Reclaim policies (Retain, Delete) in Kubernetes - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding Reclaim Policy Effects on Persistent Volumes

In Kubernetes, what happens to a Persistent Volume (PV) when its Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) is deleted and the PV has a Delete reclaim policy?

A The PV is deleted along with its underlying storage resource.

B The PV remains available but is not bound to any PVC.

C The PV is retained and requires manual cleanup of storage.

D The PVC deletion is blocked until the PV is manually deleted.

💡 Hint

Think about what Delete reclaim policy means for storage lifecycle.

With the Delete reclaim policy, deleting the PVC causes Kubernetes to delete the PV and its associated storage resource automatically.

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Behavior of Retain Reclaim Policy on Persistent Volumes

What is the behavior of a Persistent Volume (PV) with a Retain reclaim policy after its Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) is deleted?

A The PVC deletion triggers automatic data backup before PV deletion.

B The PV and its data are deleted automatically.

C The PV is immediately available for new PVC binding.

D The PV remains in Released state and data must be manually cleaned.

💡 Hint

Consider what manual steps are needed when reclaim policy is Retain.

With Retain policy, the PV is not deleted after PVC deletion. It stays in Released state and requires manual intervention to clean or reuse.

💻 Command Output

advanced

Output of PV Status After PVC Deletion with Retain Policy

Given a Persistent Volume with reclaim policy set to Retain, what is the status of the PV after its bound Persistent Volume Claim is deleted?

Kubernetes

kubectl get pv my-pv

A STATUS: Released

B STATUS: Available

C STATUS: Bound

D STATUS: Terminating

💡 Hint

Check the PV lifecycle states after PVC deletion with Retain policy.

When PVC is deleted and PV has Retain policy, PV status changes to Released indicating it is no longer bound but data remains.

🔀 Workflow

advanced

Steps to Reuse a PV with Retain Reclaim Policy

Which sequence correctly describes the steps to reuse a Persistent Volume (PV) that has a Retain reclaim policy after its Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) was deleted?

A 3,1,2,4

B 1,2,3,4

C 1,3,2,4

D 2,1,3,4

💡 Hint

Think about cleaning data before making PV available again.

First, data must be cleaned manually. Then PV status is reset to Available. Next, a new PVC is created to bind to the PV.

❓ Troubleshoot

expert

Troubleshooting PV Not Deleting After PVC Removal

A Persistent Volume (PV) with reclaim policy set to Delete is not deleted after its Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) was removed. What is the most likely cause?

A The PV status is still Bound to the deleted PVC.

B The PVC was deleted with --cascade=false flag.

C The underlying storage resource has a finalizer blocking deletion.

D The Kubernetes API server is down, preventing PV deletion.

💡 Hint

Consider what might prevent Kubernetes from deleting storage resources.

Finalizers on the storage resource can block deletion even if reclaim policy is Delete, causing PV to remain.