EX280 Troubleshooting And Diagnostics Practice Question
An application team reports that their application cannot connect to an external database due to a firewall blocking port 3306. The administrator wants to test network connectivity from inside a running application pod to the external database host. Which tool can they run using 'oc exec'?
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
✓
oc exec <pod-name> -- nc -zv db.example.com 3306
Running nc (netcat), telnet, or curl inside the running container via oc exec tests TCP socket connectivity to external endpoints.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
oc network test db.example.com 3306
Why it's wrong here
No such network test command exists in the OpenShift CLI.
- ✓
oc exec <pod-name> -- nc -zv db.example.com 3306
Why this is correct
Netcat (nc) executed via oc exec is a standard tool to test TCP port connectivity from a pod.
- ✗
oc adm port-forward pod/<pod-name> 3306:3306
Why it's wrong here
Port-forward maps local workstation ports to the pod, not from the pod to external targets.
- ✗
oc debug pod/<pod-name> -- test-connection
Why it's wrong here
No such test-connection flag exists for oc debug.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Red Hat exam blueprint
This EX280 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat 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 EX280 exam.