Vigor Routers supports High Availability (HA), which allows network administrators to add another Vigor Router to the network for hardware redundancy. While HA works only between Vigor Routers, starting from firmware version 4.4.5 or 4.5.*, Vigor Router also supports the VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol). This enables administrators to configure redundancy not only between different Vigor models but also with routers from other brands that support VRRP. Please note that the VRRP routers will have individual Internet connection and different configurations for the environment needs.

This article demonstrates how to set up VRRP between Vigor3912 and Vigor2865.

Supported Model and Firmware version:

• Vigor3912, Vigor3910, Vigor2962 fw 4.4.5
• Vigor2865 fw 4.5.0
• Vigor2927 fw 4.5.*

1️. Ensure Unique LAN IPs in the Same Subnet

Each VRRP router must have a unique LAN IP address within the same subnet. If a DHCP server is used to assign IP addresses to LAN hosts, make sure the VRRP Virtual IP is set as the default gateway in the DHCP server configuration.

2. Configure VRRP

Go to Applications >> High Availability, select VRRP as the protocol, and click Index 1 to edit the VRRP settings.

In the VRRP Profile, configure the following:

• VRID (Virtual Router Identifier): is used to identify a virtual router group. All routers participating in the same virtual router group (both Master and Backup) must be configured with the same VRID, so they can recognize each other as members of the same VRRP group.
• Version: Vigor Router supports both VRRP Version 2 and VRRP Version 3. Ensure the VRRP version that the routers supported and configure the same version on them.
• Priority: Assign a priority value (between 1 and 254) to each router in the VRRP group. The router with the highest priority (254) becomes the Master, meaning it will handle traffic for the shared virtual IP address.

Note: If multiple routers have the same priority, the router with the lowest IP address will become the Master.

• Preempt: this setting determines whether a router with a higher priority will take back the Master role after it recovers from a failure or not.
• When Preempt is Enabled:

When a higher-priority router comes back online, it automatically takes over the Master role from the current (lower-priority) Master. It ensures the best router handles the traffic.

• When Preempt is Disabled:

Even if the higher-priority router recovers, the current Master will remain in place, and the role will not switch automatically. This prevents traffic interruption due to unnecessary failovers.

• Authentication: Vigor Router supports none - No Authentication, pass - Simple Password Authentication and ipsec-ah – IPsec Authentication. Some implementations (e.g., VRRPv3) may use IPsec for protection (not always available on all devices). All routers in a VRRP group must be configured with the same authentication settings.
• Authentication Key: When the VRRP authentication is enabled, please enter the string/ password in the Authentication Key field on the routers in the same VRRP groups.
• Interval: VRRP Interval (also called Advertisement Interval) is the time interval between VRRP advertisement messages sent by the Master router to inform Backup routers that it is still active. On Vigor Routers, the unit is measured in seconds.
• Virtual IP: it is the shared IP address used by all routers in a VRRP group. It acts as the default gateway IP address for hosts on the local network.

In this setup:

• Vigor3912 is configured as Master with priority 200.
• Vigor2865 is configured as Backup with priority 100.
• All other VRRP settings are identical.

Master:

Backup:

3. Enable VRRP

On both routers, check Enable High Availability, then click OK to save. The routers will begin VRRP communication and negotiate their roles.

4. Check VRRP Status

Go to Applications >> High Availability, then click Status to view current VRRP role and status.

5. Failover Test – Power Off Master (Vigor3912)

When Vigor3912 is powered off, Vigor2865 becomes the new Master. Only one ping timeout was observed during the failover process.

6. Recovery Test – Power On Master (Vigor3912)

When Vigor3912 is powered back on, it resumes the Master role, and Vigor2865 becomes the Backup again.

Two ping timeouts occurred during the failback process.

Troubleshooting Tips:

If both routers identify themselves as Master or both as Backup, this indicates a configuration issue or a problem with VRRP communication. Please check the following:

1. Verify VRRP Configuration:

• Ensure all routers in the VRRP group have the same VRID.
• Confirm matching VRRP versions (v2 or v3) on all devices.
• Check the priority values and preempt settings are correctly configured.
• Verify that the Virtual IP address is configured identically on all routers.

2. Capture packets on the Backup Router to ensure it can receive the VRRP advertisement packets from the Master.

3. If Authentication is enabled, try disabling it, then disable and re-enable the Enable High Availability option to reinitialize VRRP communication.

4. Check the Syslog of Vigor Router by Syslog Utility. The VRRP logs can be found under the Others tab.