HSRPv2

 

Hot Standby Router Protocol Version 2

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The Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) Version 2 feature was introduced to prepare for further enhancements and to expand the capabilities beyond what is possible with HSRP version 1. HSRP version 2 has a different packet format than HSRP version 1.

 

Restrictions for HSRP Version 2

•HSRP version 2 is not available for ATM interfaces running LAN emulation.

•HSRP version 2 will not interoperate with HSRP version 1. An interface cannot operate both version 1 and version 2 because both versions are mutually exclusive. However, the different versions can be run on different physical interfaces of the same router. You cannot change from version 2 to version 1 if you have configured groups above the group number range allowed for version 1 (0 to 255).

 

HSRP Version 2 Feature Design

HSRP version 2 is designed to address the following issues relative to HSRP version 1:

•Previously, millisecond timer values are not advertised or learned. HSRP version 2 advertises and learns millisecond timer values. This change ensures stability of the HSRP groups in all cases.

•Group numbers are restricted to the range from 0 to 255. HSRP version 2 expands the group number range from 0 to 4095.

•HSRP version 2 provides improved management and troubleshooting. With HSRP version 1, there is no method to identify from HSRP active hello messages which physical router sent the message because the source MAC address is the HSRP virtual MAC address. The HSRP version 2 packet format includes a 6-byte identifier field that is used to uniquely identify the sender of the message. Typically, this field is populated with the interface MAC address.

•The multicast address 224.0.0.2 is used to send HSRP hello messages. This address can conflict with Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP) leave processing.

Version 1 is the default version of HSRP.

HSRP version 2 uses the new IP multicast address 224.0.0.102 to send hello packets instead of the multicast address of 224.0.0.2, which is used by version 1. This new multicast address allows CGMP leave processing to be enabled at the same time as HSRP.

HSRP version 2 permits an expanded group number range, 0 to 4095, and consequently uses a new MAC address range 0000.0C9F.F000 to 0000.0C9F.FFFF. The increased group number range does not imply that an interface can, or should, support that many HSRP groups. The expanded group number range was changed to allow the group number to match the VLAN number on subinterfaces.

When the HSRP version is changed, each group will reinitialize because it now has a new virtual MAC address.

HSRP version 2 has a different packet format than HSRP version 1. The packet format uses a type-length-value (TLV) format. HSRP version 2 packets received by an HSRP version 1 router will have the type field mapped to the version field by HSRP version 1 and subsequently ignored.