Router Hot Failover - HSRP?

[mauisys]

I have two routers and would like to set these up on our network in a cluster or failover configuration. Load balancing is not necessary. I've looked at HSRP but I'm not sure if this could be used in this situation.

Router 1 (3845)

     interface 1 : Local LAN

     interface 2 : Local WAN

     interface 3 : To our Local FW cluster

Set up Router 2 (2951) to automatically become active if the primary router fails.

This is a diagram of what we are trying to accomplish:

Is HSRP the right choice?

Thanks.

[Jon Marshall]

Is HSRP the right choice?
Thanks.

Yes this is possible. You would need to have the internal LAN interfaces of the 2951 and 3845 in the same subnet and then use a virtual address, again from the same subnet. This virtual address is what is used as the default-gateway for the clients. You make the interface on the 3845 higher priority so it is the preferred router.

What is not clear is where the WAN is oin your diagram ?

Also you would need a switch between the 2 routers and the firewall as you don't want to be using separate interfaces on the ASA. You could use a switch that is being used for the internal LAN if it supports vlans.

Jon

[mauisys]

Jon,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, you're right the diagram wasn't clear... This more accurate and complete:

Are there alternatives to HSRP that might be more appropriate or is that the best solution?

Thanks.

[mauisys]

Jon,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, you're right the diagram wasn't clear... This more accurate and complete:

Are there alternatives to HSRP that might be more appropriate or is that the best solution?

Thanks.

[Jon Marshall]

Dave

That makes a bit more sense

Yes HSRP would do what you wanted. You would need to set it up for both LAN1 and LAN2.

The alternative to HSRP is GLBP. The main advantage of GLBP is that you use both routers to forward traffic because both are active. The routers themselves work out which is active for which client.

With HSRP only one router is active and the other is simply in standby mode.

Jon

[mauisys]

Thanks Jon.

So we would need/end up with two virtual IPs, one for each LAN interface on the routers?

[Jon Marshall · Accepted solution]

mauisys@gmail.com
Thanks Jon.
So we would need/end up with two virtual IPs, one for each LAN interface on the routers?

Dave

Yes. For each LAN subnet you need 3 ip addresses, 1 each for the 2 routers and one to use for the VIP.

Jon

[license]

Jon,

Would it be possible to connect the two routers directly via ethernet without using a switch? I have two 3640 router with each having 4 ethernet ports. my "dream" is to have of strong, redundant network. Here is what I am working on.