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Kubernetes Fundamentals
Practise Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate KCNA Kubernetes Fundamentals practice questions — original exam-style scenarios with answer choices, explanations, and analysis of common mistakes.
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What to know about Kubernetes Fundamentals
Kubernetes Fundamentals questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.
How the topic appears in realistic exam-style scenarios.
Which detail in the question changes the correct answer.
How to eliminate plausible but wrong options.
How to connect the question back to the wider exam objective.
Watch out for
Common Kubernetes Fundamentals exam traps
- ▸Answering from memory before reading the full scenario.
- ▸Missing a constraint such as cost, availability, security, scope or command context.
- ▸Choosing a broad answer when the question asks for the most specific fix.
- ▸Ignoring why the wrong options are tempting.
Question index
All Kubernetes Fundamentals questions (326)
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You have a ConfigMap named 'app-config' with key 'database.url'. Which environment variable reference in a Pod spec injects this value correctly?
Medium2Which component runs on every node and is responsible for ensuring that containers are running as specified in Pod manifests?
Easy3A pod is stuck in Pending state. Which THREE of the following are possible causes?
Hard4You need to expose a set of pods running in the 'dev' namespace internally within the cluster on a stable IP. All pods have the label 'app: web'. Which kubectl command should you use?
Medium5You need to run a stateless web application with three replicas, and you want to ensure that if a pod fails, it is automatically replaced. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?
Medium6Which kubectl command would you use to view the logs of a specific container named 'app' in a multi-container Pod named 'web-pod'?
Medium7What is the role of the kubelet on a worker node?
Easy8What is the primary purpose of Kubernetes?
Easy9Which command would you use to view the logs of a container named 'web' in a pod named 'frontend' running in the 'production' namespace?
Medium10Which TWO of the following are valid ways to expose a Deployment as a Service?
Medium11You have a Deployment that uses a ConfigMap for configuration. You update the ConfigMap with new data. However, the pods in the Deployment continue to use the old configuration. What is the most likely reason?
Hard12A pod in the 'production' namespace is in a CrashLoopBackOff state. The pod has been running successfully for several days. You run 'kubectl describe pod app-pod -n production' and see the message: 'OOMKilled'. What is the MOST appropriate action to resolve this issue?
Medium13Which two components are part of the Kubernetes control plane? (Select TWO.)
Medium14You have a Pod that needs to run a one-time batch job to completion. Which resource type should you use?
Hard15Which of the following is a worker node component responsible for ensuring that containers are running in a pod as specified in the pod's spec?
Easy16Which component on a worker node is responsible for enforcing the network rules and implementing Service abstractions?
Medium17You have a Deployment named 'web-app' that manages 3 replicas. You need to update the container image from version 1.0 to 2.0 with zero downtime. Which Kubernetes feature is designed to handle this automatically when you update the Deployment's pod template?
Medium18A Deployment manages ReplicaSets and supports rolling updates. You want to change the container image of a Deployment without downtime. What is the recommended approach?
Medium19Which THREE of the following are valid options for the 'kubectl get' command to display output in different formats?
Medium20A cluster has a node with the taint 'node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane:NoSchedule'. A pod must be scheduled on this node for a special workload. Which action is required?
Hard21You want to update a Deployment's container image from 'nginx:1.20' to 'nginx:1.21' and record the change. Which kubectl command should you use?
Medium22You create a Service of type ClusterIP in the 'default' namespace. You try to reach the Service from a pod in the 'production' namespace using the service name. The connection fails. What is the most likely reason?
Hard23You have a Deployment that runs a web application. You need to expose this application externally on a fixed port using a cloud load balancer. Which Service type should you use?
Hard24Which component runs on every node and is responsible for maintaining network rules that allow communication to Pods from network endpoints?
Medium25Which THREE of the following are valid types of Kubernetes Services? (Select THREE)
Medium26What is the purpose of kube-proxy on a worker node?
Medium27Which Kubernetes resource provides stable network endpoints for a set of pods, enabling service discovery and load balancing?
Medium28Which resource type provides a stable IP address and DNS name to access a set of Pods, regardless of Pod IP changes?
Medium29Which TWO statements about Kubernetes Services are correct?
Medium30You have a Pod with a container that runs a web server. The Pod has a memory request of 256Mi and a memory limit of 512Mi. The container attempts to allocate 600Mi of memory. What happens?
Hard31Which THREE of the following are valid fields in a Kubernetes Deployment spec (apps/v1)?
Hard32What is the primary purpose of Kubernetes?
Easy33Which kubectl command would you use to view detailed information about a specific pod, including events and container status?
Easy34A Service of type ClusterIP has been created, but pods in the same namespace cannot reach it by its DNS name. The Service selector matches the pods. What is a likely cause?
Hard35You need to run a one-time batch job that processes data and then exits. The job should run to completion and not be restarted. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?
