KCNA Cloud Native Architecture Practice Question
A development team wants to deploy a serverless function that scales to zero when not in use. Which CNCF project or platform is BEST suited for this requirement?
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
✓
Knative
Knative is a Kubernetes-based platform to build, deploy, and manage serverless workloads that can scale to zero. AWS Lambda is a proprietary offering, not CNCF. OpenFaaS and Kubeless are also serverless frameworks but Knative is the most prominent CNCF serverless project.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Kubeless
Why it's wrong here
Kubeless is an open-source serverless framework that runs on Kubernetes and can scale to zero, but it is not a CNCF project.
- ✗
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
AWS Lambda is a proprietary serverless platform from Amazon and is not a CNCF project.
- ✓
Knative
Why this is correct
Knative is a Kubernetes-based platform for building, deploying, and managing serverless workloads that can scale to zero, and it is a CNCF project.
- ✗
OpenFaaS
Why it's wrong here
OpenFaaS is a CNCF sandbox project that can scale to zero, but Knative is the more prominent and integrated CNCF serverless project for Kubernetes.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on KCNA
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A developer wants to deploy a function that reacts to image upload events in a cloud storage bucket. The function should scale to zero when idle. Which architecture best fits this use case?
medium- A.Use a long-running virtual machine to process events
- B.Deploy a container on Kubernetes with HorizontalPodAutoscaler set to minReplicas 0
- ✓ C.Implement a serverless function using a FaaS platform like AWS Lambda
- D.Use a Kubernetes Job triggered by a CronJob
Why C: FaaS (Function-as-a-Service) platforms like AWS Lambda are event-driven and can scale to zero when idle, making them ideal for sporadic event-triggered workloads.
JA
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.