ITPEC FE Morning October 2021 Question 33

Topic: NetworksAlso asked in October 2018

In TCP/IP, which of the following is an application layer protocol that enables a server to automatically configure its clients with network information such as IP addresses, the subnet mask, and the default gateway address?

Explanation

DHCP — a server leases each client an IP address together with the subnet mask, default gateway and DNS server.

When a client starts up it broadcasts a request, since it has no address yet; a DHCP server offers an address from its pool with the other settings, and the client accepts. The address is leased for a set time and returns to the pool when released, so no one has to configure terminals by hand.

Answer (b)

Why not others:

  • •(a) ARP — finds the MAC address that belongs to a known IP address on the local network; it configures nothing
  • •(c) DNS — resolves domain names to IP addresses
  • •(d) NSLOOKUP — a command for sending queries to DNS servers, a tool rather than a protocol

Key rule: DHCP configures a host, DNS turns names into IP addresses, and ARP turns IP addresses into MAC addresses.

Networks · AI-written, may contain errors

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