KCNA Cloud Native Observability Practice Question
Which Prometheus metric type is best suited for counting the total number of HTTP requests received by a service?
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
✓
Counter
A counter is a cumulative metric that only increases (or resets to zero). It is ideal for counting events like HTTP requests.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Summary
Why it's wrong here
A summary is similar to a histogram but calculates quantiles over a sliding time window.
- ✓
Counter
Why this is correct
Correct. A counter is cumulative and only increases, perfect for counting total requests.
- ✗
Gauge
Why it's wrong here
A gauge represents a value that can go up and down, like memory usage.
- ✗
Histogram
Why it's wrong here
A histogram samples observations (e.g., request durations) and counts them in configurable buckets.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.