Hard36Which two commands are valid for viewing information about pods in a namespace named 'production'?
Easy37Which three components are part of the Kubernetes control plane?
Hard38Which component of the Kubernetes control plane is responsible for persisting the cluster state?
Easy39Which TWO of the following components are part of the Kubernetes control plane? (Select 2)
Medium40You have a Deployment that manages 3 replicas. You want to perform a rolling update with a maximum of 2 Pods unavailable during the update. Which field should you set in the Deployment spec?
Hard41You have a Pod with a container that needs to read sensitive data such as a database password. Which Kubernetes resource should you use to store this data?
Medium42Which TWO of the following are valid Kubernetes resource types that can be used to store configuration data or secrets?
Medium43Which TWO of the following are valid ways to view the logs of a pod named 'my-pod'?
Easy44Which THREE of the following are valid ways to create a Kubernetes resource using kubectl?
Medium45An administrator wants to update the image of a Deployment named 'my-app' from 'nginx:1.19' to 'nginx:1.20' with a rolling update strategy. They want to ensure that during the update, the number of unavailable pods never exceeds 1. Which field should they set in the Deployment spec?
Medium46A Deployment is configured with 'replicas: 5' and a rolling update strategy. During an update, you notice that the number of available pods drops to 3 momentarily. Which field in the Deployment spec can be adjusted to control the minimum number of pods available during a rolling update?
Hard47Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager?
Hard48Which Kubernetes object can be used to store sensitive data, such as passwords or API keys, and inject them into pods?
Medium49A Deployment is configured with 'replicas: 3'. After a node failure, only 2 pods are running. What component ensures that a new pod is scheduled to restore the desired replica count?
Medium50A user reports that they cannot connect to a database service named 'db-service' from another pod in the same namespace. The service selector matches the database pod's labels. Which command would you run FIRST to troubleshoot the service's endpoints?
Hard51Refer to the exhibit. A pod is created with the above manifest. The container runs nginx listening on port 80, but the liveness probe is configured to check port 8080. What will happen?
Medium52A pod is running a Java application that occasionally leaks memory. After a few hours, 'kubectl describe pod' shows the container exited with OOMKilled. You want to automatically restart the container but ensure the application has enough memory. What should you do?
Hard53Which component is the primary entry point for all administrative tasks and API requests in a Kubernetes control plane?
Easy54You create a Deployment with 'replicas: 3' and update the pod template to use a new image. After the rollout, you notice that the new ReplicaSet has 3 pods but they are all failing with 'CrashLoopBackOff'. You want to rollback to the previous working revision. Which command should you run?
Hard55You have a Deployment with image: myapp:v1. You update the image to myapp:v2 using 'kubectl set image deployment/myapp myapp=myapp:v2'. The rollout status shows 'Waiting for rollout to finish: 0 out of 3 new replicas have been updated...'. What is the most likely cause of this behavior?
Hard56Which three of the following are valid methods to expose a Service to external traffic? (Select THREE)
Hard57You have a Deployment named 'frontend' with 3 replicas. You want to perform a rolling update to a new container image. Which command should you use?
Medium58A Deployment named 'myapp' is managing a ReplicaSet. You need to update the application image to version 2.0. What is the recommended approach?
Medium59Which component of the Kubernetes control plane is responsible for storing the cluster state?
Medium60A production issue arises: a Deployment with 10 replicas is updated, but the new Pods are failing health checks and being terminated. The old Pods are also being terminated. What is the most likely cause?
Hard61Which field in a Pod's container specification defines the minimum amount of CPU guaranteed to the container?
Medium62Which kubectl command is used to create or update resources defined in a YAML file?
Medium63Which TWO components are part of the Kubernetes control plane?
Easy64Which two of the following are valid ways to expose a set of Pods to external traffic?
Medium65A user wants to run a one-time batch job that runs to completion. Which Kubernetes resource should they use?
Medium66Which TWO components are part of the Kubernetes control plane? (Select exactly two.)
Medium67A Kubernetes cluster has multiple worker nodes. You create a Pod without any node selector. The scheduler places the pod on a node, but the pod remains in 'Pending' state. 'kubectl describe pod' shows '0/1 nodes are available: 1 node had taint {node-role.kubernetes.io/master: }, that the pod didn't tolerate'. What does this indicate?
Hard68A user reports that their application's DNS resolution is failing for a Service named 'my-service' in the same namespace. They are able to reach the Service by its cluster IP. Which of the following is the most likely cause?
Hard69A Service of type ClusterIP is created. What is the default behavior of this Service?
Medium70You have a Deployment with 3 replicas. You need to perform a rolling update with 2 extra pods during the update and ensure that only 1 pod is unavailable at any time. Which update strategy configuration achieves this?
Hard71Which two of the following are benefits of using Kubernetes for container orchestration? (Select TWO.)
