CKAD Practice Questions: Pods, Deployments & Scaling

These three questions cover some of the most frequently tested topics in the CKAD exam: imperative pod creation, scaling, and configuration management. The exam is hands-on, so speed with kubectl is everything.

Question 1

What is the correct command to create a pod named web-server using the image nginx:1.17 in the default namespace?

• A) kubectl create pod web-server --image=nginx:1.17
• B) kubectl run web-server --image=nginx:1.17
• C) kubectl apply -f web-server.yaml
• D) kubectl new web-server --image=nginx:1.17

Answer: B: kubectl run web-server --image=nginx:1.17

kubectl run is the imperative command for creating a standalone pod. kubectl create pod is not valid syntax; create works for higher-level resources like deployments, services, and configmaps, but not pods directly. Option C is correct YAML-based approach but requires you to have a manifest file ready. Option D does not exist.

Pro tip for the exam: Generate YAML files quickly with --dry-run=client -o yaml:

kubectl run web-server --image=nginx:1.17 --dry-run=client -o yaml > pod.yaml

Then edit pod.yaml before applying, which is much faster than writing from scratch.

Question 2

What is the correct command to scale a deployment named app-deployment to 5 replicas?

• A) kubectl edit deployment app-deployment --replicas=5
• B) kubectl set replicas app-deployment 5
• C) kubectl scale deployment app-deployment --replicas=5
• D) kubectl update deployment app-deployment --replicas=5

Answer: C: kubectl scale deployment app-deployment --replicas=5

kubectl scale is the dedicated command for adjusting replica counts. Options A, B, and D use subcommands or flags that don't exist in kubectl.

kubectl edit can update replicas but requires you to open an editor and manually find/change the value, which is slow and error-prone under exam conditions.

Know multiple ways to scale:

# Imperative (fastest in exam)
kubectl scale deployment app-deployment --replicas=5

# Patch (handy for scripting)
kubectl patch deployment app-deployment -p '{"spec":{"replicas":5}}'

Question 3

What is the correct command to create a ConfigMap named app-config from a file called config.properties?

• A) kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.properties
• B) kubectl create cm app-config --from-config=config.properties
• C) kubectl apply configmap app-config --file=config.properties
• D) kubectl new configmap app-config config.properties

Answer: A: kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.properties

--from-file reads the file contents and creates a ConfigMap key named after the file. Option B uses the correct alias cm but the wrong flag (--from-config doesn't exist). Options C and D are invalid syntax.

Three ways to create a ConfigMap you must know:

# From a file (key = filename, value = file contents)
kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.properties

# From literal key-value pairs
kubectl create configmap app-config --from-literal=DB_HOST=postgres --from-literal=DB_PORT=5432

# From an env file (one KEY=VALUE per line)
kubectl create configmap app-config --from-env-file=config.env

Key Takeaways

• kubectl run creates pods; kubectl create deployment creates deployments
• kubectl scale is the fastest way to adjust replicas
• ConfigMaps can be created from files (--from-file), literals (--from-literal), or env files (--from-env-file)
• Always use --dry-run=client -o yaml to generate YAML templates quickly during the exam