KCNA Container Orchestration Practice Question
A pod is stuck in the 'Pending' state. You run 'kubectl describe pod mypod' and see the event: '0/3 nodes are available: 1 node had taint that the pod didn't tolerate, 2 Insufficient cpu.' What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'Pending' state with post-scheduling issues like probe failures or image pull errors, but the event message explicitly points to scheduling failures (resource insufficiency and taint intolerance), which are the only reasons a pod remains unscheduled.
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
✓
The pod's resource requests exceed available node capacity and a node taint is not tolerated
The pod is in 'Pending' state because the scheduler cannot find a node that meets its requirements. The event '0/3 nodes are available: 1 node had taint that the pod didn't tolerate, 2 Insufficient cpu' directly indicates that the pod's resource requests exceed the available CPU on two nodes, and the remaining node has a taint that the pod does not tolerate. This matches option B: the pod's resource requests exceed available node capacity and a node taint is not tolerated.
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's liveness probe is failing
Why it's wrong here
Liveness probe failures occur after the pod starts, not during scheduling.
- ✓
The pod's resource requests exceed available node capacity and a node taint is not tolerated
Why this is correct
The events indicate insufficient CPU and an untolerated taint, preventing scheduling.
- ✗
The pod's container runtime is not installed
Why it's wrong here
Missing container runtime would affect running, not scheduling.
- ✗
The pod's image pull secret is missing
Why it's wrong here
Image pull issues would result in ImagePullBackOff, not Pending.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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