Passing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam demonstrates that you understand Kubernetes administration and can solve hands-on problems under pressure.
However, passing the exam is only part of the journey.
When interviewing for Kubernetes, DevOps, SRE, or Platform Engineering roles, you’ll often encounter a different challenge:
Can you explain Kubernetes concepts clearly and confidently?
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many engineers can execute kubectl commands but struggle to explain the reasoning behind them during interviews.
In this article, I’ve compiled some of the most common Kubernetes interview questions that every CKA should be able to answer, along with several advanced questions that frequently appear in senior-level interviews.
Let’s dive in.
Beginner-Level Questions
1. What is Kubernetes?
Answer:
Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that automates:
Deployment
Scaling
Management
Networking
of containerized applications.
It helps organizations run applications reliably across clusters of servers.
2. What is a Pod?
Answer:
A Pod is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes.
A Pod can contain:
Containers inside the same Pod share:
Network namespace
Storage volumes
3. What is the difference between a Pod and a Deployment?
Answer:
A Pod runs containers.
A Deployment manages Pods.
Deployments provide:
Self-healing
Scaling
Rolling updates
Rollbacks
In production, Pods are usually managed through Deployments.
4. What is a Namespace?
Answer:
Namespaces logically separate resources within a cluster.
They are commonly used for:
Development
Testing
Production
Team isolation
5. What is a Service?
Answer:
A Service provides stable network access to a group of Pods.
Since Pods are ephemeral and their IP addresses change, Services provide a consistent endpoint for communication.
6. Explain the difference between ClusterIP, NodePort, and LoadBalancer.
ClusterIP
- Internal cluster communication only
NodePort
- Exposes service through a node port
LoadBalancer
Interview Tip:
Be prepared to explain when you would use each type.
7. What is Ingress?
Answer:
Ingress manages external HTTP and HTTPS access into Kubernetes clusters.
Benefits include:
Host-based routing
Path-based routing
SSL/TLS termination
Think of Ingress as the front door to your applications.
8. What is the role of etcd?
Answer:
etcd is Kubernetes’ distributed key-value store.
It stores:
Pods
Deployments
Secrets
ConfigMaps
Cluster state
etcd is considered the source of truth for Kubernetes.
9. What is kube-apiserver?
Answer:
The API Server is the central communication hub of Kubernetes.
All components interact through it.
Whenever you run:
kubectl get pods
the request is processed through the API Server.
10. What happens when you create a Pod?
Answer:
A typical flow is:
User submits YAML
API Server receives request
Data stored in etcd
Scheduler selects node
Kubelet creates Pod
Container runtime starts containers
This is one of the most common interview questions.
11. What is a ConfigMap?
Answer:
A ConfigMap is used to store non-sensitive configuration data as key-value pairs.
Applications can consume ConfigMaps through:
Environment variables
Command-line arguments
Mounted files
ConfigMaps help separate configuration from application code.
12. What is a Secret?
Answer:
Secrets are used to store sensitive information such as:
Passwords
API keys
Tokens
Certificates
Although Secrets are base64 encoded by default, additional encryption mechanisms should be used in production environments.
Advanced-Level Questions
13. How does Kubernetes scheduling work?
Answer:
The scheduler identifies suitable nodes based on:
Resource availability
Node selectors
Taints and tolerations
Affinity rules
Then it assigns the Pod to an appropriate node.
14. What are Taints and Tolerations?
Answer:
Taints prevent Pods from being scheduled onto specific nodes.
Tolerations allow Pods to ignore those restrictions.
They’re commonly used for:
15. What is RBAC?
Answer:
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) controls access within Kubernetes.
Key components:
Roles
ClusterRoles
RoleBindings
ClusterRoleBindings
RBAC answers:
Who can do what and where?
16. Explain Persistent Volumes and Persistent Volume Claims.
Persistent Volume (PV)
Represents storage.
Persistent Volume Claim (PVC)
Represents a request for storage.
This abstraction separates infrastructure from application requirements.
17. What is a StatefulSet?
Answer:
StatefulSets manage stateful applications.
They provide:
Stable identities
Stable storage
Predictable ordering
Examples:
18. What is the difference between a Deployment and a StatefulSet?
Answer:
A Deployment is designed for stateless applications where Pods are interchangeable.
A StatefulSet is designed for stateful applications that require:
Examples:
19. What are Node Affinity and Pod Affinity?
Answer:
Affinity rules influence scheduling decisions.
Node Affinity
Schedules Pods onto specific nodes based on labels.
Pod Affinity
Schedules Pods close to other Pods.
Pod Anti-Affinity
Ensures Pods are spread across nodes for high availability.
20. What is the difference between a DaemonSet and a Deployment?
Answer:
A Deployment runs a specified number of Pod replicas.
A DaemonSet ensures that a Pod runs on every node (or selected nodes).
Common DaemonSet use cases:
Fluent Bit
Prometheus Node Exporter
Security agents
Log collectors
21. Explain the Kubernetes networking model.
Answer:
Kubernetes networking follows these principles:
Every Pod gets its own IP address.
Pods can communicate with each other without NAT.
Nodes can communicate with Pods.
Services provide stable access to Pods.
Popular CNI plugins include:
Expert-Level Questions (Frequently Asked in Senior Interviews)
22. How does kube-proxy work?
Answer:
kube-proxy manages network rules on nodes and enables communication between Services and Pods.
It can operate in:
It watches the API Server and updates networking rules dynamically.
23. What happens if etcd becomes unavailable?
Answer:
If etcd becomes unavailable:
Existing workloads continue running.
New cluster changes cannot be persisted.
Scheduling and API operations may fail.
Control plane functionality becomes degraded.
This is why etcd backups and high availability are critical.
