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Difficulty: MediumIP Addressing and Network Configuration

A technician configures a static network profile on a newly installed network printer with the following values: IP address 192.168.15.45, Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0, Default Gateway 192.168.14.1, and Primary DNS 192.168.15.2. Workstations on the local 192.168.15.0/24 subnet can send print jobs without issue, but workstations on a remote 192.168.20.0/24 subnet cannot connect to the printer. Which setting on the printer is incorrectly configured?

  1. Default GatewayAnswer
  2. B
    Subnet Mask
  3. C
    Primary DNS
  4. D
    IP Address

Answer

Default Gateway
For a device to communicate with hosts on external networks, its default gateway address must be located on the same logical IP subnet as the host itself. Here, the printer is assigned 192.168.15.45 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, meaning its gateway must reside on the 192.168.15.0/24 network. Configuring 192.168.14.1 breaks Layer 3 forwarding off the local segment.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the printer's network configuration parameters.
IP Address: 192.168.15.45, Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 (/24), Gateway: 192.168.14.1.
Identify the host's valid local address space based on the subnet mask.
2
Determine the host's local subnet range.
With a /24 subnet mask, valid local addresses range from 192.168.15.1 to 192.168.15.254.
A host must share the same network portion of the IP address with its local default gateway router interface.
3
Compare default gateway address to the local subnet range.
192.168.14.1 belongs to the 192.168.14.0/24 network, not 192.168.15.0/24.
Because the gateway is on an unreachable network segment, packets destined for remote subnets like 192.168.20.0/24 cannot be forwarded by the printer.

Key Concept

Default Gateway Subnet Alignment
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

IP Addressing and Network Configuration

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