HSRP Interview Questions

Q) What is the use of HSRP?

A: HSRP is used to provide default gateway redundancy.
Q) What is the maximum number of HSRP groups can be created in the router?
A: Maximum 16 groups..
Q) What is the HSRP virtual MAC address
A: 0000.0c07.acxx
Q) What are the maximum number of routers can be present in a group?
A: Maximum 16 routers can be present in a group.
Q) HSRP uses TCP or UDP?
A: HSRP uses UDP port number 1985
Q) What is the Source IP & Destination IP address of HSRP Hello message?
A: Source IP address = IP address of the Primary Interface
Destination IP address = 224.0.0.2
Q) Is it possible to configure HSRP on Multi Layer Switch (MLS) ?
A: Yes it is possible to configure HSRP on MLS (3560) switches...
Q) What are the HSRP default Hello and Hold Down Timers?
A: Hello Timer = 3 seconds
Hold Down Timer = 10 seconds
Q) What is the difference between Active and Standby router in HSRP?
A: Active Router: Router which is responsible to forward the data
Standby Router: Router which is the backup to active router.

Q) What is the difference between HSRP version 1 and HSRP version 2?

A: 1) HSRP version 1 supports 256 groups ranging from 0 to 255, HSRP version 2 supports 4096
groups ranging from 0 to 4095
2) HSRP vesion 1 uses multicast address for sending hello messages is 224.0.0.2, HSRP
version 2 uses multicast address for sending hello messages is 224.0.0.102
3) HSRP version 1 and Version 2 are having different virtual mac addresses.

4) HSRP version 2 allows support for IPV6 whereas HSRP version 1 does not support.
Q) If active router LAN interface is up but line protocol is down, In this case whether standby
router will become active router?
A: Yes standby router will become as Active router if the interface is up but line protocol is down..
Q) What is the default priority and default group number for HSRP?
A: Default Priority: 100
Default Group number: 0
Q) If you perform traceroute, which ip address you will see in the reply (Physical or virtual IP )?
A: Physical IP address
Q) How many states present in HSRP?
A: 6 states present in HSRP
1) Initial
2) Learn
3) Listen
4)Speak
5)Standby
6) Active

What is the difference between HSRP & VRRP?

Ans: HSRP and VRRP both are the virtual routing protocols that overcome the problem of single
gateway failure. Both works with many similarities, such as redundancy and load balancing, but with
significant difference as below.

HSRP (Host Standby Router Protocol) is Cisco proprietary protocol whereas VRRP (Virtual Router
Redundancy Protocol) is an open standards-based protocol.

HSRP use default hello timer of 3 second with a hold timer of 10 seconds whereas VRRP use default
hello timer of 1 second with a hold timer of 3 seconds.

In HSRP, one router is active, one is standby and the rest are in listening state, if more than 3 routers
are in the group. In VRRP the active router is called master router whereas all other routers in the
group are in backup state.

VRRP supports default pre-emption where as HSRP needs it to configured.

In HSRP the highest interface address wins the election whereas in VRRP, if a router uses virtual IP as
an interface IP, this router becomes the active or master, if the priorities are default.