How to configure HSRP in Cisco IOS Routers

HSRP stands for Hot Standy Routing Protocol which provides Automatic Router backup when an active router in the group fails. HSRP allows building resiliency in the network gateways wherein should an Active Router fail in a HSRP group, the standby router assumes the role of the active router and continue routing packets. HSRP works by sending multicast "Hello" messages (default: every 3 secs). If the Standby router do not receive any Hello packets from the active router for a preset time (default 10secs) then it assumes the active router is down and becomes the active router. Also, if we are tracking an interface and if the tracked interface is down, the Active Router reduces its priority so a Standby Router can assume to role of Primary Router. A realtime example would be access to a service providers servers at a remote location. Lets say there are two distinct routes to the same server(s), each through individual routers. The clients on the internal network segment are configured to send the traffic through a gateway. The gateway being the HSRP Address. Then the Server is accessible through one service provider always (based on the active router). However, in a disaster situation when the active router goes down, the standby router assumes the active router role and continues to serve connection to the remote servers but using the other service provider. This way routing redundancy is provided to a remote resource.

To setup HSRP on a pair of routers, Router 1: From the Interface Configuration Mode add the IP Address of the Interface
hsrp-router1#conf t hsrp-router1(config)# int fa0/0 hsrp-router1(config-if)# ip address 192.168.0.2 255.255.255.0

Set the Virtual IP Address Sets the Virtual IP Address for the interface where "1" is the HSRP group and "92.168.0.1" is the Virtual IP for the HSRP group.
hsrp-router1(config-if)# standby 1 ip 192.168.0.1

Enable Preempt This is required to make the router from being a Standby Router to an Active Router when it finds the Active Router is down or if it has become the higher priority router in the group
hsrp-router1(config-if)# standby 1 preempt

Set Router Priority The default priority is "100". We set here as "110" to make the Router 1 as active.
hsrp-router1(config-if)# standby 1 priority 110

Set Authentication String This is an optional plain text 8 character string that can be used in the multicast "hello" packets to authenticate the HSRP group.
hsrp-router1(config-if)# standby 1 authentication LocalLAN

Set Timers Sets the time period between the "hello" packets and the hold time before assuming an active router is down. Default is 3seconds and 10 seconds respectively.
hsrp-router1(config-if)# standby 1 timers 5 15

Track Interface If you track interface to check link status then the following command will track an interface and when the tracked link is down, the active router will mark its priority low so as to allow a Standby router to take over.
hsrp-router1(config-if)# standby 1 track se0/0

Repeat the procedure altering the IP Address of the Local interface and the priority and the tracked interface. Router 2:
hsrp-router2#conf t hsrp-router2(config)# int fa0/0 hsrp-router2(config-if)# ip address 192.168.0.3 255.255.255.0 hsrp-router2(config-if)# standby 1 ip 192.168.0.1 hsrp-router2(config-if)# standby 1 preempt hsrp-router2(config-if)# standby 1 priority 100 hsrp-router2(config-if)# standby 1 authentication LocalLAN hsrp-router2(config-if)# standby 1 timers 5 15 hsrp-router2(config-if)# standby 1 track se0/0

Thats it. HSRP configuration is complete. You may test the connectivity to a remote route and see for yourself the redudancy in place.

HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol) is the Cisco proprietary protocol for providing redundancy in router networks. The standard router redundancy protocol which is used by other vendors is VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol), however Cisco has created its own proprietary protocol (HSRP) which works very well on Cisco routers. In a Local Area Network (LAN), all hosts (PC, Servers etc) have a single default gateway address configured which is used to route packets outside the LAN. If that single default gateway fails, then communication outside the LAN is not possible. With HSRP we can have two gateway routers, one active and one standby, which will provide resiliency regarding the default gateway address. Using HSRP, the two routers will have a physical IP address configured on their LAN-facing interface, but they will have also a Virtual (HSRP address) which will be used as the default gateway address for hosts on the LAN. No matter which router gateway is up and running (either the primary or the secondary), the virtual HSRP address will stay the same. Lets see a diagram below to explain this functionality.

First of all, HSRP must be configured between interfaces that have Layer2 connectivity between them. From the diagram above, HSRP will be running between interfaces FE0/1 on the two LAN routers. Interface FE0/1 on RTR-A will have a physical IP address 10.10.10.1 and interface FE0/1 on RTR-B will have a physical IP address 10.10.10.2. An HSRP address 10.10.10.3 will be also configured on both routers. This address will serve as the default gateway address for all hosts on the LAN. RTR-A will be configured as the Active HSRP router by setting a higher hsrp priority. With HSRP, we can also track a specific interface. This means that if the tracked interface of the active router fails, then HSRP will trigger a failover to the standby router. Lets see an actual configuration below:

Cisco Router HSRP Configuration

Configuration Router RTR-A RTR-A(config)# int fa0/1 RTR-A(config-if)# ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0 ! enable HSRP group 1 and set the virtual address to 10.10.10.3 RTR-A(config-if)# standby 1 ip 10.10.10.3 ! preempt allows the router to become the active router when its priority is higher RTR-A(config-if)# standby 1 preempt ! increase its priority to 110 to make it active (default priority is 100) RTR-A(config-if)# standby 1 priority 110 ! track the WAN interface FE0/0 RTR-A(config-if)# standby 1 track fa0/0 Router RTR-B RTR-B(config)# int fa0/1 RTR-B(config-if)# ip address 10.10.10.2 255.255.255.0 ! enable HSRP group 1 and set the virtual address to 10.10.10.3 RTR-B(config-if)# standby 1 ip 10.10.10.3 ! preempt allows the router to become the active router when its priority is higher RTR-B(config-if)# standby 1 preempt ! set priority to 100 to make it the standby router (this is the default value) RTR-B(config-if)# standby 1 priority 100 ! track the WAN interface FE0/0 RTR-B(config-if)# standby 1 track fa0/0 Thats it. Now configure a default gateway address of 10.10.10.3 for your LAN hosts.