KCNA Cloud Native Application Delivery Practice Question
Which TWO statements are true about Kubernetes Deployments?
⚠ Common exam trap
CNCF often tests the misconception that Deployments are suitable for stateful workloads or that they inherently expose applications externally, when in fact StatefulSets and Services are the correct components for those responsibilities.
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
✓
Deployments support rolling updates and rollbacks.
Option A is correct because a Deployment's pod template is versioned, and the Deployment controller performs rolling updates by incrementally replacing old ReplicaSet pods with new ones, while `kubectl rollout undo` reverts to a previous revision. Option C is correct because a Deployment does not manage pods directly; it creates and manages a ReplicaSet, which in turn maintains the desired number of pod replicas and scales them as the Deployment's spec changes. Option B is not correct because StatefulSets, not Deployments, are the recommended controller for stateful applications requiring stable network identities and persistent per-pod storage. Option D is not correct because Deployments provide no built-in external load balancer; external exposure requires a Service of type LoadBalancer, NodePort, or an Ingress. Option E is not correct because running a pod on every node is the job of a DaemonSet, not a Deployment.
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 rolling updates and rollbacks.
Why this is correct
Deployments manage ReplicaSets to perform rolling updates, replacing pods gradually while maintaining availability, and retain revision history so `kubectl rollout undo` can revert to a prior ReplicaSet. This satisfies the stem's requirement for both update and rollback capability, unlike bare pods or standalone ReplicaSets.
- ✗
Deployments are the recommended controller for stateful applications.
Why it's wrong here
Deployments suit stateless workloads with interchangeable replicas; StatefulSets provide stable network identities, ordered rollout and per-pod PersistentVolumeClaims. StatefulSets are correct for databases and clustered systems needing persistent storage and ordinal naming, which Deployments cannot guarantee.
- ✓
A Deployment creates a ReplicaSet to ensure the desired number of pod replicas are running.
Why this is correct
A Deployment manages rolling updates by creating and owning a ReplicaSet, which in turn maintains the specified replica count of pods. This satisfies the stem's requirement for a true statement: the Deployment delegates replica enforcement to the ReplicaSet rather than managing pods directly.
- ✗
Deployments can expose applications externally via a built-in load balancer.
Why it's wrong here
Deployments only manage pod replicas and ReplicaSets; external exposure requires a Service of type LoadBalancer or an Ingress resource, which cloud controllers provision. A LoadBalancer Service is the right choice when publishing a workload outside the cluster, not the Deployment itself.
- ✗
Deployments are used to run a pod on every node in the cluster.
Why it's wrong here
Deployments manage replicated, stateless pods with a desired replica count; running one pod per node is the job of a DaemonSet, which schedules via node affinity and tolerations. DaemonSets suit log shippers, node exporters and CNI agents, so this describes that controller rather than Deployments.
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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.