N10-009 - Networking Concepts (23% of the exam) - Section 1.4

Apply appropriate IPv4 and IPv6 addressing schemes, subnetting, and CIDR, and compare and contrast transmission media, transceivers, and network topologies.

Apply IPv4 and IPv6 addressing - including subnetting with CIDR notation, summarisation, public versus private (RFC 1918) ranges, and APIPA - to size and segment a network correctly. Compare copper and fibre media, transceiver form factors, and physical and logical topologies (star, mesh, hybrid), selecting the appropriate cabling and architecture for a given distance and bandwidth requirement.

IPv4 subnettingCIDRIPv6 addressingRFC 1918 private addressingFibre vs copper media

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleNetworking Conceptshard

A Windows host fails to obtain a lease because no DHCP server responds, and it self-assigns an address so it can still communicate on the local segment. From which range does the host draw this address?

A10.0.0.0/8, the largest RFC 1918 private block
B172.16.0.0/12, an RFC 1918 private block
C169.254.0.0/16, the IPv4 link-local block Correct
D192.168.0.0/16, an RFC 1918 private block

When DHCP fails, a host self-assigns an APIPA address from 169.254.0.0/16, which is distinct from the administrator-assigned RFC 1918 private ranges. APIPA, IPv4 link-local autoconfiguration, draws from 169.254.0.0/16 as defined in RFC 3927. It provides same-segment connectivity without a DHCP server and is separate from the RFC 1918 private ranges.

Why A is wrong: 10.0.0.0/8 is an RFC 1918 private range assigned by administrators or DHCP; tempting as private space, but hosts do not self-assign from it when DHCP fails.

Why B is wrong: 172.16.0.0/12 is an RFC 1918 private block used inside organisations; tempting because it is internal, but it is administrator-assigned, not the fallback range.

Why C is correct: APIPA uses 169.254.0.0/16, the IPv4 link-local block; a host self-assigns from it for same-segment connectivity only when no DHCP lease can be obtained.

Why D is wrong: 192.168.0.0/16 is the RFC 1918 range common in homes and small offices; tempting because DHCP often serves it, but a failed lease does not draw from it.

See more N10-009 practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Networking Concepts

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the N10-009 bank for this domain.

A public cloud is hosted on the customer's own premises, whereas a private cloud is hosted in a third-party provider's data centre.
Why it is wrong: This is tempting because private clouds are often on-premises, but location does not define the models, since either can be hosted on-premises or in a provider data centre.
Cat 6a unshielded twisted pair
Why it is wrong: 10GBASE-T over Cat 6a reaches 10 Gbps but only to 100 metres, so it cannot span the 900-metre run between the buildings.
Twisted-pair copper supports longer maximum segment lengths than fibre at the same data rate.
Why it is wrong: Twisted-pair Ethernet is capped near 100 metres per segment while fibre spans far further; this claim reverses the actual distance advantage.

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