This KCNA practice question tests your understanding of container orchestration. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An administrator needs to ensure that Pods from two different Deployments cannot communicate with each other. Which Kubernetes resource should be used?
NetworkPolicy
NetworkPolicy defines ingress/egress rules for pod communication.
RBAC Role
Why wrong: RBAC controls API access permissions.
PodSecurityPolicy
Why wrong: PSP is for security contexts, not network isolation.
ResourceQuota
Why wrong: ResourceQuota limits resource usage per namespace.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
NetworkPolicy
NetworkPolicy is the correct resource because it acts as a firewall for Kubernetes Pods, controlling ingress and egress traffic at the IP address and port level using layer 3/4 rules. By applying a NetworkPolicy that denies all traffic between the Pods of the two Deployments (e.g., using podSelector and ingress/egress rules with an empty `from` or `to` block), the administrator can enforce network isolation. This is the native Kubernetes mechanism for restricting Pod-to-Pod communication within a cluster.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
NetworkPolicy
Why this is correct
NetworkPolicy defines ingress/egress rules for pod communication.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
RBAC Role
Why it's wrong here
RBAC controls API access permissions.
PodSecurityPolicy
Why it's wrong here
PSP is for security contexts, not network isolation.
ResourceQuota
Why it's wrong here
ResourceQuota limits resource usage per namespace.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse NetworkPolicy with RBAC or PodSecurityPolicy, mistakenly thinking that authorization or security contexts can control network traffic, when in fact only NetworkPolicy (with a compatible CNI) provides layer 3/4 isolation.
Detailed technical explanation
NetworkPolicy relies on a CNI plugin that supports it (e.g., Calico, Cilium, Weave Net) and is enforced by the data plane, not the kube-apiserver. A common subtlety is that NetworkPolicy is additive: if no policy selects a Pod, all traffic is allowed by default; once any policy selects a Pod, all traffic not explicitly allowed is denied. In a real-world scenario, a finance microservice must be isolated from a public-facing web frontend, and a NetworkPolicy with `podSelector` matching the finance app's labels and an `ingress` rule denying all traffic from the frontend's labels achieves this.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Container Orchestration — This question tests Container Orchestration — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: NetworkPolicy — NetworkPolicy is the correct resource because it acts as a firewall for Kubernetes Pods, controlling ingress and egress traffic at the IP address and port level using layer 3/4 rules. By applying a NetworkPolicy that denies all traffic between the Pods of the two Deployments (e.g., using podSelector and ingress/egress rules with an empty `from` or `to` block), the administrator can enforce network isolation. This is the native Kubernetes mechanism for restricting Pod-to-Pod communication within a cluster.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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