41. Early in the morning, an administrator installs a new DHCP server. In the afternoon, some users report they are experiencing network outages. Which of the following is the most likely issue?
Answer: A
The administrator did not provision enough IP addresses.
Insufficient provisioning of IP addresses by the administrator is likely causing network outages. When a DHCP server runs out of available IP addresses to assign to devices on the network, users will experience connectivity issues.
A) The administrator did not provision enough IP addresses.
This option is the most plausible explanation for the reported network outages. If the DHCP server has a limited number of IP addresses configured and all available addresses are allocated to devices, any additional devices trying to connect will be unable to obtain an IP address, resulting in network connectivity problems.
B) The administrator configured an incorrect default gateway.
While an incorrect default gateway could lead to connectivity issues, it would not directly cause a lack of IP addresses. Users may still receive an IP address from the DHCP server but would be unable to communicate outside their local network. Therefore, this option does not directly align with the symptoms described.
C) The administrator did not provision enough routes.
Routing issues typically relate to the ability to send traffic between different networks. However, this is not directly linked to DHCP and IP address allocation. Users experiencing network outages due to a lack of available IP addresses would not be resolved by routing configurations.
D) The administrator did not provision enough MAC addresses.
This option is not applicable in the DHCP context, as MAC addresses are hardware identifiers unique to each network interface and are not provisioned or limited by the DHCP server. Network outages due to insufficient MAC addresses would not be a valid concern, as devices connect based on their MAC addresses regardless of the DHCP server.
Conclusion
The primary cause of the network outages is that the administrator did not provision enough IP addresses, leading to a situation where devices cannot connect to the network. Other options, such as incorrect default gateway configurations or routing issues, do not adequately explain the connectivity problems experienced by users, confirming that A is the most appropriate choice.