Which feature assigns IP addresses without a DHCP server?

• A. Automatic Private IP Addressing
• B. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
• C. Network Address Translation
• D. Virtual Local Area Network

Answer: (A)

Automatic Private IP Addressing is a fallback mechanism that assigns a local, link-local IP address when no DHCP server can be reached. When a device can’t obtain an address from DHCP, it picks an available 169.254.x.y address with a 255.255.0.0 subnet mask. This allows basic communication with other devices on the same local network segment that are also using APIPA, but there’s no default gateway or internet access because there’s no router to route beyond the local link. In short, APIPA provides temporary local connectivity without a DHCP server, whereas DHCP would require a server to assign proper addresses on the network. NAT and VLAN are different concepts (address translation and network segmentation, respectively) and do not relate to automatic address assignment in the absence of DHCP.