KCNA Cloud Native Architecture Practice Question
A team wants every microservice to ship its logs and metrics to a central backend, and they want to avoid running a separate agent container inside each application Pod. Which cloud native approach BEST fits this requirement while keeping collection decoupled from the application?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is reaching for a sidecar because telemetry is per-Pod, when a per-node DaemonSet agent already covers all Pods without touching each workload.
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
✓
Run a logging and metrics agent as a DaemonSet so one agent instance runs on every node and collects from all Pods on that node.
Running the collection agent as a DaemonSet places exactly one agent on each node, where it can read container logs and node-local metrics for every Pod on that node. That decouples telemetry from application containers, eliminates per-Pod sidecars, and scales naturally with the cluster. Sidecars, application push, and a single centralized collector all either violate the no-per-Pod-agent requirement or introduce coupling and availability problems.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Run a logging and metrics agent as a DaemonSet so one agent instance runs on every node and collects from all Pods on that node.
Why this is correct
A DaemonSet guarantees one agent Pod per eligible node, so collection is handled at the node level rather than inside each application Pod. Applications write to standard output or a node-local path, and the node agent forwards data to the central backend. This decouples telemetry from application containers, requires no per-service agent container, and automatically covers new nodes as they join.
- ✗
Configure each application to push directly to the backend using its own vendor SDK and credentials.
Why it's wrong here
Direct push from the application couples business code to a specific telemetry backend, spreads credentials across services, and requires developers to instrument and maintain export logic in every language used. It also makes backend migration expensive. This is the tightly coupled approach the team is trying to move away from, not a decoupled collection design.
- ✗
Create a single centralized collector Deployment with one replica that all Pods send telemetry to.
Why it's wrong here
A single-replica collector creates a bottleneck and a single point of failure, and it still requires applications to know where to send data. It does not provide node-local collection, and scaling it correctly requires a service in front of it. The requirement is best served by node-level agents, not one centralized collector instance.
- ✗
Add a sidecar container to every application Pod that forwards logs and metrics to the backend.
Why it's wrong here
A sidecar per Pod does collect telemetry for that Pod, but it explicitly contradicts the goal of avoiding a separate agent container in each application Pod. It also multiplies resource usage and configuration surface across every workload. It is a valid pattern for other reasons, such as per-Pod log parsing, but it does not meet the stated requirement.
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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
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