Easy72A developer wants to inject environment variables into a pod from a ConfigMap named 'app-config'. Which YAML snippet correctly mounts all key-value pairs from the ConfigMap as environment variables?
Hard73A developer wants to run a one-time batch job that processes a queue and then terminates. Which Kubernetes resource should they use?
Easy74Which TWO resources can be used to store configuration data separately from container images?
Medium75Refer to the exhibit. A pod 'my-pod' shows repeated 'BackOff' events after the container starts. Which is the most likely cause?
Hard76You create a Pod with a liveness probe that uses an HTTP GET on port 8080, path /healthz. The probe fails after the container starts. What will happen to the Pod?
Hard77A Deployment is created with `replicas: 3`. After applying the manifest, only 2 pods are running and one is in Pending state. What is the most likely reason?
Medium78Which component on a worker node is responsible for enforcing the desired state of pods as defined in the pod specification?
Easy79A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. Which of the following is NOT a common cause for a pod to remain Pending?
Hard80Which of the following is a correct way to assign a pod to a specific node using a nodeSelector?
Hard81Which THREE are valid ways to provide configuration data to a pod in Kubernetes?
Hard82Which control plane component is responsible for assigning pods to nodes?
Easy83Which THREE fields are required in a Kubernetes manifest YAML file?
Medium84You have two pods in different namespaces that need to communicate using a stable IP address. Which Kubernetes object provides a stable endpoint for a set of pods?
Medium85A Deployment is rolling out a new version. The rollout has stalled, and 'kubectl rollout status deployment/myapp' shows 'Waiting for deployment rollout to finish: 2 out of 5 new replicas have been updated...'. The Deployment's spec.strategy.rollingUpdate.maxUnavailable is set to 25% and maxSurge is 25%. What is the maximum number of Pods that could be unavailable during this rollout?
Hard86You have a Pod that is in 'Pending' state. What is the most likely cause?
Medium87Which TWO of the following are valid ways to expose environment variables from a ConfigMap to a pod?
Medium88You need to provide an application with configuration data that does not change often and should not be baked into the container image. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?
Medium89Which component is the primary entry point for all administrative tasks and API requests in a Kubernetes cluster?
Easy90You have a ConfigMap named 'app-config' and a Secret named 'db-password'. You want to mount them into a pod. Which statement is correct?
Hard91A cluster administrator needs to ensure that a Deployment named 'frontend' in namespace 'web' is updated with a new image version using a rolling update strategy. The current deployment has 4 replicas. The administrator runs: kubectl set image deployment/frontend frontend=nginx:1.21 -n web. Which of the following describes the expected behavior?
Hard92Which Kubernetes object provides stable network endpoints and load balancing for a set of pods?
Easy93Which THREE of the following are required for a Kubernetes pod to be considered healthy and ready to serve traffic?
Hard94You create a Deployment with 'replicas: 3' and update the pod template without changing the selector. After the update, you notice that only the new Pods are running, but old Pods have been terminated. What is the default update strategy?
Hard95What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes that can be created and managed?
Medium96Which of the following kubectl commands would you use to update a Deployment's image to 'nginx:1.21' and record the change in the rollout history?
Hard97What is the primary purpose of a Namespace in Kubernetes?
Easy98Which component runs on each worker node and ensures that containers are running as specified in the Pod spec?
Easy99A Service of type ClusterIP is not resolving DNS names for pods. The pods are running and can communicate with each other via IP addresses. Which component should be checked first?
Hard100Which TWO statements correctly describe the purpose of etcd in a Kubernetes cluster?
Medium101Which THREE of the following are valid ways to expose a set of pods as a network service in Kubernetes?
Medium102Drag and drop the steps to create a Kubernetes Namespace and deploy an application into it into the correct order.
Medium103A pod is stuck in Pending state. You run 'kubectl describe pod' and see the event '0/3 nodes are available: 1 node(s) had taint(s) that the pod didn't tolerate, 2 node(s) had insufficient memory.'. What is the most likely cause?
Medium104Which component runs on every Kubernetes node and ensures that the containers in a pod are running?
Medium105What is the purpose of a liveness probe in a Kubernetes pod?
Medium106Which of the following is true about Kubernetes Namespaces?
Medium107An administrator wants to perform a rolling update of a Deployment. Which TWO actions will achieve this?
Hard108Which THREE of the following are valid Kubernetes resource types?
Medium109A DevOps engineer has created a ConfigMap named 'app-config' with some configuration data. They want to make that data available as environment variables in a pod. Which field in the pod spec should they use to achieve this?
Medium110Which Kubernetes controller ensures that a specified number of pod replicas are running at all times?
Medium111When creating a Deployment, you want to ensure that only a certain number of pods run at a time across all nodes. Which field in the Deployment spec controls this?
Medium112A developer has created a Deployment with 3 replicas. The application should be reachable from other Pods within the same cluster. Which Kubernetes resource should be used to provide a stable network endpoint?
