared and drift is easy. It also adds bespoke scripting that must be maintained and audited.
- ✓
Use Kustomize with a common base and per-environment overlays that patch the differing fields
Why this is correct
Kustomize keeps one base directory and applies overlays that patch only the fields each environment changes, such as replicas, image tags, and resources. It uses plain YAML with no template syntax, so the shared base stays authoritative and environment differences remain explicit and reviewable.
- ✗
Create three separate Helm charts, one per environment, and maintain them independently
Why it's wrong here
Duplicating the chart three times defeats the goal of a single shared base, because every future change must be replicated and can drift between environments. Helm could solve this with one chart and per-environment values files, but three independent charts is the wrong structure for the stated requirement.
- ✗
Write a sed-based script that rewrites image tags and replica counts in the manifests before applying them
Why it's wrong here
Text substitution on YAML is fragile: it can corrupt unrelated fields, has no structural understanding of the objects, and leaves no declarative record of intent. It also conflicts with the requirement to avoid custom transformation machinery in favor of a supported configuration approach.
About these practice questions
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JA
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.