Which statement accurately describes HSRP and VRRP in first-hop redundancy?

Which statement accurately describes HSRP and VRRP in first-hop redundancy?

• A. They both provide an active/standby gateway with a virtual IP and MAC.
• B. HSRP is an open standard while VRRP is Cisco proprietary.
• C. They do not support preemption.
• D. VRRP uses a separate protocol from HSRP and cannot interoperate.

Answer: (A)

First-hop redundancy protocols ensure there is always a gateway available on the LAN even if a router fails. Both HSRP and VRRP achieve this by presenting a single virtual gateway to hosts: a virtual IP address that devices use as their default gateway, and a virtual MAC address that the group uses for that IP. One router is elected as the active forwarder and handles traffic sent to the virtual IP, while the others stay as backups ready to take over if the active router fails. This active/standby setup with a shared virtual IP and MAC is exactly what these protocols implement, so it’s the best description. The other statements don’t fit: HSRP is Cisco proprietary while VRRP is an open standard; they do support preemption; and they are separate protocols that do not interoperate.

First-hop redundancy protocols ensure there is always a gateway available on the LAN even if a router fails. Both HSRP and VRRP achieve this by presenting a single virtual gateway to hosts: a virtual IP address that devices use as their default gateway, and a virtual MAC address that the group uses for that IP. One router is elected as the active forwarder and handles traffic sent to the virtual IP, while the others stay as backups ready to take over if the active router fails. This active/standby setup with a shared virtual IP and MAC is exactly what these protocols implement, so it’s the best description. The other statements don’t fit: HSRP is Cisco proprietary while VRRP is an open standard; they do support preemption; and they are separate protocols that do not interoperate.