Question

If a PC on an Ethernet network attempts to communicate with a host on a different subnet, what destination IP address and destination MAC address will be placed in the packet/frame header sent by the PC?

a) Destination IP: Host's IP, Destination MAC: Router's MAC
b) Destination IP: Host's IP, Destination MAC: Host's MAC
c) Destination IP: Router's IP, Destination MAC: Router's MAC
d) Destination IP: Router's IP, Destination MAC: Host's MAC

Answer 1

When a PC on an Ethernet network communicates with a host on a different subnet, the packet will have the destination IP of the host and the destination MAC of the router.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a PC on an Ethernet network needs to communicate with a host on a different subnet, the process involves both the IP and MAC addresses. The correct answer is: a) Destination IP: Host's IP, Destination MAC: Router's MAC. The destination IP address is that of the host it's trying to reach, while the destination MAC address is that of the gateway router that will forward the packet onto the correct subnet. This is because the local PC cannot directly communicate at the data link level with a host on a different subnet; it must send the packet to its configured gateway (usually a router), which then routes the packet to the destination host's subnet.