During a DHCP discovery, which destination MAC address is used by the client to reach all devices on the LAN?

During a DHCP discovery, which destination MAC address is used by the client to reach all devices on the LAN?

• A. FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF
• B. 00-00-00-00-00-00
• C. AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF
• D. 01-23-45-67-89-AB

Answer: (A)

DHCP discovery relies on a layer-2 broadcast because the client has no IP address yet and cannot target a specific server. The destination MAC address used is FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF, the Ethernet broadcast address. This makes the frame reach every device on the local network, ensuring a DHCP server can hear the request and respond. Using a unicast or a non-broadcast address would only reach a single device or be invalid, which wouldn’t allow the discovery to work when the client doesn’t know where to send the request.

DHCP discovery relies on a layer-2 broadcast because the client has no IP address yet and cannot target a specific server. The destination MAC address used is FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF, the Ethernet broadcast address. This makes the frame reach every device on the local network, ensuring a DHCP server can hear the request and respond. Using a unicast or a non-broadcast address would only reach a single device or be invalid, which wouldn’t allow the discovery to work when the client doesn’t know where to send the request.