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Difficulty: MediumIP Addressing and Network Configuration

A field technician connects a diagnostic laptop to a client's isolated maintenance VLAN (192.168.50.0/24192.168.50.0/24). Running the `ipconfig /all` command on the laptop reveals an IPv4 address of 169.254.10.45169.254.10.45 and a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0255.255.0.0. The technician confirms that the laptop network interface is configured to obtain an IP address automatically. Which of the following is the most likely cause of this issue?

  1. The DHCP server on the maintenance segment is unreachable or disabled, causing the host to generate an Automatic Private IP Address (APIPA).Answer
  2. B
    The local DNS server failed to lease a dynamic IP address to the diagnostic laptop.
  3. C
    The unmanaged Layer 2 switch is failing to perform Layer 3 routing functions for the laptop.
  4. D
    The network interface card successfully acquired a valid static IP address from the pool.

Answer

The DHCP server on the maintenance segment is unreachable or disabled, causing the host to generate an Automatic Private IP Address (APIPA).
When a client device set to obtain an IP address automatically fails to receive a response from a DHCP server, Windows Operating Systems automatically assign a link-local address in the range 169.254.0.1169.254.0.1 through 169.254.254.254169.254.254.254 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0255.255.0.0. Therefore, seeing an IP address of 169.254.10.45169.254.10.45 directly points to an unreachable or non-functional DHCP service.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the IP address output from command execution.
The host interface shows an IP address of 169.254.10.45169.254.10.45 with subnet mask 255.255.0.0255.255.0.0.
Recognizing the 169.254.0.0/16 address block identifies the address type as Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA).
2
Determine the cause of APIPA generation.
APIPA is activated when a host configured for dynamic IP addressing sends DHCP discovery packets but receives no response within the timeout period.
This pinpoints an issue with DHCP server availability, network connection to the server, or DHCP relay services.

Key Concept

APIPA Address Assignment and Diagnostic Interpretation
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Topics

IP Addressing and Network Configuration

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