KCNA Cloud Native Architecture Practice Question
Which service mesh component is typically deployed as a sidecar proxy alongside application containers?
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
✓
Envoy proxy
Envoy proxy is the most common sidecar proxy in service meshes like Istio and Linkerd. Istiod is the control plane component, Kiali is a visualization tool, and Prometheus is a monitoring system.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Kiali
Why it's wrong here
Kiali is a management console that visualises mesh topology and traffic, not a data-plane proxy. It runs centrally, querying Prometheus and Istio configuration to render dashboards. It would be the right answer if the question asked which tool provides observability into an Istio service mesh.
- ✗
Istiod
Why it's wrong here
Istiod is the control plane, distributing configuration and certificates to Envoy proxies; it runs as a centralised Deployment, not injected into application pods. It would be correct if the question asked which component performs service discovery, configuration translation and certificate authority duties for the mesh.
- ✗
Prometheus
Why it's wrong here
Prometheus is a monitoring system that scrapes metrics from mesh workloads; it runs as its own server, not as a per-pod proxy intercepting traffic. It would be the correct choice if the question asked which component collects and stores time-series telemetry from the service mesh.
- ✓
Envoy proxy
Why this is correct
Envoy is the data-plane proxy that service meshes such as Istio inject as a sidecar container beside each application pod. It intercepts inbound and outbound traffic to enforce routing, mTLS and telemetry policies, satisfying the sidecar proxy role described.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Native Application Design Principles
Key term
Service Mesh
A service mesh is a dedicated infrastructure layer that manages communication between microservices, handling tasks like service discovery, load balancing, encryption, and observability without requiring changes to application code.
About these practice questions
This KCNA question is part of Courseiva's 930-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.