What is the APIPA address range and when is it used?

• A. 169.254.0.0/16; used when a DHCP server is unreachable and no static address is configured.
• B. 169.254.0.0/8; used when a DHCP server is unreachable.
• C. 192.168.0.0/16; used for private networks.
• D. 10.0.0.0/8; used for private networks.

Answer: (A)

APIPA is the automatic private IP addressing that a device uses when it cannot reach a DHCP server and has no static IP configured. The addresses come from the link-local range 169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255, commonly written as 169.254.0.0/16. This lets devices on the same local network communicate without DHCP, but it doesn’t provide internet access because there’s typically no gateway assigned.

The other ranges are private, internal networks (192.168.x.x and 10.x.x.x) and are not the APIPA range, nor are they automatically selected when DHCP fails.