Most Asked Kubernetes Scenario-Based Interview Questions for DevOps Engineers 2025

Master these Kubernetes interview questions and scenarios to ace your next DevOps engineer interview. Complete with detailed answers, troubleshooting steps, and real-world solutions.

Kubernetes has become essential for modern DevOps practices. These scenario-based interview questions test practical skills that DevOps engineers use daily in production environments. Whether you’re preparing for senior DevOps engineer interviews or looking to strengthen your container orchestration knowledge, these questions cover the most commonly asked Kubernetes scenarios.

Must read most on DevOps interviews

1. Pod Scheduling on Specific Nodes – DevOps Interview Question

Question: Suppose I want the pod to be scheduled on a specific node only, how can I achieve this?

Answer: This is a common Kubernetes interview question for DevOps roles. You can control pod scheduling using nodeSelector, Node Affinity, or nodeName field:

nodeSelector: Add labels to nodes and use nodeSelector in pod spec
Node Affinity: More flexible with requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution
nodeName: Directly specify the node name (bypasses scheduler)

spec:
  nodeSelector:
    disktype: ssd
  # OR
  affinity:
    nodeAffinity:
      requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
        nodeSelectorTerms:
        - matchExpressions:
          - key: kubernetes.io/hostname
            operator: In
            values: ["node-1"]

2. Kubernetes Network Security – Pod-to-Pod Access Control

Question: How can you restrict which pod can access other pods in Kubernetes?

Answer: This Kubernetes security question is frequently asked in DevOps engineer interviews. Use Network Policies to control traffic flow between pods:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: deny-all
spec:
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
  - Egress
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          app: allowed-app

Network policies work at L3/L4 and require a CNI that supports them (Calico, Cilium, etc.). This is essential knowledge for DevOps interview questions about Kubernetes security.

3. Kubernetes Troubleshooting – 503 Load Balancer Errors

Question: I am getting 503 error when hitting a load balancer URL which routes traffic to applications deployed in Kubernetes cluster. How will you troubleshoot this?

Answer: This scenario-based Kubernetes question tests troubleshooting skills. Follow this systematic DevOps approach:

Check service endpoints: kubectl get endpoints <service-name>
Verify pod health: kubectl get pods – check if pods are ready
Check service configuration: Ensure correct port mapping and selectors
Test internal connectivity: kubectl exec into a pod and test service
Check ingress/load balancer logs: Look for backend connection errors
Verify health checks: Ensure readiness/liveness probes are configured properly
Check resource limits: Pods might be throttled due to resource constraints

4. CrashLoopBackOff Error – Common Kubernetes Interview Scenario

Question: I am getting CrashLoopBackOff error for one of the pods in a namespace. What should be the reason?

Answer: CrashLoopBackOff is one of the most common Kubernetes interview questions for DevOps engineers. Here are the causes and troubleshooting steps:

Common Causes:

Application exits immediately after startup
Missing environment variables or config
Resource limits too restrictive
Failed liveness probe
Image issues or wrong command/args

DevOps Troubleshooting Steps:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name>
kubectl logs <pod-name> --previous
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'

Check exit codes, resource requests/limits, and application logs.

5. Pod Pending State – Kubernetes Troubleshooting Interview Question

Question: Pod is in pending state after deployment is done. What can be the reason behind this?

Answer: This is a classic Kubernetes scenario-based interview question. Check these common issues:

Insufficient resources: No node has enough CPU/memory
Node selector/affinity: No node matches the constraints
PVC issues: PersistentVolume not available or bound
Image pull issues: ImagePullSecrets missing or wrong image
Taints and tolerations: Pod can’t tolerate node taints
Scheduler issues: kube-scheduler not running properly

Use kubectl describe pod and check the Events section for specific reasons – essential DevOps troubleshooting skill.

6. Kubernetes High Availability – DevOps Best Practices Interview Question

Question: How can you ensure high availability for your application deployed in Kubernetes cluster?

Answer: High availability is crucial for production DevOps environments. Implement these Kubernetes strategies:

Multiple replicas: Use Deployment with replicas > 1
Pod Disruption Budgets: Ensure minimum pods during updates
Anti-affinity rules: Spread pods across nodes/zones
Health checks: Configure readiness and liveness probes
Resource limits: Set appropriate requests and limits
Multi-zone deployment: Use node affinity for zone distribution
Horizontal Pod Autoscaler: Scale based on metrics
Rolling updates: Zero-downtime deployments

7. Init Containers – Kubernetes Database Migration Interview Question

Question: I want to run one-time database migration task before my application starts. How can I achieve this in Kubernetes?

