☁️ Free practice test question from: KCNA (KCNA)

When you delete a PVC in Kubernetes, the system's next actions depend on the reclaim policy set for the associated Persistent Volume (PV). With the "Retain" policy specifically:

1. The PVC is removed from the Kubernetes API

2. The data stored on the underlying storage (like a disk in your cloud provider) remains intact

3. The PV object also remains in the Kubernetes API, but changes state to "Released"

4. This "Released" state means the PV is no longer bound to any claim, but it's also not available for new claims

This "Released" state is important to understand - it's a protective measure. Kubernetes won't automatically reassign this PV to another PVC request, even if the new PVC's specifications would match perfectly. This prevents accidental data access or overwriting by new workloads.

To make the PV available again, an administrator needs to manually reclaim it through a process that typically involves:

1. Manually deleting or archiving the data if needed

2. Deleting the PV from Kubernetes entirely

3. Recreating the PV (which will be in the "Available" state)

Think of "Retain" as saying to Kubernetes: When the claim is gone, don't touch anything. I'll handle it myself later.