KCNA Cloud Native Architecture Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are resiliency patterns commonly used in cloud native applications? (Choose three.)
⚠ Common exam trap
CNCF often tests the distinction between design patterns (like Singleton) and cloud-native resiliency patterns (like Retry, Timeout, Circuit Breaker), so candidates mistakenly select Singleton because it is a well-known pattern, but it does not address fault tolerance or failure recovery.
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
✓
Retry
The Retry pattern is a fundamental resiliency mechanism in cloud-native applications. When a transient failure occurs (e.g., a network timeout or a temporary database unavailability), the application automatically reattempts the failed operation. This pattern is often implemented with exponential backoff and jitter to avoid overwhelming the downstream service, as seen in libraries like Netflix Hystrix or Kubernetes client-go retry logic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Retry
Why this is correct
Retrying failed operations can handle transient failures.
- ✓
Timeout
Why this is correct
Setting timeouts prevents waiting indefinitely.
- ✗
Singleton pattern
Why it's wrong here
Singleton limits instances but is not a resiliency pattern.
- ✓
Circuit breaker
Why this is correct
Circuit breaker stops cascading failures.
- ✗
Round-robin load balancing
Why it's wrong here
Load balancing is a distribution pattern, not specifically resiliency.
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