What does the kubectl top command do in Kubernetes?

What does the kubectl top command do in Kubernetes?

• A. Creates new namespaces
• B. Shows current resource utilization for pods or nodes
• C. Displays cluster events
• D. Deletes resources

Answer: (B)

kubectl top retrieves and displays the current resource usage for Kubernetes objects, specifically nodes and pods. It shows metrics like CPU and memory consumption, giving you a real-time snapshot of how much resources each node or pod is using. This helps with monitoring, troubleshooting performance, and making scaling decisions. The command relies on metrics-server being installed and reachable in the cluster; without it, you won’t get usage data. You can use it to view node-level usage or per-pod usage (for example, kubectl top node or kubectl top pod -n my-namespace). It doesn’t create namespaces, show cluster events, or delete resources, which is why the other options don’t fit.

kubectl top retrieves and displays the current resource usage for Kubernetes objects, specifically nodes and pods. It shows metrics like CPU and memory consumption, giving you a real-time snapshot of how much resources each node or pod is using. This helps with monitoring, troubleshooting performance, and making scaling decisions. The command relies on metrics-server being installed and reachable in the cluster; without it, you won’t get usage data. You can use it to view node-level usage or per-pod usage (for example, kubectl top node or kubectl top pod -n my-namespace). It doesn’t create namespaces, show cluster events, or delete resources, which is why the other options don’t fit.