Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol Version 3 for IPv4 and IPv6

Abstract

This document defines version 3 of the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) for IPv4 and IPv6. It obsoletes RFC 5798, which previously specified VRRP (version 3). RFC 5798 obsoleted RFC 3768, which specified VRRP (version 2) for IPv4. VRRP specifies an election protocol that dynamically assigns responsibility for a Virtual Router to one of the VRRP Routers on a LAN. The VRRP Router controlling the IPv4 or IPv6 address(es) associated with a Virtual Router is called the Active Router, and it forwards packets routed to these IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. Active Routers are configured with virtual IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, and Backup Routers infer the address family of the virtual addresses being advertised based on the IP protocol version. Within a VRRP Router, the Virtual Routers in each of the IPv4 and IPv6 address families are independent of one another and always treated as separate Virtual Router instances. The election process provides dynamic failover in the forwarding responsibility should the Active Router become unavailable. For IPv4, the advantage gained from using VRRP is a higher-availability default path without requiring configuration of dynamic routing or router discovery protocols on every end-host. For IPv6, the advantage gained from using VRRP for IPv6 is a quicker switchover to Backup Routers than can be obtained with standard IPv6 Neighbor Discovery mechanisms.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Proposed Standard” means

An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.