KCNA Kubernetes Fundamentals Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse the kube-controller-manager's role in 'managing controllers' with the scheduler's role in 'assigning Pods to nodes', or they mistakenly think the controller-manager serves the API because it interacts with the API server.
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
✓
Creating Endpoints objects for Services
The kube-controller-manager includes the EndpointSlice controller (or the legacy Endpoints controller), which is responsible for creating and updating Endpoints (and EndpointSlice) objects to reflect the IP addresses and ports of Pods that match a Service's label selector. This ensures that the Service's DNS or iptables rules point to healthy Pods.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Assigning Pods to Nodes
Why it's wrong here
This is the job of the kube-scheduler.
- ✓
Creating Endpoints objects for Services
Why this is correct
The Endpoints Controller populates Endpoints objects based on Service selectors.
- ✓
Monitoring Node health and reacting to Node failures
Why this is correct
The Node Controller monitors nodes and marks them as unhealthy.
- ✓
Ensuring the correct number of Pod replicas are running
Why this is correct
ReplicationController and ReplicaSet controllers ensure the desired number of pods.
- ✗
Serving the Kubernetes API
Why it's wrong here
This is the role of the kube-apiserver.
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Same concept, more angles
3 more ways this is tested on KCNA
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Variation 1. Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager? (Select 2)
easy- ✓ A.Ensuring the desired number of pod replicas are running
- B.Implementing service networking rules
- C.Storing the cluster state
- ✓ D.Detecting node failures and reacting
- E.Scheduling pods onto nodes
Why A: The kube-controller-manager is responsible for running controller processes that regulate the state of the cluster. Option A is correct because the ReplicaSet controller, which runs inside the kube-controller-manager, continuously monitors the number of running pods and ensures it matches the desired replica count defined in the ReplicaSet or Deployment object. If a pod fails or is deleted, the controller creates a replacement to maintain the desired state.
Variation 2. Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager?
hard- A.Assigning pods to nodes
- B.Storing cluster state
- ✓ C.Managing endpoint objects for Services
- ✓ D.Monitoring node health
- E.Serving the Kubernetes API
Why C: The kube-controller-manager runs controllers that handle routine tasks. The Node controller watches the health of nodes. The Endpoint controller (now EndpointSlice controller) manages endpoints for Services. Assigning pods to nodes is done by the scheduler. Storing cluster state is done by etcd. Serving the Kubernetes API is done by kube-apiserver.
Variation 3. Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the kube-controller-manager?
medium- A.Assigning pods to nodes based on resource requirements
- ✓ B.Ensuring the correct number of pod replicas are running
- C.Implementing network rules for Services
- ✓ D.Monitoring node health and responding to node failures
- E.Storing the cluster state
Why B: The kube-controller-manager runs controller processes that regulate the state of the cluster. The ReplicaSet controller, which runs inside the kube-controller-manager, is responsible for ensuring that the desired number of pod replicas are running at all times, creating or deleting pods as necessary to match the specified replica count.
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.