Interview questions in Docker & Kubernetes, page 4
kube-proxy and iptables vs IPVS modes
Kube-proxy watches Services/endpoints and programs node rules so ClusterIP traffic is DNAT'd to a backend Pod; iptables uses sequential rule chains, IPVS uses a hash table with real…
Restricting Pod ingress with a NetworkPolicy
Create a NetworkPolicy with podSelector app=frontend, policyTypes Ingress, and one ingress from-rule matching podSelector role=api-gateway; requires a CNI that enforces policies.
Ingress resource vs Ingress controller
The Ingress resource is declarative routing rules; the controller is the running proxy (NGINX, etc.) that reads them and serves traffic.
ConfigMap vs Secret
ConfigMaps hold non-sensitive plain config; Secrets hold sensitive data, base64-encoded and treated specially (RBAC, optional encryption at rest).
Two ways to consume a ConfigMap in a Pod
Inject keys as environment variables (good for a few simple settings), or mount the ConfigMap as a volume of files (good for config files and live updates).
Are base64-encoded Kubernetes Secrets actually secure?
Base64 is reversible, not a protection; default guards against accidental shoulder-surfing only; real defenses are encryption-at-rest, RBAC, audit.
How do you let Pods pull from a private registry?
Create a dockerconfigjson Secret with registry creds; reference it via imagePullSecrets on the Pod or ServiceAccount.
How do you restrict a Pod's access to a Secret?
Pods read Secrets through their ServiceAccount and RBAC, scoped with resourceNames; mounted Secrets are governed by the Pod spec.
How do you inject secrets from an external store at runtime?
Use a sidecar injector or CSI driver that authenticates via the Pod's ServiceAccount token, fetches secrets at runtime, and mounts them on tmpfs.
What do immutable ConfigMaps and Secrets solve?
Setting immutable true blocks data edits, preventing accidental updates and letting the kubelet skip watches, reducing API server load.
How do Sealed Secrets enable GitOps for secrets?
Kubeseal encrypts a Secret with the controller's public key into a SealedSecret CR safe for Git; only the in-cluster controller's private key can decrypt it into a real Secret.
What are PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims for?
A PV is a cluster storage resource the admin provisions; a PVC is a user's request for size and access mode; Kubernetes binds them, decoupling Pods from storage details.
What happens to volume data when a Pod is deleted?
EmptyDir is tied to the Pod and erased when the Pod is deleted; a PVC-backed PV with Retain keeps the data after the PVC is released for manual recovery.
Bind mounts vs named volumes for persisting Docker data?
Persist data outside the writable container layer via a bind mount (a host path you control) or a named volume (Docker-managed under its data dir, portable and the recommended default).
StatefulSet vs Deployment: what's the difference?
Deployments treat Pods as interchangeable; StatefulSets give stable ordinal names, stable per-Pod storage via volumeClaimTemplates, and ordered rollout.
What is a StorageClass and dynamic provisioning?
A StorageClass names a provisioner and parameters; a PVC referencing it triggers on-demand PV creation, so admins do not pre-create volumes.
What do PersistentVolume accessModes mean?
RWO mounts read-write by one node, ROX read-only by many nodes, RWX read-write by many nodes; block storage usually only supports RWO while shared filesystems enable RWX.
How does a StatefulSet give stable identity and storage?
Ordinal Pod names plus a headless Service yield stable per-Pod DNS; volumeClaimTemplates give each ordinal its own persistent PVC that follows it on reschedule.
Why is a Pod with a PVC stuck Pending?
PVC may be unbound from missing StorageClass, no matching PV, mismatched access mode or size, zone or capacity limits, or WaitForFirstConsumer; diagnose with describe on Pod and PVC plus events.
How does a StatefulSet recover a Pod after node failure?
Node goes NotReady, Pod is marked for deletion, the same-ordinal Pod is recreated and reattaches its existing PVC from volumeClaimTemplates, preserving data; safety needs the old Pod confirmed…
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