Hot Standby Router Protocol

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What Does Hot Standby Router Protocol Mean?

Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) is a redundancy routing protocol that establishes default fault tolerance and a framework for primary network gateway failover. HSRP is designed for multiaccess or broadcast local area networks (LAN) and supports non-disruptive Internet Protocol traffic inaccessibility.

HSRP is defined as RFC 2281.

Techopedia Explains Hot Standby Router Protocol

HSRP features include:

  • Consistent IP routing protocol sets
  • Works in a bridging environment
  • Automatically self-updates when media access control (MAC) addresses are modified
  • High-priority HSRPs are virtual (or active) routers with predefined gateway IP addresses
  • HSRP groups or standby groups are HSRP router sets coordinated as illusory single active routers
  • HSRP group routers have universal IP and MAC addresses.
  • The virtual IP address for an HSRP group is the primary IP address LAN subnet and differs from other allocated interface addresses.

HSRP and active routers transmit messages on a periodic basis upon completion of protocol election. When an HSRP router fails or becomes an active router, the next standby router is selected to handle packet-forwarding duties. The active router then accepts and forwards traffic to the group’s virtual MAC address. When the active router leaves the LAN state, packet forwarding ends.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.