KCNA Container Orchestration Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are correct statements about Kubernetes Deployments?
⚠ Common exam trap
The KCNA exam often tests the misconception that Deployments directly manage Pods, when in fact they manage ReplicaSets, and that canary deployments are a built-in feature of Deployments, whereas they require external traffic management.
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
✓
A Deployment manages ReplicaSets
Option B is correct because a Deployment does not manage Pods directly; it creates and manages ReplicaSets, which in turn manage the Pods, enabling versioned rollouts. Option D is correct because the default .spec.strategy.type for a Deployment is RollingUpdate, which gradually replaces old Pods with new ones to avoid downtime. Option E is correct because Deployments retain revision history (controlled by .spec.revisionHistoryLimit) and support kubectl rollout undo to roll back to a previous revision. Option A is not correct because Deployments do not natively support canary deployments; canary releases require additional tooling or manual manipulation of replicas/selectors. Option C is not correct because Deployments manage ReplicaSets, not Pods directly.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deployments support canary deployments natively
Why it's wrong here
Native canary releases are not a Deployment feature; achieving them requires multiple Deployments with a Service or an ingress controller splitting traffic. It is tempting because rolling updates resemble gradual rollouts, but they replace Pods across one ReplicaSet rather than shifting traffic between versions.
- ✓
A Deployment manages ReplicaSets
Why this is correct
A Deployment owns and manages ReplicaSets, creating a new ReplicaSet for each revision while retaining older ones. This ownership hierarchy is what enables declarative scaling and rollouts, since the Deployment controller reconciles desired replica counts through the ReplicaSet it governs.
- ✗
A Deployment directly manages Pods
Why it's wrong here
A Deployment manages ReplicaSets, which in turn manage Pods; it never owns Pods directly. This is tempting because deleting a Deployment does remove its Pods, but that happens through the ReplicaSet layer, which is the actual controller responsible for Pod lifecycle.
- ✓
The default update strategy is RollingUpdate
Why this is correct
RollingUpdate is the default strategy, satisfying the stem's requirement for a correct Deployment statement. It replaces pods incrementally, keeping a configurable maximum unavailable and maximum surge, so a new ReplicaSet scales up while the old scales down. This preserves availability during updates without manual intervention.
- ✓
Deployment supports rolling back to an earlier revision
Why this is correct
Deployments retain a configurable revision history, so `kubectl rollout undo` reverts pods to a prior ReplicaSet spec, satisfying the requirement to restore an earlier state. This rollback capability distinguishes Deployments from standalone pods, which keep no revision record and therefore cannot be reverted.
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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.