Which of the following is a network maintenance protocol of the TCP/IP protocol suite that is
responsible for the resolution of IP addresses to media access control (MAC) addresses of a
network interface card (NIC)?

A.
DHCP

B.
ARP

C.
PIM

D.
RARP

Explanation:

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a network maintenance protocol of the TCP/IP protocol
suite. It is responsible for the resolution of IP addresses to media access control (MAC) addresses
of a network interface card (NIC). The ARP cache is used to maintain a correlation between a
MAC address and its corresponding IP address. ARP provides the protocol rules for making this
correlation and providing address conversion in both directions. ARP is limited to physical network
systems that support broadcast packets.
Answer option A is incorrect. The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a computer
networking protocol used by hosts (DHCP clients) to retrieve IP address assignments and other
configuration information. DHCP uses a client-server architecture. The client sends a broadcast
request for configuration information. The DHCP server receives the request and responds with
configuration information from its configuration database. In the absence of DHCP, all hosts on a
network must be manually configured individually – a time-consuming and often error-prone
undertaking. DHCP is popular with ISP’s because it allows a host to obtain a temporary IP

address.
Answer option D is incorrect. Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) is a Network layer
protocol used to obtain an IP address for a given hardware (MAC) address. RARP is sort of the
reverse of an ARP. Common protocols that use RARP are BOOTP and DHCP.
Answer option C is incorrect. Protocol-Independent Multicast (PIM) is a family of multicast routing
protocols for Internet Protocol (IP) networks that provide one-to-many and many-to-many
distribution of data over a LAN, WAN, or the Internet. It is termed protocol-independent because
PIM does not include its own topology discovery mechanism, but instead uses routing information
supplied by other traditional routing protocols, such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).
Topic 3, Volume C