24. Explain the difference between Requests and Limits.
Answer:
Requests
Guaranteed resources used by the scheduler when placing Pods.
Limits
Maximum resources a container can consume.
Improper configuration can lead to:
25. What is the difference between Container Runtime Interface (CRI), CNI, and CSI?
Answer:
CRI
Container Runtime Interface
Examples:
CNI
Container Network Interface
Examples:
CSI
Container Storage Interface
Used for integrating storage providers with Kubernetes.
This question is commonly asked in senior Kubernetes interviews.
26. How would you design a highly available Kubernetes control plane?
Answer:
A highly available control plane typically includes:
Multiple API Servers
Multiple Controller Managers
Multiple Schedulers
Highly available etcd cluster
Load balancer in front of API Servers
The goal is to eliminate single points of failure.
Answer:
Deployments use rolling updates to gradually replace old Pods with new ones.
Key parameters:
Benefits:
Troubleshooting Questions
28. A Pod is stuck in CrashLoopBackOff. What would you do?
Possible steps:
kubectl describe pod
kubectl logs
kubectl logs --previous
Common causes:
Application crash
Missing configuration
Startup failures
Resource constraints
Interviewers love troubleshooting scenarios.
29. A Service is not reaching Pods. How would you troubleshoot?
Checklist:
Verify Service exists
Check selectors
Verify endpoints
Confirm Pods are healthy
Test networking
Commands:
kubectl get svc
kubectl get endpoints
kubectl describe svc
30. How would you troubleshoot a Node that is NotReady?
Check:
kubectl get nodes
kubectl describe node
Investigate:
kubelet status
networking issues
disk pressure
memory pressure
31. A Pod is stuck in Pending state. What could be the reasons?
Common causes include:
Insufficient CPU or memory
Missing Persistent Volume
Node selector mismatch
Taints without tolerations
Unschedulable nodes
Useful commands:
kubectl describe pod
kubectl get events
32. How would you troubleshoot DNS issues inside a cluster?
Steps:
Verify CoreDNS Pods are running
Check DNS resolution from a test Pod
Inspect CoreDNS logs
Verify Service and network connectivity
Commands:
kubectl get pods -n kube-system
kubectl logs -n kube-system deployment/coredns
33. A Pod can reach other Pods but cannot access external websites. How would you troubleshoot?
Possible causes:
DNS issues
Network policies
NAT gateway problems
Firewall restrictions
CNI configuration issues
Investigation steps:
This is a common real-world troubleshooting scenario.
Production-Focused Questions
34. How do you secure Kubernetes?
Topics to mention:
RBAC
Network Policies
Pod Security
Secrets Management
Image Scanning
Admission Controllers
This demonstrates production awareness.
Examples:
Prometheus
Grafana
Loki
OpenTelemetry
Many interviewers look for observability experience.
36. What is GitOps?
Answer:
GitOps uses Git repositories as the source of truth.
Changes are applied automatically through tools such as:
This is increasingly common in production environments.
37. What is Horizontal Pod Autoscaling (HPA)?
Answer:
HPA automatically scales the number of Pods based on metrics such as:
CPU utilization
Memory utilization
Custom metrics
It helps applications handle varying workloads efficiently.
38. What is the difference between HPA, VPA, and Cluster Autoscaler?
HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler)
Scales the number of Pods.
VPA (Vertical Pod Autoscaler)
Adjusts CPU and memory requests for Pods.
Cluster Autoscaler
Adds or removes worker nodes based on cluster demand.
This is a popular production-focused interview question.
Answer:
A typical upgrade process includes:
Back up etcd
Upgrade control plane components
Upgrade worker nodes
Drain nodes before upgrading
Validate workloads after upgrade
Interviewers often ask this question to assess operational experience.
40. How would you implement multi-tenancy in Kubernetes?
Answer:
Common approaches include:
Namespaces
RBAC
Network Policies
Resource Quotas
Limit Ranges
Separate node pools
The goal is to isolate teams and workloads securely.
41. What are Admission Controllers and why are they important?
Answer:
Admission Controllers intercept requests before objects are persisted in etcd.
They can:
Validate requests
Mutate objects
Enforce policies
Examples:
NamespaceLifecycle
ResourceQuota
PodSecurity
Many organizations use admission controllers for governance and security.
Bonus Question
What is the biggest difference between learning Kubernetes and using Kubernetes in production?
My answer:
Learning Kubernetes focuses on:
Production Kubernetes focuses on:
Reliability
Observability
Security
Automation
Troubleshooting
Understanding this distinction demonstrates maturity as an engineer.
My Interview Preparation Strategy
Whenever I prepare for Kubernetes interviews, I focus on three areas:
Concepts
Can I explain the topic?
Hands-On Knowledge
Can I demonstrate it?
Troubleshooting
Can I solve problems under pressure?
Production Experience
Can I explain how Kubernetes operates at scale?
Many candidates prepare only for the first two.
The strongest engineers excel at all four.
Final Thoughts
The CKA certification teaches valuable Kubernetes skills.
But interviews test something slightly different:
Your ability to communicate, troubleshoot, and apply Kubernetes concepts in real-world situations.
If you’re preparing for Kubernetes, DevOps, SRE, or Platform Engineering interviews, start with these questions and make sure you can answer them confidently.
For senior-level roles, expect deeper questions around:
Kubernetes internals
Networking
Security
High availability
Scalability
Production operations
Knowing the answer is important.
Explaining it clearly is what gets you hired.
Connect With Me
If you’re preparing for Kubernetes certifications, pursuing the Kubestronaut journey, or working in the cloud-native ecosystem, I’d love to connect.
Follow me for more articles on Kubernetes, CNCF certifications, DevOps, Platform Engineering, and Cloud-Native technologies.
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