KCNA Cloud Native Architecture Practice Question
In a microservices application, you want to prevent cascading failures by limiting the number of concurrent requests to a downstream service. Which resilience pattern should you implement?
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
✓
Bulkhead pattern
The bulkhead pattern isolates resources into separate pools (e.g., thread pools) to limit the impact of a failure in one service on others.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Circuit breaker
Why it's wrong here
Circuit breaker stops requests when failure threshold is reached but does not limit concurrent requests.
- ✗
Timeout pattern
Why it's wrong here
Timeout pattern sets a time limit for responses, but does not limit concurrency.
- ✓
Bulkhead pattern
Why this is correct
Bulkhead pattern partitions resources to prevent a single service from exhausting all resources.
- ✗
Retry pattern
Why it's wrong here
Retry pattern resends failed requests, but can increase load.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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