A workstation can reach the Internet and other devices, but most devices on the network cannot detect it. How can this be resolved?

A workstation can reach the Internet and other devices, but most devices on the network cannot detect it. How can this be resolved?

• A. Change subnet mask
• B. Reassign DNS
• C. Reinstall OS
• D. Disable DHCP

Answer: (A)

The main idea is how subnet masks set the boundary of the local network and determine whether a host is considered on the same subnet as others. A workstation will only use ARP to resolve a local device’s MAC address if it believes the destination is on the same subnet. If its subnet mask places it in a different network from the rest of the LAN, other devices won’t try to reach it directly and won’t discover it via normal LAN discovery, even though the workstation can still reach the Internet through the gateway. Fixing the subnet mask so all devices share the same local subnet makes them all visible to each other on the LAN and allows direct communication. DNS reassignment, OS reinstall, or disabling DHCP don’t address this local-subnet visibility issue.

The main idea is how subnet masks set the boundary of the local network and determine whether a host is considered on the same subnet as others. A workstation will only use ARP to resolve a local device’s MAC address if it believes the destination is on the same subnet. If its subnet mask places it in a different network from the rest of the LAN, other devices won’t try to reach it directly and won’t discover it via normal LAN discovery, even though the workstation can still reach the Internet through the gateway. Fixing the subnet mask so all devices share the same local subnet makes them all visible to each other on the LAN and allows direct communication. DNS reassignment, OS reinstall, or disabling DHCP don’t address this local-subnet visibility issue.