This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of managing service incidents. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 GKE cluster node fails, causing pods to be rescheduled. However, some pods remain in 'CrashLoopBackOff' state. After examining logs, you find the application has a dependency on local SSD that was ephemeral. What is the best long-term solution?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Use PersistentVolumes with ReadWriteOnce access mode.
PersistentVolumes retain data across pod rescheduling and node failures.
Configure pod anti-affinity.
Why wrong: Anti-affinity spreads pods but does not address storage.
Increase the node pool size.
Why wrong: Scaling does not fix the data persistence issue.
Use a DaemonSet to run the application.
Why wrong: DaemonSets do not provide persistent storage.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use PersistentVolumes with ReadWriteOnce access mode.
The correct answer is A because the application's dependency on local SSD (ephemeral storage) means that when the node fails, the data is lost, causing the pods to crash. PersistentVolumes (PVs) with ReadWriteOnce (RWO) access mode provide durable, node-independent storage that survives node failures, ensuring pods can be rescheduled on any node and access their data. This is the best long-term solution because it decouples storage from the node lifecycle, preventing CrashLoopBackOff due to missing local data.
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.
Use PersistentVolumes with ReadWriteOnce access mode.
Why this is correct
PersistentVolumes retain data across pod rescheduling and node failures.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Configure pod anti-affinity.
Why it's wrong here
Anti-affinity spreads pods but does not address storage.
Increase the node pool size.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling does not fix the data persistence issue.
Use a DaemonSet to run the application.
Why it's wrong here
DaemonSets do not provide persistent storage.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that scaling resources (e.g., node pool size) or controlling pod placement (e.g., anti-affinity) can fix data persistence issues, but the trap here is that ephemeral storage is tied to the node's lifecycle, so only persistent storage solutions like PersistentVolumes address the root cause.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, GKE nodes use local SSDs as ephemeral storage backed by the node's instance storage, which is lost on node termination. PersistentVolumes with RWO mode leverage GCE Persistent Disks (or other CSI drivers) that are network-attached and survive node failures. A subtle behavior is that RWO allows only one node to mount the volume at a time, which is fine for a single replica; for multi-replica workloads, ReadWriteMany (RWX) or StatefulSets with volumeClaimTemplates are needed. In real-world scenarios, this is critical for stateful applications like databases (e.g., Cassandra) that require durable storage across node failures.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Managing service incidents — This question tests Managing service incidents — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use PersistentVolumes with ReadWriteOnce access mode. — The correct answer is A because the application's dependency on local SSD (ephemeral storage) means that when the node fails, the data is lost, causing the pods to crash. PersistentVolumes (PVs) with ReadWriteOnce (RWO) access mode provide durable, node-independent storage that survives node failures, ensuring pods can be rescheduled on any node and access their data. This is the best long-term solution because it decouples storage from the node lifecycle, preventing CrashLoopBackOff due to missing local data.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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