thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Routing & Switching · Foundational

First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP)

A class of protocols that provide a redundant default gateway through a shared virtual IP and MAC address.

Definition

FHRPs let hosts keep a single default gateway address while two or more routers back each other up. HSRP and GLBP are Cisco proprietary; VRRP is an IETF standard. Anycast gateways in EVPN fabrics replace FHRPs in modern data centers.

Example

Two distribution switches share 10.1.1.1 as the gateway for VLAN 10.

Exam tip

Know which FHRPs are proprietary (HSRP, GLBP) versus standard (VRRP) and which load-balances natively (GLBP).

Related terms