Windows server 2012 Practice Test

The component that enables DHCP clients to communicate with DHCP servers on other subnets is the relay agent. A relay agent acts as an intermediary that forwards DHCP packets between clients and servers across different subnets. When a DHCP client requests an IP address, the request is typically sent as a broadcast message. However, broadcasts do not cross subnet boundaries, which is where the relay agent comes into play. A relay agent receives the broadcast messages from clients and encapsulates them in unicast messages to send to the DHCP server. Conversely, it forwards responses from the server back to the clients. This mechanism is crucial in larger networks where clients are not always on the same subnet as the DHCP server. The other options, while related to networking concepts, do not serve the role of bridging communication across subnets for DHCP purposes. The DHCP server is the source of IP address allocation, the subnet mask determines the network's range, and the broadcast address is used to send messages to all devices on a subnet but does not facilitate inter-subnet communication. Thus, it is the relay agent that plays the key role required in this scenario.