Medium113You need to store a sensitive database password in Kubernetes. Which resource should you use?
Medium114A pod is experiencing high memory usage. The administrator wants to enforce that the pod is terminated if it exceeds a memory limit and restarted automatically, but also wants to guarantee a minimum amount of memory for the pod. Which resource specification should be used in the container definition?
Medium115A developer creates a Deployment with 3 replicas. The developer runs 'kubectl get pods' immediately after creation and sees that only 1 pod is in Running state, and the other 2 are Pending. What is the most likely reason for this?
Medium116Which two of the following are valid ways to expose a Deployment externally to the internet? (Select TWO)
Medium117A pod has resource requests: cpu: 250m, memory: 512Mi and limits: cpu: 500m, memory: 1Gi. If the container tries to use 600m CPU and 700Mi memory, what will happen?
Hard118A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. 'kubectl describe pod' shows '0/4 nodes are available: 4 Insufficient memory'. What is the most likely cause?
Hard119A DevOps engineer wants to ensure that a critical application pod is rescheduled on a different node if its current node fails. The pod should be scheduled with a preference for nodes in a specific availability zone but can run elsewhere if needed. Which scheduling mechanism should be used?
Hard120A pod is running but you need to view the contents of a file '/var/log/app.log' inside the container to debug an issue. Which kubectl command allows you to do this without modifying the pod?
Hard121Which three components are part of the Kubernetes control plane? (Select THREE)
Hard122Which Kubernetes control plane component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster, such as ensuring the correct number of pods are running?
Easy123An application requires a unique identifier per replica, stored in an environment variable. Which Kubernetes resource should be used to inject this identifier into each pod without manual updates?
Hard124Which TWO components are part of the Kubernetes control plane?
Medium125You run 'kubectl get pods' and see a Pod in the 'Pending' state. Which of the following is a likely cause?
Medium126Which TWO of the following are benefits of using a Deployment over managing ReplicaSets directly? (Choose two.)
Medium127What is the primary purpose of a liveness probe in a container?
Easy128A StatefulSet named 'web' with 3 replicas is deployed in the 'production' namespace. The first two pods are running, but the third pod 'web-2' is pending with the error shown. What is the most likely cause?
Hard129You need to run a batch job that processes a queue and then terminates. Which Kubernetes resource is most appropriate?
Medium130A DevOps engineer needs to expose a set of pods running an HTTP API to external clients. The pods are stateless and should be load-balanced. Which Kubernetes resource should they use?
Easy131A team observes that a Pod is stuck in CrashLoopBackOff. The Pod runs a single container with an entrypoint that exits with non-zero code after a few seconds. The team wants to inspect the container's logs to understand why it is crashing. Which command should they use?
Medium132An application requires that configuration data be mounted as a file inside the container. The data may change at runtime, and the application should automatically read the updated values without restarting. Which approach should be used?
Hard133Which Kubernetes component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster by running controllers?
Easy134What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes that can be created and managed?
Easy135Which command creates a Deployment named 'nginx' from the 'nginx:1.19' image?
Easy136Which two of the following are valid ways to set resource constraints on a container in a Pod spec?
Medium137Which Kubernetes object is used to store non-confidential configuration data that can be consumed by pods?
Medium138Which Kubernetes resource provides a stable IP address and DNS name to access a set of pods?
Easy139What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes that you can create and manage?
Easy140Which component runs on every worker node and is responsible for ensuring that containers are running in a pod as specified in the PodSpec?
Easy141A cluster administrator notices that a Deployment's pods are not receiving traffic as expected. The Service selector matches the pod labels. What is a possible cause?
Hard142Which of the following is a correct apiVersion for a Deployment in a modern Kubernetes cluster (v1.19+)?
Medium143Which Kubernetes control plane component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster by running controller loops?
Easy144An application requires that a set of Pods each be assigned a unique DNS name that can be used for peer-to-peer communication. Which Kubernetes resource should be used?
Hard145Which Kubernetes object provides a stable IP address and DNS name for a set of Pods?
Easy146Which two scenarios would benefit from using a StatefulSet instead of a Deployment? (Choose two.)
Hard147What is the primary purpose of a Kubernetes Service?
Easy148You want to view the logs of a container named 'app' inside a pod named 'web-pod-7d4f8'. Which kubectl command should you use?
Medium149A Deployment manages ReplicaSets. What is the primary benefit of using a Deployment over directly managing ReplicaSets?
Medium150Which command would you use to view the logs of a container named 'sidecar' inside a pod named 'app'?
Medium151What does the 'kubectl get pods' command display?
Medium152Which TWO of the following are true about Kubernetes Pods?
Hard153You have a Kubernetes cluster with multiple namespaces. You need to allow communication only from pods with label 'app: frontend' to pods with label 'app: backend' in the same namespace. Which resource should you use?
