KCNA Container Orchestration Practice Question
A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. You run 'kubectl describe pod mypod' and see the event '0/4 nodes are available: 4 Insufficient cpu'. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common pitfall is confusing resource 'requests' (used for scheduling) with 'limits' (used for throttling/eviction). Candidates may mistakenly think 'Insufficient cpu' refers to CPU limits being exceeded, rather than the scheduler failing to find a node with enough free CPU to meet the request.
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
✓
None of the nodes have enough CPU resources to satisfy the pod's request
The '0/4 nodes are available: 4 Insufficient cpu' event directly indicates that the Kubernetes scheduler attempted to place the pod on each of the four nodes but found that none had enough allocatable CPU capacity to satisfy the pod's CPU request (specified in the container's `resources.requests.cpu`). This causes the pod to remain in 'Pending' state because the scheduler cannot find a feasible 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.
- ✗
The pod has exceeded its memory limit
Why it's wrong here
Memory limit exceeded would cause OOMKilled, not Pending.
- ✗
The pod's image pull is failing
Why it's wrong here
Image pull issues would result in ImagePullBackOff state.
- ✓
None of the nodes have enough CPU resources to satisfy the pod's request
Why this is correct
The event indicates insufficient CPU on all nodes.
- ✗
The pod's liveness probe is failing
Why it's wrong here
Liveness probe failures happen after pod starts, not during scheduling.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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