Answer: This practical DevOps scenario uses Init Containers – a common Kubernetes interview topic:

spec:
  initContainers:
  - name: migration
    image: myapp:migration
    command: ['sh', '-c', 'run-migration.sh']
    env:
    - name: DB_HOST
      value: "postgres-service"
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: myapp:latest

Init containers run and complete before main containers start. Perfect for migrations, schema updates, or data seeding in DevOps workflows.

8. Kubernetes RBAC – DevOps Security Interview Question

Question: I want to only give read-only permissions to check logs for users. How can you setup RBAC for this?

Answer: RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) is essential for Kubernetes security in DevOps environments:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: log-reader
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["pods", "pods/log"]
  verbs: ["get", "list"]
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: log-reader-binding
subjects:
- kind: User
  name: log-user
roleRef:
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: log-reader
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

9. Kubernetes Networking Failure – Infrastructure Interview Scenario

Question: What happens if the Kubernetes master node and worker node firewall gets broken?

Answer: This infrastructure-focused DevOps interview question tests disaster recovery knowledge:

Impact:

API server becomes inaccessible
kubelet can’t communicate with master
Pod scheduling stops
Service discovery fails
Existing pods may continue running but can’t be managed

DevOps Recovery Steps:

Restore firewall rules for required ports (6443, 10250, 2379-2380, etc.)
Check component health: API server, etcd, kubelet
Restart cluster components if needed
Verify node communication with kubectl get nodes
Test pod creation and service connectivity

10. Kubernetes Cluster Upgrade – DevOps Operations Interview Question

Question: What are steps to be performed while updating a Kubernetes cluster?

Answer: Cluster upgrades are critical DevOps operations. This Kubernetes interview question tests production experience:

Backup everything: etcd, configurations, and application data
Check compatibility: Review release notes and breaking changes
Update control plane first: API server, controller-manager, scheduler
Update kubelet and kube-proxy on nodes one by one
Drain nodes before updating: kubectl drain <node> --ignore-daemonsets
Update CNI and other addons to compatible versions
Verify cluster health after each step
Test applications and rollback if issues occur
Uncordon nodes: kubectl uncordon <node>

11. Kubernetes Network Policy – Service Access Control Interview Question

Question: How can you ensure that only pods with a specific label can talk to your backend service?

Answer: This advanced Kubernetes networking question is common in senior DevOps interviews:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: backend-access-policy
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app: backend
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          access-backend: "true"
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 8080

Only pods with label access-backend: "true" can reach backend pods. Essential for microservices security in DevOps environments.

12. StatefulSet Storage Issues – Advanced Kubernetes Interview Question

Question: All pods in the StatefulSet are trying to connect to the same storage volume. What’s wrong, and how do you fix it?

Answer: This advanced Kubernetes scenario tests StatefulSet understanding – crucial for DevOps engineers working with databases:

Issue: StatefulSets should have unique PVCs per pod, but they’re sharing storage.

Root cause:

Incorrect volumeClaimTemplates configuration
PVC not created per pod instance
Storage class misconfiguration

DevOps Solution:

spec:
  volumeClaimTemplates:
  - metadata:
      name: data
    spec:
      accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: 10Gi
      storageClassName: fast-ssd

Each StatefulSet pod gets its own PVC with naming pattern: <claim-name>-<pod-name>-<ordinal> (e.g., data-mysql-0, data-mysql-1).

Key Takeaways for Kubernetes DevOps Interviews

These scenario-based Kubernetes interview questions cover the most important topics for DevOps engineer roles:

Pod scheduling and node affinity
Network policies and security
Troubleshooting common issues
High availability best practices
RBAC and access control
Cluster operations and upgrades
StatefulSet and storage management

Prepare for Your DevOps Interview Success

Master these Kubernetes interview questions to demonstrate practical experience with container orchestration. These scenarios reflect real-world challenges that DevOps engineers face in production environments.

Related Topics: Docker interview questions, DevOps scenario-based questions, Kubernetes troubleshooting, container orchestration, cloud-native DevOps, infrastructure as code, site reliability engineering.

Bookmark this comprehensive guide to Kubernetes scenario-based interview questions for DevOps engineers. Practice these answers to confidently tackle your next DevOps interview! 🎯

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