Medium154Which Kubernetes control plane component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster by running reconciliation loops?
Easy155Drag and drop the steps to set up a Kubernetes cluster using kubeadm into the correct order.
Medium156Which TWO of the following are control plane components? (Select TWO)
Medium157A pod has a liveness probe that returns failure. What action will Kubernetes take?
Medium158You want to create a new Namespace called 'staging' and apply a ResourceQuota to it. Which of the following YAML snippets correctly defines a ResourceQuota that limits total memory to 10Gi and total CPU to 5 cores in namespace 'staging'?
Hard159What is the purpose of a Namespace in Kubernetes?
Easy160Which THREE statements about Labels and Selectors are correct?
Hard161Which three of the following are valid ways to interact with the Kubernetes API? (Select THREE.)
Medium162Which THREE of the following are true about Kubernetes Namespaces?
Hard163What is the primary purpose of a Kubernetes Service?
Easy164You want to expose a set of pods running on node port 30080 to external traffic. Which Service type should you use?
Medium165Which THREE of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager?
Medium166A development team deploys a microservice that crashes every few minutes. The deployment uses a single replica, and the pod restarts repeatedly. Which Kubernetes feature should be enabled to ensure the service remains available during failures?
Medium167What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes that can be created, scheduled, and managed?
Easy168Which two of the following are responsibilities of the kubelet? (Select TWO.)
Medium169A Pod has two containers. You need to see the logs of the second container named 'sidecar'. Which kubectl command should you use?
Easy170A user wants to ensure that a Deployment undergoes a rolling update with zero downtime, and that new Pods are fully ready before old Pods are terminated. Which field in the Deployment spec controls this behavior?
Hard171A company wants to ensure that a database pod runs on a node with SSD storage. How should this be achieved?
Easy172Which THREE of the following are valid ways to expose a Service to external traffic? (Select exactly three.)
Medium173Which TWO of the following are true about Kubernetes Services? (Select 2)
Medium174What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy175A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. After running 'kubectl describe pod', you see the event: '0/3 nodes are available: 3 Insufficient cpu'. What is the most likely cause?
Medium176Which of the following is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy177Which control plane component is responsible for persisting the entire cluster state?
Medium178A team is designing a Kubernetes cluster for a production workload that requires high availability. They have three worker nodes in different availability zones. Which statement about scheduling Pods is correct?
Medium179Which TWO components run on every worker node in a Kubernetes cluster?
Easy180Match each cloud native concept to its definition.
Medium181Which component of the control plane is the only one that directly interacts with etcd?
Easy182Which TWO of the following are valid uses of Kubernetes Namespaces? (Select 2)
Medium183Which command is used to view detailed information about a specific pod, including events and conditions?
Easy184In a YAML manifest for a Deployment, which field defines the number of pod replicas?
Hard185You have a Deployment with the following rollout strategy: rollingUpdate: maxSurge: 1, maxUnavailable: 0. What behavior does this configuration enforce?
Hard186You have a Service of type ClusterIP named 'my-svc' in the 'default' namespace. A Pod in the same cluster wants to reach this Service using DNS. What is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that resolves to the Service's cluster IP?
Hard187You have a Service named 'my-svc' in namespace 'default'. A pod in namespace 'other' tries to reach it using the DNS name 'my-svc'. What is the correct DNS name for cross-namespace service discovery?
Hard188Which Kubernetes object is used to store non-sensitive configuration data that can be consumed by pods?
Medium189A team uses a Deployment with 3 replicas and a RollingUpdate strategy. They update the container image. During the update, one of the new pods fails to start. What will happen by default?
Medium190A ClusterIP Service named 'db-service' in namespace 'prod' selects pods with label 'app: database'. A pod in the same cluster needs to reach this service using DNS. What is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the service?
Hard191Which TWO statements about Kubernetes namespaces are true?
Medium192A developer wants to run a stateless web application with 5 replicas and ensure that when a new version is released, Pods are updated one by one with no downtime. Which Kubernetes resource is best suited?
Medium193Which TWO of the following are characteristics of a Kubernetes Pod?
Easy194You run 'kubectl get pods' and see a pod with status 'Pending'. Which is the most likely cause?
Medium195A cluster administrator wants to ensure that a specific pod only runs on nodes that have an SSD for local storage. The nodes with SSDs have the label 'disk-type: ssd'. How should the administrator configure the pod to enforce this constraint?
Hard196A developer created a Deployment with image 'myapp:v1' and then ran 'kubectl set image deployment/myapp myapp=myapp:v2'. What is the effect of this command?
Medium197Which Kubernetes component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster by running controller loops?
Easy198Which Kubernetes object is used to logically isolate resources within a cluster, such as for separating environments like dev and prod?
Easy199Which THREE of the following are valid ways to assign a pod to a specific node? (Choose three.)
