After configuring a server, a technician is unable to access websites by URL but can access websites by typing in an IP address. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of this issue?

A misconfigured firewall would block traffic by port or protocol and would prevent access by both URL and IP address, not just URL-based requests.

DNS (Domain Name System) is responsible for translating human-readable domain names into IP addresses. When DNS is misconfigured or unreachable, the system cannot resolve URLs to their corresponding IPs, but direct IP access still works because no name resolution is required. This split behavior - IP works, URL does not - is the classic symptom of a DNS failure.

DHCP not being enabled would prevent the server from obtaining an IP address automatically, which would affect all network connectivity and not only URL-based access.

An incorrect gateway would prevent routing traffic outside the local subnet, blocking external access by both URL and IP address equally.