mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

A small office network uses a single router configured as a DHCP server for the 192.168.1.0/24 network. The DHCP scope is set to 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.50. Over the past week, several workstations have reported intermittent connectivity. The technician checks a workstation and finds that its IP address has changed from 192.168.1.20 to 169.254.15.100. Other workstations also show similar APIPA addresses. The DHCP server logs indicate that many lease requests are being declined. The network has 45 devices that require IP addresses. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
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A small office network uses a single router configured as a DHCP server for the 192.168.1.0/24 network. The DHCP scope is set to 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.50. Over the past week, several workstations have reported intermittent connectivity. The technician checks a workstation and finds that its IP address has changed from 192.168.1.20 to 169.254.15.100. Other workstations also show similar APIPA addresses. The DHCP server logs indicate that many lease requests are being declined. The network has 45 devices that require IP addresses. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Distractor review

The DHCP server is malfunctioning and needs to be restarted

A malfunctioning DHCP server might not respond at all, but in this case, the server is declining requests, which indicates it is running but has no available addresses. Restarting would not create more pool capacity.

B

Best answer

The DHCP scope is too small for the number of devices on the network

With only 41 usable addresses in the scope and 45 devices, the DHCP pool is exhausted. When clients attempt to renew leases, the server cannot offer an address, so it declines, causing clients to self-assign APIPA addresses.

C

Distractor review

The DNS server is not resolving hostnames correctly

DNS issues would affect domain name resolution, not the assignment of IP addresses. The workstation obtaining an APIPA address indicates a DHCP failure, not a DNS problem.

D

Distractor review

The network switch is flooding the network with broadcast traffic

Excessive broadcast traffic could cause slow performance but would not directly cause DHCP declines. The specific symptom of multiple workstations obtaining APIPA addresses points to DHCP address exhaustion.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses

Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.

KKey Concepts to Remember

  • CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
  • Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
  • Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
  • The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.

TExam Day Tips

  • Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
  • Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
  • Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.

Related practice questions

Related 220-1101 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A user reports intermittent network connectivity on a desktop computer. The technician observes that the Ethernet link light on the NIC turns off for a few seconds and then turns back on. The cable passes a wiremap test, the switch port is verified good with another device, and the NIC driver is updated. The issue occurs more frequently when the computer's case fan runs at high speed. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Question 2

A workstation is unable to connect to the internet. The technician runs the 'ipconfig' command and sees the IPv4 address is 169.254.15.200 with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. The workstation can ping other devices on the local subnet but cannot ping the default gateway or any external addresses. Which TWO actions should the technician take to resolve this issue? (Select two.)

Question 3

A workstation is connected to a managed switch. It obtains a valid IP address (192.168.10.50) from the DHCP server, but it cannot ping the default gateway (192.168.10.1). The link light on both the workstation NIC and the switch port are solid green. Other workstations on the same switch CAN ping the default gateway successfully. The technician accesses the switch management interface and finds that the workstation's port is configured as an access port on VLAN 10. The default gateway is located on VLAN 20. An inter-VLAN router is configured but not explicitly allowing VLAN 10 access to VLAN 20. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the problem?

Question 4

A company develops a web application that relies on a custom library available only for a specific Linux distribution. They want to deploy the application in the cloud with minimal administrative overhead, but they need full control over the software stack, including the ability to install the custom library and configure the web server. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?

Question 5

A company has a legacy virtual machine running on a deprecated hypervisor (Hyper-V). They want to migrate this VM to a new hypervisor (VMware vSphere) hosted in a private cloud while preserving the VM's configuration, installed applications, and data. The migration must be performed with minimal downtime. Which of the following methods is MOST appropriate?

Question 6

A company hosts a critical database on a virtual machine in a public cloud. The database requires persistent storage that must be retained even if the VM is terminated. The storage must also be accessible from multiple VMs simultaneously for a future high-availability configuration. Which type of cloud storage BEST meets these requirements?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this 220-1101 question test?

CIDR notation defines the prefix length.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: The DHCP scope is too small for the number of devices on the network — The DHCP scope is 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.50, which provides only 41 usable addresses. With 45 devices, the pool is exhausted. When DHCP clients try to renew their leases, the server has no available addresses, so the server declines the request, causing the clients to fall back to APIPA (169.254.x.x). This explains the intermittent connectivity as devices cycle through lease expiration. Increasing the scope size or using additional subnets would resolve the problem. A DHCP server failure would cause complete loss of DHCP, not just declined renewals. DNS misconfiguration would affect name resolution, not IP address assignment. A switch issue would likely cause broader connectivity problems, not lease exhaustion.

What should I do if I get this 220-1101 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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