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KCNA — Cloud Native Architecture

12% of the KCNA exam. Sample questions below; the full library has 19 questions tagged to this domain.

Sample questions on Cloud Native Architecture

Cloud Native Architecture

Q1. What does the 12-factor app methodology emphasize?

Reveal answer and explanations
  1. A The number of deployment environments needed

    Incorrect. It's not about environment count.

  2. B Using exactly 12 microservices in an application

    Incorrect. The 12-factor app doesn't mandate service count.

  3. C A specific programming language for cloud apps

    Incorrect. The 12-factor app methodology is language-agnostic and applies across implementation stacks.

  4. D Best practices for building portable, scalable cloud-native applications

    Correct. The 12-factor app is a methodology for writing cloud-native applications with principles like stateless design, externalized config, and language independence.

Cloud Native Architecture

Q2. A payment service publishes order-created events and consumers react without direct calls from the publisher. What architecture style is this?

Reveal answer and explanations
  1. A Architecture that uses synchronous API calls for all inter-service communication

    Incorrect. Synchronous API calls to every consumer would increase coupling.

  2. B Architecture where components communicate through events, allowing loose coupling and reactive responses

    Correct. Event-driven architecture uses events so components can react asynchronously and remain loosely coupled.

  3. C Architecture that relies on scheduled batch jobs for processing

    Incorrect. Scheduled batch processing is different from reacting to emitted events.

  4. D Architecture where all services must be deployed simultaneously

    Incorrect. Event-driven systems do not require all services to deploy at the same time.

Cloud Native Architecture

Q3. What is the key advantage of microservices architecture over monoliths?

Reveal answer and explanations
  1. A Simplified debugging and troubleshooting

    Incorrect. Microservices often make debugging more complex due to distribution.

  2. B Independent deployment, scaling, and team ownership of services

    Correct. Microservices enable independent deployment, scaling, and organizational boundaries.

  3. C Reduced networking overhead

    Incorrect. Microservices typically add network calls.

  4. D Microservices are always faster at runtime

    Incorrect. Performance depends on design; microservices can add latency.

Cloud Native Architecture

Q4. A teammate says CNCF project maturity levels are Incubating, Graduated, and Archived. Which set correctly names the CNCF maturity path for active projects?

Reveal answer and explanations
  1. A Sandbox, Incubating, Graduated

    Correct. CNCF active project maturity levels are Sandbox, Incubating, and Graduated; Archived is a separate status for inactive/end-of-life projects.

  2. B Alpha, Beta, Stable

    Incorrect. Those terms describe common release or API maturity phases in software projects, not the CNCF hosted-project maturity categories.

  3. C Emerging, Mature, Legacy

    Incorrect. These are not the formal CNCF project maturity levels.

  4. D Archived, Deprecated, Graduated

    Incorrect. Archived is not part of the active maturity progression.

Cloud Native Architecture

Q5. What is the difference between declarative and imperative approaches in infrastructure?

Reveal answer and explanations
  1. A They are used for different programming languages

    Incorrect. Both are about infrastructure/configuration approaches.

  2. B Declarative is faster; imperative is more secure

    Incorrect. Performance and security differ based on implementation, not declarative vs. imperative.

  3. C Declarative describes desired state; imperative specifies exact steps to achieve it

    Correct. Declarative (e.g., Kubernetes YAML) specifies what you want; imperative (e.g., scripts) specifies how to get there.

  4. D Imperative is used for configuration; declarative is used for secrets

    Incorrect. Both approaches can be used for configuration.

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How this domain is tested

Cloud Native Architecture accounts for 12% of the KCNA exam. Expect questions that test recall of terminology and the ability to read short scenarios — not deep configuration. Use the sample questions above as difficulty calibration; if any feel hard, the rest of our 19-question domain bank will close those gaps.