KCNA Cloud Native Observability Practice Question
A team wants to ensure that at least 99.9% of all requests to their application complete within 500ms over a 30-day window. How should this requirement be classified?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is conflating SLO with SLA — candidates often pick SLA because it sounds like the formal requirement, but the question describes an internal measurable target, which is an SLO.
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
✓
Service Level Objective (SLO)
An SLO is a target value or range for a service level measured by an SLI — here, '99.9% of requests under 500ms over 30 days' is exactly a target threshold on a measured metric. It is the internal reliability goal that teams commit to and track. An SLA, by contrast, is a contractual agreement with consequences (credits, penalties) if the SLO is missed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Why it's wrong here
An SLA is a contractual commitment, often with penalties, covering availability or support terms; a latency target measured internally is a Service Level Objective. It is tempting because the 99.9% figure resembles an SLA, but the classification depends on whether it is externally agreed or an internal reliability target.
- ✓
Service Level Objective (SLO)
Why this is correct
An SLO is a measurable reliability target, such as 99.9% of requests completing within 500ms over 30 days, that a service aims to achieve. This satisfies the stem's latency and availability threshold, whereas an SLA is a contractual commitment and an SLI is the raw measurement.
- ✗
Service Level Indicator (SLI)
Why it's wrong here
An SLI is the raw measurement itself, such as the proportion of requests served under 500ms; it holds no target. The stem specifies 99.9% over 30 days, which is the objective set on that indicator, making it an SLO. SLIs are the correct classification when only the measured quantity is defined.
- ✗
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
Why it's wrong here
KPI is a broader business metric.
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JA
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
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.