Hard200A Deployment has a strategy of RollingUpdate with maxSurge=1 and maxUnavailable=0. The Deployment manages 3 replicas. The image is updated. What happens during the update?
Hard201What is the purpose of a Kubernetes Service?
Easy202What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy203Which TWO of the following are valid reasons that a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) may remain in 'Pending' state?
Hard204A developer deploys a CronJob that runs a batch job every 5 minutes. After a while, they notice that the job fails with 'DeadlineExceeded' and the pod is stuck in 'PodInitializing' state. What is the most likely reason?
Hard205Which component runs on every worker node and ensures that containers are running in a Pod as specified in the Pod manifest?
Medium206A developer creates a Service of type ClusterIP in namespace 'default'. They attempt to reach the Service from another pod in the same namespace using the Service name 'my-svc'. The connection fails. What is the most likely cause?
Hard207A pod is in CrashLoopBackOff state. 'kubectl logs pod' shows 'Error: cannot connect to database at db-service:5432'. The database Service exists and is reachable from other pods. What is the most likely cause?
Hard208Which TWO of the following are true about Kubernetes Pods?
Medium209You deploy a new version of your application by updating the container image in the Deployment manifest. The rollout seems to be progressing, but after a few minutes you notice that the new Pods are failing and the old Pods are still running. What is the most likely reason?
Hard210Which command would you use to view the logs of a container named 'nginx' in a Pod named 'web-pod'?
Easy211A pod in the 'production' namespace is in a CrashLoopBackOff state. The pod has been running successfully for several days. You run 'kubectl describe pod app-pod -n production' and see the message: 'OOMKilled'. What is the MOST appropriate action to resolve this issue?
Medium212You run 'kubectl get pods' and see a pod in 'Pending' state for over 5 minutes. You describe the pod and see '0/1 nodes are available: 1 Insufficient memory'. What is the most likely cause?
Hard213Which THREE of the following are core components of a Kubernetes worker node?
Medium214Which Kubernetes component is the primary entry point for all administrative tasks and API requests?
Easy215Which Kubernetes component is responsible for storing the cluster state?
Easy216Which TWO of the following are valid ways to expose a set of pods to traffic from outside the Kubernetes cluster?
Medium217You create a Service of type NodePort with nodePort: 30080. The cluster's nodes have IP addresses 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2. From outside the cluster, which address and port can you use to access the Service?
Hard218A team runs a stateless web application in Kubernetes. They have a Deployment named 'web-app' with 5 replicas. They want to ensure that a Service named 'web-svc' distributes traffic evenly to all healthy pods. Which type of Service should they use?
Medium219You have a Deployment defined with replicas: 5. You run 'kubectl scale deployment myapp --replicas=3'. Which component is responsible for ensuring the actual number of Pods matches the desired 3?
Hard220Which TWO of the following are true about Pod resource limits? (Select TWO)
Hard221You need to update a running Deployment to use a new container image. Which kubectl command should you use?
Medium222You need to expose a set of pods running a web application to internal cluster traffic on a stable IP address. Which resource should you create?
Medium223A developer deploys a pod that continuously restarts. 'kubectl describe pod' shows the container exits with code 137. What is the most likely cause?
Medium224Which component of the Kubernetes control plane is responsible for storing the cluster state?
Easy225A Pod is stuck in Pending state. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?
Medium226Which component is responsible for ensuring that containers are running as specified in a Pod's specification on a node?
Medium227A user runs 'kubectl create deployment my-deploy --image=nginx' and then wants to scale the deployment to 5 replicas. Which command should they use?
Medium228A pod in a ReplicaSet is failing with 'CrashLoopBackOff'. 'kubectl logs pod' shows 'Error: listen tcp :8080: bind: address already in use'. What is the most likely cause?
Hard229What is the primary purpose of a Kubernetes Service object?
Easy230Which TWO of the following are Kubernetes control plane components?
Medium231A pod is stuck in Terminating state for several minutes. What is the most likely cause?
Hard232Which TWO statements about Namespaces are correct?
Medium233What is the primary purpose of a Kubernetes Service?
Easy234Which TWO of the following are functions of the kube-controller-manager?
Easy235A pod is in 'Pending' state for a long time. What is the most likely cause?
Medium236What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes that can be created and managed?
Easy237You want to run a batch job that processes data and then terminates. Which Kubernetes resource is best suited for this workload?
Medium238Which TWO of the following statements about Kubernetes namespaces are true?
Hard239Which of the following kubectl commands would you use to apply a manifest file and also save it for later updates?
Hard240A Deployment named 'nginx' is failing to update. You run 'kubectl rollout status deployment nginx' and see 'Waiting for deployment "nginx" rollout to finish: 0 out of 3 new replicas have been updated...'. The pod template has an image that does not exist. What is the most likely cause?
Medium241You create a Pod with the following YAML. What will happen when you apply it?
