This KCNA practice question tests your understanding of container orchestration. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
You are writing a Deployment YAML (apps/v1) for a stateless web application. The application should have 3 replicas and use rolling updates with maxSurge=1 and maxUnavailable=0. Which field should you set under spec.strategy?
type: Recreate
Why wrong: Recreate terminates all pods before creating new ones, not rolling.
type: Canary
Why wrong: Canary is not a standard Deployment strategy type.
type: OnDelete
Why wrong: OnDelete is used with DaemonSet, not Deployment.
type: RollingUpdate with rollingUpdate: { maxSurge: 1, maxUnavailable: 0 }
This matches the requirement.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
type: RollingUpdate with rollingUpdate: { maxSurge: 1, maxUnavailable: 0 }
Option D is correct because the Deployment's `spec.strategy.type` must be set to `RollingUpdate` to enable a controlled, incremental update of pods. The `rollingUpdate` field then allows you to specify `maxSurge: 1` (one extra pod above the desired count during update) and `maxUnavailable: 0` (ensure all existing pods remain available during the update), which is the exact configuration for a zero-downtime rolling update with a single surge pod.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
type: Recreate
Why it's wrong here
Recreate terminates all pods before creating new ones, not rolling.
type: Canary
Why it's wrong here
Canary is not a standard Deployment strategy type.
type: OnDelete
Why it's wrong here
OnDelete is used with DaemonSet, not Deployment.
type: RollingUpdate with rollingUpdate: { maxSurge: 1, maxUnavailable: 0 }
Why this is correct
This matches the requirement.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
CNCF often tests the misconception that `maxSurge` and `maxUnavailable` are top-level fields under `spec.strategy`, when in fact they must be nested inside `rollingUpdate` and the `type` must explicitly be set to `RollingUpdate`.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, the `RollingUpdate` strategy works by creating a new ReplicaSet and scaling it up by `maxSurge` (e.g., 1 pod) while scaling down the old ReplicaSet by `maxUnavailable` (e.g., 0 pods), ensuring the total number of available pods never drops below the desired count. A subtle behavior is that `maxSurge` can be an absolute number or a percentage (e.g., '25%'), and when combined with `maxUnavailable: 0`, the update proceeds one pod at a time, which is critical for stateful workloads or high-traffic web apps that cannot tolerate any downtime.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the KCNA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Container Orchestration — This question tests Container Orchestration — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: type: RollingUpdate with rollingUpdate: { maxSurge: 1, maxUnavailable: 0 } — Option D is correct because the Deployment's `spec.strategy.type` must be set to `RollingUpdate` to enable a controlled, incremental update of pods. The `rollingUpdate` field then allows you to specify `maxSurge: 1` (one extra pod above the desired count during update) and `maxUnavailable: 0` (ensure all existing pods remain available during the update), which is the exact configuration for a zero-downtime rolling update with a single surge pod.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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