Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol - VRRP
VRRP allows two or more network devices in an active standby configuration to share a single virtual default gateway. The VRRP router that forwards packets at any given time is the master. If this VRRP router fails, another VRRP standby router automatically takes over as master. The master sends VRRP advertisements to other VRRP routers in the same virtual router group, which include the priority and state of the master. VRRP router priority determines the role that each virtual router plays and who becomes the new master if the master fails.
Use VRRP when you have multiple distinct devices that connect to a layer 2 segment through multiple logical connections (not through a single bond). VRRP elects a single active forwarder that owns the virtual MAC address while it is active. This prevents the forwarding database of the layer 2 domain from continuously updating in response to MAC flaps because the switch receives frames sourced from the virtual MAC address from discrete logical connections.
All virtual routers use 00:00:5E:00:01:XX for IPv4 gateways or 00:00:5E:00:02:XX for IPv6 gateways as their MAC address. The last byte of the address is the Virtual Router IDentifier (VRID), which is different for each virtual router in the network. Only one physical router uses this MAC address at a time. The router replies with this address when it receives ARP requests or neighbor solicitation packets for the IP addresses of the virtual router.
- Cumulus Linux supports both VRRPv2 and VRRPv3. The default protocol version is VRRPv3.
- You can configure a maximum of 255 virtual routers on a switch.
- You cannot use VRRP with MLAG.
- To configure VRRP on an SVI or traditional mode bridge, you need to edit the
etc/network/interfacesand/etc/frr/frr.conffiles. - You can use VRRP with layer 3 interfaces and subinterfaces that are part of a VRF.
- You cannot use VRRP in an EVPN configuration; use MLAG and VRR instead. You cannot configure both VRR and VRRP on the same switch.
RFC 5798 describes VRRP in detail.
The following example illustrates a basic VRRP configuration.
Configure VRRP
To configure VRRP, specify the following information on each switch:
- A virtual router ID (VRID) that identifies the group of VRRP routers. You must specify the same ID across all virtual routers in the group.
- One or more virtual IP addresses for the virtual router group. These IP addresses do not directly connect to a specific interface. The switch redirects inbound packets to a virtual IP address to a physical network interface.
You can also set these optional parameters:
| Optional Parameter | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
priority | 100 | The priority level of the virtual router within the virtual router group, which determines the role that each virtual router plays and what happens if the master fails. Virtual routers have a priority between 1 and 254; the router with the highest priority becomes the master. |
advertisement interval | 1000 milliseconds | The advertisement interval is the interval between successive advertisements by the master in a virtual router group. You can specify a value between 10 and 40950. |
preempt | enabled | Preempt mode lets the router take over as master for a virtual router group if it has a higher priority than the current master. Preempt mode is on by default. To disable preempt mode, edit the /etc/frr/frr.conf file to add the line no vrrp <VRID> preempt to the interface stanza, then restart the FRR service. |
version | 3 | The VRRP protocol version. You can specify a value of either 2 or 3. |
The following example commands configure two switches (spine01 and spine02) that form one virtual router group (VRID 44) with IPv4 address 10.0.0.1/24 and IPv6 address 2001:0db8::1/64. spine01 is the master; it has a priority of 254. spine02 is the backup VRRP router.
The parent interface must use a primary address as the source address on VRRP advertisement packets.
When you configure VRRP with NVUE commands, NVUE enables the vrrpd service and restarts the FRR service; An FRR service restart might impact traffic.
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip address 10.0.0.2/24
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip address 2001:0db8::2/64
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44 address 10.0.0.1
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44 address 2001:0db8::1
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44 priority 254
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44 advertisement-interval 5000
cumulus@spine01:~$ nv config apply
cumulus@spine02:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip address 10.0.0.3/24
cumulus@spine02:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip address 2001:0db8::3/64
cumulus@spine02:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44 address 10.0.0.1/24
cumulus@spine02:~$ nv set interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44 address 2001:0db8::1/64
cumulus@spine02:~$ nv config apply
Edit the
/etc/network/interfacefile to assign an IP address to the parent interface; for example:cumulus@spine01:~$ sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces ... auto swp1 iface swp1 address 10.0.0.2/24 address 2001:0db8::2/64Enable the
vrrpddaemon, then start the FRR service. See FRRouting.From the vtysh shell, configure VRRP.
cumulus@spine01:~$ sudo vtysh ... spine01# configure terminal spine01(config)# interface swp1 spine01(config-if)# vrrp 44 ip 10.0.0.1 spine01(config-if)# vrrp 44 ipv6 2001:0db8::1 spine01(config-if)# vrrp 44 priority 254 spine01(config-if)# vrrp 44 advertisement-interval 5000 spine01(config-if)# end spine01# write memory spine01# exit
Edit the
/etc/network/interfacefile to assign an IP address to the parent interface; for example:cumulus@spine02:~$ sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces ... auto swp1 iface swp1 address 10.0.0.3/24 address 2001:0db8::3/64Enable the
vrrpddaemon, then start the FRR service. See FRRouting.From the vtysh shell, configure VRRP.
cumulus@spine02:~$ sudo vtysh ... spine02# configure terminal spine02(config)# interface swp1 spine02(config-if)# vrrp 44 ip 10.0.0.1 spine02(config-if)# vrrp 44 ipv6 2001:0db8::1 spine02(config-if)# end spine02# write memory spine02# exit
The vtysh commands save the configuration in the /etc/network/interfaces file and the /etc/frr/frr.conf file. For example:
cumulus@spine01:~$ sudo cat /etc/network/interfaces
...
auto swp1
iface swp1
address 10.0.0.2/24
address 2001:0db8::2/64
vrrp 44 10.0.0.1/24 2001:0db8::1/64
...
cumulus@spine01:~$ sudo cat /etc/frr/frr.conf
...
interface swp1
vrrp 44
vrrp 44 advertisement-interval 5000
vrrp 44 priority 254
vrrp 44 ip 10.0.0.1
vrrp 44 ipv6 2001:0db8::1
...