Medium242You have a multi-container pod with containers 'app' and 'sidecar'. You need to execute a shell command inside the 'sidecar' container. Which kubectl command should you use?
Hard243Which Kubernetes object provides stable network endpoints and load balancing for a set of pods?
Easy244Which THREE of the following are valid reasons to use a StatefulSet instead of a Deployment? (Select 3)
Hard245What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy246A team wants to minimize downtime during a Deployment rollout. Which strategy ensures that new pods are created before old pods are terminated?
Medium247Which three of the following are valid methods to create or update resources in Kubernetes? (Choose three.)
Medium248An application running in a Kubernetes cluster needs to securely access a third-party API. The API key must be stored in the cluster and mounted into the Pod as an environment variable. Which is the best practice?
Hard249Which THREE of the following are true about Kubernetes labels and selectors?
Hard250Which Kubernetes object provides a stable IP address and DNS name to access a set of pods, and can perform load balancing?
Medium251What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy252A team notices that a pod remains in 'CrashLoopBackOff' state after deployment. The application logs show 'Error: unable to bind to port 8080'. What is the most likely cause?
Medium253What is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy254Match each Kubernetes scheduler concept to its description.
Medium255You need to ensure that a pod runs on a node with SSD storage. How can you achieve this?
Hard256A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. 'kubectl describe pod' shows '0/4 nodes are available: 4 node(s) had taint {node.kubernetes.io/unreachable: }, that the pod didn't tolerate.' What is the most likely cause?
Easy257Which Kubernetes object should you use to store non-sensitive configuration data that can be consumed by Pods as environment variables or mounted files?
Medium258A pod is stuck in 'Pending' state. Which of the following is a likely cause?
Medium259A Deployment named 'web-app' is configured with replicas: 3. You update the container image. Which Kubernetes object directly manages the pods during the rolling update?
Medium260Which kubectl command is used to see the logs of a container in a pod?
Easy261A developer reports that a Pod cannot reach another Service in the same namespace via its DNS name. The Service name is 'api'. What is the correct DNS query for a Pod to resolve this Service?
Hard262Which of the following is true about Kubernetes Namespaces?
Medium263Refer to the exhibit. The nginx Pod is created, but the Pod never becomes Ready. The container starts and runs. What is the most likely reason?
Hard264Which of the following is used to logically isolate resources within a Kubernetes cluster?
Easy265You want to deploy a stateless web application that should maintain 5 running instances at all times. You need to support rolling updates and rollbacks. Which Kubernetes resource is most appropriate?
Medium266Which TWO statements about Namespaces are correct?
Hard267Which TWO of the following statements about Kubernetes Deployments are correct? (Select 2)
Hard268Which TWO are valid reasons to use a Namespace in Kubernetes?
Medium269A pod named 'db' in the 'default' namespace cannot connect to another pod named 'cache' in the 'prod' namespace via DNS. The service 'cache-svc' exists in the 'prod' namespace. What DNS name should the 'db' pod use to reach the 'cache-svc' service?
Hard270You need to create a ConfigMap from a file named 'app.properties'. Which kubectl command should you use?
Medium271What is the primary purpose of Kubernetes?
Easy272An administrator notices that a pod in a Deployment is stuck in CrashLoopBackOff. The pod logs show 'Error: failed to start container: exec: "app": executable file not found in $PATH'. What is the most likely cause?
Hard273Which TWO of the following are functions of the kube-controller-manager?
Medium274A user reports that a web application is not accessible via its Service. The Service is of type ClusterIP. Which TWO steps should be taken to troubleshoot?
Hard275You have a Namespace 'team-a' and you want to see all Pods in that namespace, including those that are not ready. Which command should you use?
Medium276You create a Deployment with replicas: 3. You then scale the Deployment to 5 replicas. What is the order of operations that the Deployment controller follows?
Hard277Which Kubernetes control plane component acts as the entry point for all administrative tasks and provides the REST API?
Easy278You need to provide configuration data as environment variables to a pod, but the data is not sensitive. Which object should you use?
Medium279Which command creates a Deployment named 'nginx-deployment' from the image 'nginx:1.25' and exposes it on port 80?
Medium280Which THREE statements about Kubernetes Services are correct?
Hard281What is the purpose of a Service in Kubernetes?
Easy282Which two statements correctly describe etcd in a Kubernetes cluster?
Medium283You have a web application that needs to read configuration from a file and also access a database password. Which combination of resources should you use to manage these configurations securely?
Hard284Which of the following is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes?
Easy285Which API version is correct for a Deployment in modern Kubernetes (v1.29+)?
Medium286An administrator runs 'kubectl get pods' and sees that a pod is in 'Pending' state. 'kubectl describe pod' shows the event: '0/4 nodes are available: 1 node had taints that the pod didn't tolerate, 3 nodes had insufficient memory'. What is the most likely issue?
Medium287What is the primary purpose of the `kubectl apply` command?
