Designed and implemented a full enterprise redundancy topology using Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), simulating a real corporate dual-gateway failover environment with live state transition verification.
Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) is a Cisco proprietary redundancy protocol that allows multiple routers to present a single virtual IP address to end devices. If the Active router fails, the Standby router automatically takes over — end users experience zero disruption. This project simulates exactly that scenario in a corporate environment with dual ISP uplinks.
The complete HSRP network topology built in Cisco Packet Tracer 8.2. The setup includes an ISP router at the top, two Cisco 2811 routers (Router1 as Active, Router2 as Standby), two Cisco 2960-24TT switches, two end-user PCs, and a Ford Web Server. Red lines show the WAN links to the ISP, black lines show LAN connections.
Router1 is configured as the HSRP Active gateway. FastEthernet0/0 is assigned 172.16.1.1/16 (LAN interface) and Serial0/0/0 is assigned 203.10.10.1/24 (WAN to ISP). This router holds Priority 200 with Preempt enabled, making it the dominant Active router in the HSRP group.
Router2 is configured as the HSRP Standby gateway. FastEthernet0/1 is assigned 172.16.1.2/16 (LAN) and Serial0/0/1 is assigned 202.10.10.1/24 (WAN to ISP). Router2 automatically takes over as Active if Router1 fails, providing seamless failover for all end users.
The ISP router connects to both Router1 and Router2 via dual Serial WAN uplinks — Serial0/0/0 to 203.10.10.2/24 and Serial0/0/1 to 202.10.10.2/24. FastEthernet0/0 connects the Ford Web Server at 10.10.10.1/8. This dual-uplink design ensures internet connectivity even if one WAN path fails.
Switch0 (Cisco 2960 IOS15) connects PC0 to the LAN segment under Router1. All ports are on VLAN 1. The switch has 24 FastEthernet ports and 2 GigabitEthernet uplink ports. Active ports (Fa0/1, Fa0/2, Fa0/5) show green UP status connecting to Router1, Switch1, and PC0 respectively.
The Cisco IOS CLI on Router1 confirms live HSRP state transitions: FastEthernet0/0 Grp 1 progressed through Speak → Standby → Active. The 'show standby brief' command confirms Router1 as Active with Priority 200, Preempt enabled (P flag), Standby router at 172.16.1.2, and Virtual IP at 172.16.1.1.
Final verification from PC0 command prompt confirms full LAN reachability. Ping to 172.16.1.2 (Router2 LAN interface) returns 4/4 packets received with 0% loss and 0ms latency — proving end-to-end connectivity across both switches and both routers. The HSRP Virtual IP (172.16.1.1) acts as the default gateway for PC0 and PC1.
