breakitdown

169.254.0.0/16: link-local addresses

Answer

169.254.0.0/16 is the IPv4 link-local range (RFC 3927). A device gives itself an address here when it gets no answer from DHCP, and the address only works on the local link. In the cloud, 169.254.169.254 is the instance metadata service.

Try

169.254.0.0/16 is 65,536 addresses: 169.254.0.0 to 169.254.255.255. 65,534 usable for hosts (the first is the network address, the last is broadcast).

1691010100125411111110000000000000000000
16 network bits 16 host bits
Network
169.254.0.0
First usable
169.254.0.1
Last usable
169.254.255.254
Broadcast
169.254.255.255
Addresses
65,536
Usable hosts
65,534
Netmask
255.255.0.0
Wildcard (ACL) mask
0.0.255.255
Historic class
B
Range type
Link-local · not routed on the internet

Special-purpose range

Link-local 169.254.0.0/16 RFC 3927
Self-assigned when no DHCP server answers, and valid only on the local link. 169.254.169.254 is the metadata service on most cloud platforms.

Split it into subnets

or

4 subnets.

SubnetUsable rangeHostsBroadcast
169.254.0.0/18169.254.0.1 – 169.254.63.25416,382169.254.63.255
169.254.64.0/18169.254.64.1 – 169.254.127.25416,382169.254.127.255
169.254.128.0/18169.254.128.1 – 169.254.191.25416,382169.254.191.255
169.254.192.0/18169.254.192.1 – 169.254.255.25416,382169.254.255.255

Is this IP in the range?

Range to CIDR blocks

What to know

If a computer shows a 169.254.x.x address, it almost always means DHCP failed: the cable, Wi-Fi association, VLAN or DHCP server is the problem, not the IP settings. Windows calls this APIPA. Hosts pick from 169.254.1.0 to 169.254.254.255; the first and last /24 are reserved.

AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and others serve instance metadata (instance ID, network config and temporary credentials) at 169.254.169.254. AWS also uses 169.254.169.253 for its DNS resolver and 169.254.169.123 for its time service.

Gotchas

Related explainers

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