Question

Difficulty: MediumIP Addressing and Network Configuration

A network technician is troubleshooting connectivity problems across several client workstations on a corporate network. Match each observed IP network configuration diagnostic output or symptom on the left with its corresponding underlying root cause on the right.

  • The host automatically receives an IP address of 169.254.42.81169.254.42.81 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0255.255.0.0 and can only communicate with local neighbors.Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) was invoked due to an unreachable DHCP server.
  • The host can successfully ping neighboring computers on 192.168.1.0/24192.168.1.0/24, but cannot access external resources on the internet.The default gateway IP address is misconfigured or missing.
  • The workstation can ping remote servers using public IPv4 addresses like 8.8.8.88.8.8.8, but cannot load web pages using domain names.The primary DNS server IP address is invalid or non-responsive.
  • The network interface displays an IPv6 address beginning with `fe80::` and fails to communicate beyond the local broadcast domain.Link-local IPv6 addresses are restricted to the local link and cannot be routed.

Answer

1. APIPA IP address (169.254.x.x169.254.x.x) matches DHCP server unreachable.
2. Local connectivity only matches default gateway misconfiguration.
3. Ping IP succeeds but domain name fails matches DNS server misconfiguration.
4. IPv6 `fe80::` address matches non-routable link-local address behavior.
Each diagnostic output maps to a distinct core IP addressing role: APIPA addresses (169.254.0.0/16169.254.0.0/16) indicate DHCP failure; local-only communication points to a missing or invalid default gateway; successful IP pings with failed domain resolution indicate DNS issues; and `fe80::` prefixes represent non-routable IPv6 link-local addresses.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the APIPA symptom (169.254.42.81/16169.254.42.81/16).
Identify that APIPA is self-assigned when DHCP discovery fails.
Clients fall back to APIPA (169.254.0.0/16169.254.0.0/16) only when no DHCP server responds to requests.
2
Evaluate the local-only routing symptom.
Determine that traffic targeting external subnets requires a default gateway.
Subnet hosts communicate directly via layer 2 MAC addresses on the local link, but rely on the default gateway for any off-subnet destinations.
3
Evaluate numeric IP ping vs hostname failure.
Determine that domain name translation requires functioning DNS.
Ping by raw IP tests ICMP connectivity; failing to resolve domain names indicates domain name resolution failure.
4
Analyze the IPv6 prefix `fe80::`.
Confirm that `fe80::/10` is reserved for link-local scope.
Link-local addresses are self-configured on every IPv6 interface but routers drop link-local traffic crossing subnet boundaries.

Key Concept

IP Addressing Diagnostic Symptoms and Parameter Matching
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