KCNA Container Orchestration Practice Question
A developer wants to deploy a stateless web application that should scale to 5 replicas. Each replica must be identical and should be automatically replaced if it fails. Which Kubernetes resource should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse StatefulSet with Deployment for stateless apps because both can manage multiple replicas, but StatefulSet is specifically for stateful workloads requiring ordered deployment and stable identities, not for identical, interchangeable replicas.
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
✓
Deployment
A Deployment is the correct resource because it manages a ReplicaSet to ensure the desired number of identical, stateless pod replicas (5) are running. It provides declarative updates, self-healing (automatic replacement of failed pods), and scaling capabilities, which directly match the requirement for a stateless web application.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
StatefulSet
Why it's wrong here
StatefulSet gives each replica a stable identity, ordinal name and its own PersistentVolumeClaim, contradicting the identical, interchangeable replicas required. It is tempting because StatefulSets do maintain replica counts and replace failures, which is correct for databases or clustered stateful workloads needing stable identity.
- ✗
DaemonSet
Why it's wrong here
DaemonSet schedules exactly one pod per eligible node, so it cannot produce five identical replicas on demand. It is tempting because DaemonSets automatically recreate failed pods, which is correct when the requirement is a node-level agent such as a log or monitoring collector.
- ✓
Deployment
Why this is correct
Deployment manages stateless pods through ReplicaSet, maintaining exactly five identical replicas and automatically replacing failed pods to satisfy the self-healing and scaling constraints. Its rolling update strategy suits stateless workloads, unlike StatefulSet's stable identities or DaemonSet's per-node scheduling.
- ✗
ReplicationController
Why it's wrong here
ReplicationController lacks the selector-based ReplicaSet layer and rolling-update mechanics of Deployments, and is deprecated for new stateless workloads. It is tempting because it does maintain a fixed replica count and recreate failed pods, which was correct before Deployments became the standard controller.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.