Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Practice Test

Static pods are managed by the kubelet on a node. This is because static pods are not managed by the Kubernetes API server as regular pods are. Instead, the kubelet directly reads the pod definitions from a specified directory on the node and launches them independently of the API server. Static pods are defined using manifest files, typically located in `/etc/kubernetes/manifests`, and the kubelet continuously monitors these manifest files to manage the lifecycle of the pods.

Due to their design, static pods are particularly useful for critical components that need to run on specific nodes, such as the API server itself when running in self-hosted kubeadm installations. Since they bypass the higher-level control provided by the Kubernetes API, they offer a more direct, low-level method of pod management that is primarily utilized in situations where a simpler and more consistent deployment pattern is desirable.

The other options refer to methods of management that do not apply to static pods. The dashboard interface typically manages resources through the API server, which static pods do not utilize. External monitoring tools could observe and gather metrics for static pods but do not perform management of their lifecycle.