Kubernetes Cluster Maintenance Quiz — OS Upgrades & Kubeadm Version Upgrades
Test your knowledge of Kubernetes cluster maintenance — one of the most heavily tested
domains in the CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) exam. This quiz covers
node drain and cordon strategies, kubeadm upgrade workflows, OS-level upgrade
procedures, and safely bringing nodes back online.
kubectl drainvskubectl cordon— when to use each- Kubeadm upgrade plan and apply sequence
- Upgrading control plane vs worker nodes
- OS upgrade best practices without losing workloads
- Uncordoning nodes and verifying cluster health post-upgrade
Kubernetes Cluster Maintenance — Key Concepts for CKA
Node Drain vs Cordon
kubectl cordon <node> marks a node as unschedulable — no new pods will be placed
on it, but existing pods continue running. kubectl drain <node> goes further:
it cordons the node AND evicts all running pods gracefully, making it safe to perform OS-level
maintenance or reboots. Always use --ignore-daemonsets and --delete-emptydir-data
flags when draining in practice.
Kubeadm Upgrade Sequence
The CKA exam frequently tests the exact upgrade order. Always follow this sequence:
- Upgrade kubeadm on the control plane node first
- Run
kubeadm upgrade planto verify available versions - Run
kubeadm upgrade apply v1.X.Y - Upgrade kubelet and kubectl on control plane
- Drain each worker node, upgrade kubeadm + kubelet, then uncordon
Common CKA Exam Mistakes
- Forgetting to uncordon the node after maintenance
- Upgrading worker nodes before the control plane
- Skipping
upgrade planand going straight toapply - Not restarting kubelet after upgrading it (
systemctl restart kubelet)
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