Configuring IP Services
Configuring the Hot Standby Router Protocol
IPC-104
Cisco IOS IP Configuration Guide
Each VPN is associated with one or more VPN routing/forwarding (VRF) instances. A VRF consists of
the following elements:
IP routing table
Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) table
Set of interfaces that use the CEF forwarding table
Set of rules and routing protocol parameters to control the information in the routing tables
VPN routing information is stored in the IP routing table and the CEF table for each VRF. A separate set
of routing and CEF tables is maintained for each VRF. These tables prevent information from being
forwarded outside a VPN and also prevent packets that are outside a VPN from being forwarded to a
router within the VPN.
HSRP currently adds ARP entries and IP hash table entries (aliases) using the default routing table
instance. However, a different routing table instance is used when VRF forwarding is configured on an
interface, causing ARP and ICMP echo requests for the HSRP virtual IP address to fail.
HSRP support for MPLS VPNs ensures that the HSRP virtual IP address is added to the correct IP
routing table and not to the default routing table.
To configure this feature, perform the required tasks described in the following sections:
Defining VPNs (Required)
Enabling HSRP (Required)
Defining VPNs
To define VPNs, use the following commands on the PE routers beginning in global configuration mode:
Enabling HSRP
To enable the HSRP on an interface, use the following command in interface configuration mode:
Command Purpose
Step1 Router(config)# ip vrf vrf-name Enters VRF configuration mode and assigns a
VRF name.
Step2 Router(config-vrf)# rd route-distinguisher Creates routing and forwarding tables.
Step3 Router(config-vrf)# route-target {import | export |
both} route-target-ext-community
Creates a list of import or export route target
communities for the specified VRF.
Step4 Router(config-vrf)# exit Exits the current configuration mode and enters
global configuration mode.
Step5 Router(config)# interface type number Specifies an interface and enters interface
configuration mode.
Step6 Router(config-if)# ip vrf forwarding vrf-name Associates a VRF with an interface or
subinterface.
Command Purpose
Router (config-if)# standby [group-number] ip ip-address Enables the HSRP.