ACE Practice Question: A production GKE cluster is running low on node…
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of a production gke cluster is running low on node…. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
A production GKE cluster is running low on node resources. Pods are in Pending state because no node has sufficient CPU or memory. Without deleting existing Pods, what is the fastest way to resolve this?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
Upgrade the Kubernetes control plane version
Control plane upgrades don't add node capacity and can cause disruption — they don't resolve resource shortfalls.
Best answer
Resize the node pool to add more nodes: `gcloud container clusters resize`
`gcloud container clusters resize [CLUSTER] --node-pool=[POOL] --num-nodes=[N]` adds nodes immediately. If cluster autoscaler is enabled, it will do this automatically when Pods are Pending.
Distractor review
Delete existing Pods to free resources for the Pending Pods
Deleting Pods reduces the cluster load but disrupts existing workloads — the question specifically asks for a solution without deleting Pods.
Distractor review
Change the Pending Pods' resource requests to zero
Removing resource requests is a bad practice — it makes scheduling unpredictable and can cause resource contention. It also requires modifying Deployments.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Related practice questions
Related ACE practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
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Question 4
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Question 6
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this ACE question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Resize the node pool to add more nodes: `gcloud container clusters resize` — Manually adding nodes (increasing node pool size) or using cluster autoscaling immediately resolves capacity shortfalls. If cluster autoscaler is enabled, it will automatically provision new nodes. If not, manually scaling the node pool is the direct fix.
What should I do if I get this ACE question wrong?
Identify which ACE exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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This ACE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 ACE exam.