Show VRRP Configuration
To show global VRRP configuration, run the NVUE nv show router vrrp command:
cumulus@switch:~$ nv show router vrrp
applied
---------------------- -------
enable on
advertisement-interval 1000
preempt on
priority 100
The vtysh show vrrp command shows VRRP configuration and operational data:
...
switch# show vrrp
Virtual Router ID 44
Protocol Version 3
Autoconfigured No
Shutdown No
Interface swp1
VRRP interface (v4) vrrp4-3-44
VRRP interface (v6) vrrp6-3-44
Primary IP (v4) 10.0.0.2
Primary IP (v6) fe80::14a8:c009:2597:9854
Virtual MAC (v4) 00:00:5e:00:01:2c
Virtual MAC (v6) 00:00:5e:00:02:2c
Status (v4) Master
Status (v6) Master
Priority 254
Effective Priority (v4) 254
Effective Priority (v6) 254
Preempt Mode Yes
Accept Mode Yes
Advertisement Interval 5000 ms
Master Advertisement Interval (v4) Rx 5000 ms (stale)
Master Advertisement Interval (v6) Rx 5000 ms (stale)
Advertisements Tx (v4) 4
Advertisements Tx (v6) 3
Advertisements Rx (v4) 0
Advertisements Rx (v6) 0
Gratuitous ARP Tx (v4) 1
Neigh. Adverts Tx (v6) 1
State transitions (v4) 2
State transitions (v6) 2
Skew Time (v4) 30 ms
Skew Time (v6) 30 ms
Master Down Interval (v4) 15030 ms
Master Down Interval (v6) 15030 ms
IPv4 Addresses 1
.................................. 10.0.0.1
IPv6 Addresses 1
.................................. 2001:db8::1
To show configuration and operational information about all configured VRRP virtual routers, run the NVUE nv show interface <interface-id> ip vrrp virtual-router command or the vtysh show vrrp command.
Add -o json at the end of the NVUE command to see the output in a more readable format:
cumulus@switch:~$ nv show interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router -o json
{
"44": {
"accept-mode": "on",
"address-family": {
"ipv4": {
"counters": {
"adv-rx": 0,
"adv-tx": 4663,
"garp-tx": 1,
"state-transitions": 2
},
"down-interval": 15030,
"master-adv-interval": 5000,
"primary-addr": "10.0.0.2",
"priority": 254,
"skew-time": 30,
"status": "Master",
"virtual-addresses": {
"10.0.0.1": {}
},
"vmac": "00:00:5e:00:01:2c",
"vrrp-interface": "vrrp4-3-44"
},
"ipv6": {
"counters": {
"adv-rx": 0,
"adv-tx": 4662,
"neigh-adv-tx": 1,
"state-transitions": 2
},
"down-interval": 15030,
"master-adv-interval": 5000,
"primary-addr": "fe80::42cc:fd5c:fb48:76a8",
"priority": 254,
"skew-time": 30,
"status": "Master",
"virtual-addresses": {
"2001:db8::1": {}
},
"vmac": "00:00:5e:00:02:2c",
"vrrp-interface": "vrrp6-3-44"
}
},
"advertisement-interval": 5000,
"auto-config": "off",
"interface": "swp1",
"is-shutdown": "off",
"preempt": "on",
"priority": 254,
"version": 3
}
}
To show configuration information about a specific VRRP virtual router, run the NVUE nv show interface <interface-id> ip vrrp virtual-router <virtual-router-id> command or the vtysh show vrrp <virtual-router-id> command:
cumulus@switch:~$ nv show interface swp1 ip vrrp virtual-router 44
operational applied
---------------------- ----------- ------------
advertisement-interval 5000 5000
preempt on auto
priority 254 254
version 3 3
[address] 10.0.0.1
[address] 2001:0db8::1
accept-mode on
auto-config off
interface swp1
is-shutdown off
[address-family] ipv4
[address-family] ipv6
The vtysh show vrrp <virtual-router-id> command shows operational information in addition to configuration information:
...
switch# show vrrp 44
Virtual Router ID 44
Protocol Version 3
Autoconfigured No
Shutdown No
Interface swp1
VRRP interface (v4) vrrp4-3-44
VRRP interface (v6) vrrp6-3-44
Primary IP (v4) 10.0.0.2
Primary IP (v6) fe80::42cc:fd5c:fb48:76a8
Virtual MAC (v4) 00:00:5e:00:01:2c
Virtual MAC (v6) 00:00:5e:00:02:2c
Status (v4) Master
Status (v6) Master
Priority 254
Effective Priority (v4) 254
Effective Priority (v6) 254
Preempt Mode Yes
Accept Mode Yes
Advertisement Interval 5000 ms
Master Advertisement Interval (v4) Rx 5000 ms (stale)
Master Advertisement Interval (v6) Rx 5000 ms (stale)
Advertisements Tx (v4) 4710
Advertisements Tx (v6) 4709
Advertisements Rx (v4) 0
Advertisements Rx (v6) 0
Gratuitous ARP Tx (v4) 1
Neigh. Adverts Tx (v6) 1
State transitions (v4) 2
State transitions (v6) 2
Skew Time (v4) 30 ms
Skew Time (v6) 30 ms
Master Down Interval (v4) 15030 ms
Master Down Interval (v6) 15030 ms
IPv4 Addresses 1
.................................. 10.0.0.1
IPv6 Addresses 1
.................................. 2001:db8::1