In older Nmap releases, what was the equivalent flag for performing a host discovery without port scanning (-sn)?

In older Nmap releases, what was the equivalent flag for performing a host discovery without port scanning (-sn)?

• A. -sL
• B. -sN
• C. -sP
• D. -sT

Answer: (C)

The concept being tested is how Nmap performs host discovery without doing any port scanning, and how the flags have changed over time. In older Nmap releases, the flag for a host discovery scan that only checks which hosts are up was -sP, a Ping Scan. This option targeted reachability (via ICMP, ARP, etc.) and did not proceed to port scanning. In newer versions, -sn serves the same purpose: it disables port scanning and focuses on identifying live hosts. The other options represent different kinds of scans and do not equate to host discovery only. For example, -sT is a TCP connect scan (full port scan), -sN is a TCP null scan, and -sL just lists targets without scanning. Hence, -sP is the correct historical equivalent for host discovery without port scanning.

The concept being tested is how Nmap performs host discovery without doing any port scanning, and how the flags have changed over time. In older Nmap releases, the flag for a host discovery scan that only checks which hosts are up was -sP, a Ping Scan. This option targeted reachability (via ICMP, ARP, etc.) and did not proceed to port scanning. In newer versions, -sn serves the same purpose: it disables port scanning and focuses on identifying live hosts.

The other options represent different kinds of scans and do not equate to host discovery only. For example, -sT is a TCP connect scan (full port scan), -sN is a TCP null scan, and -sL just lists targets without scanning. Hence, -sP is the correct historical equivalent for host discovery without port scanning.