Easy288You have a Pod that is running but not receiving traffic. You suspect the associated Service's selector does not match the Pod labels. Which kubectl command would you use to check the Service's selector?
Hard289You are asked to schedule a pod on a node that has SSD storage. Which mechanism should you use to achieve this?
Hard290Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager? (Select 2)
Easy291You need to store a database password securely and make it available to a Pod as an environment variable. Which Kubernetes resource should you create?
Medium292Which kubectl command would you use to view detailed information about a pod named 'web-pod' in the 'default' namespace?
Easy293A pod is stuck in Pending state. Which of the following is the MOST likely reason?
Medium294Which Kubernetes control plane component is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster by running controllers?
Easy295Which of the following is a way to provide configuration data to a pod without baking it into the container image?
Medium296A user reports that they cannot connect to a Service from within the cluster. The Service is of type ClusterIP. Running 'kubectl get endpoints service-name' shows no endpoints. What is the most likely cause?
Hard297You need to store a database password securely and expose it to a Pod as an environment variable. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?
Medium298A developer needs to deploy a stateless application with three replicas and ensure that updates are rolled out with zero downtime. Which Kubernetes resource is most appropriate?
Medium299Which kubectl command would you use to view the detailed state of a pod named 'web-pod' in the 'default' namespace?
Easy300A developer creates a pod that needs to securely access a database password stored in the cluster. Which Kubernetes resource should be used to inject the password as an environment variable?
Easy301You have a Deployment named 'web-app' with 3 replicas. You need to scale it to 5 replicas. Which kubectl command should you use?
Medium302A Pod is in 'CrashLoopBackOff' state. You run 'kubectl logs <pod>' and see an error that the application cannot bind to port 8080 because the port is already in use. What is the most likely cause?
Hard303You have a pod that needs to securely access a database password. Which Kubernetes resource should you use to store the password?
Medium304Which three of the following are true about etcd in Kubernetes?
Hard305Which TWO statements about Kubernetes Services are correct?
Medium306What is the function of kube-proxy on a worker node?
Medium307A pod has resource requests set to 'cpu: 500m' and 'memory: 256Mi'. The node has 2 CPU cores and 4Gi memory. How many pods with the same resource requests can be scheduled on that node, assuming no other pods?
Hard308You need to securely store a database password for use by a Pod. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?
Medium309Which TWO of the following are characteristics of a Namespace in Kubernetes?
Medium310A pod in the 'default' namespace has the following YAML snippet: securityContext: runAsUser: 1000 runAsGroup: 3000 fsGroup: 2000 What is the effect of the fsGroup field?
Hard311Which TWO of the following are valid ways to assign a pod to a specific node?
Medium312Which two of the following are true about ConfigMaps? (Select TWO.)
Medium313You run 'kubectl logs my-pod' and see: "Error from server (BadRequest): container "my-container" in pod "my-pod" is waiting to start: PodInitializing". What does this mean?
Hard314A pod in the 'production' namespace is in a CrashLoopBackOff state. The pod has been running successfully for several days. You run 'kubectl describe pod app-pod -n production' and see the message: 'OOMKilled'. What is the MOST appropriate action to resolve this issue?
Medium315A pod in the 'production' namespace is in a CrashLoopBackOff state. The pod has been running successfully for several days. You run 'kubectl describe pod app-pod -n production' and see the message: 'OOMKilled'. What is the MOST appropriate action to resolve this issue?
Medium316Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of the kubelet on a worker node?
Medium317Which TWO components are part of a Kubernetes worker node?
Easy318A Pod has a container that needs to write logs to a file. The administrator wants the logs to persist even if the container restarts. What is the simplest solution?
Easy319A developer deploys a pod with the following resource specification: ```yaml resources: requests: memory: "256Mi" limits: memory: "512Mi" ``` The pod is killed with OOMKilled. What is the most likely cause?
Medium320Which Kubernetes control plane component is the primary entry point for all administrative tasks and serves the Kubernetes API?
Easy321Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager?
Medium322A Deployment is configured with 'replicas: 4' and 'strategy.type: RollingUpdate'. You update the container image. What behavior does the Deployment exhibit?
Medium323You want to update a Deployment's container image to v2 and perform a rolling update using the simplest imperative command. Which kubectl command achieves this?
Medium324A Service of type ClusterIP is created to expose a set of pods. How does the Service achieve load balancing to the pods?
Medium325Which two of the following are Kubernetes controllers that run inside the kube-controller-manager? (Select TWO)
Medium326Which TWO of the following are valid methods for exposing a Service externally?
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the Kubernetes Fundamentals domain cover on the KCNA exam?
- Kubernetes Fundamentals questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.
- How many questions are in this domain?
- This page lists all 326 Kubernetes Fundamentals questions in the KCNA question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
- What is the best way to practise this domain?
- Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
- Can I practise only Kubernetes Fundamentals questions?
- Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.