CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Server Load Balancing (SLB)

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  Server Load Balancing (SLB)

You need to know all about router redundancy strategies to become a CCNP, but there's an important server redundancy feature you need to know as well!  Learn all about Server Load Balancing from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.


When you're working on your BCMSN exam on your way to CCNP certification, you'll read at length about how Cisco routers and multilayer switches can work to provide router redundancy - but there's another helpful service, Server Load Balancing, that does the same for servers. While HSRP, VRRP, and CLBP all represent multiple physical routers to

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: HSRP MAC Addresses And Timers

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  HSRP MAC Addresses And Timers

Just a few of the HSRP details you must know to earn your CCNA are configuring a MAC address for the virtual router.  Learn how to do so from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

To earn your CCNP certification and pass the BCMSN exam, you've got to know what HSRP does and the many configurable options.  While the operation of HSRP is quite simple (and covered in a previous tutorial), you also need to know how HSRP arrives at the MAC address for the virtual router - as well as how to configure a new MAC for this virtual router.  This puts us in the unusual position of creating a physical address for a router that doesn't exist!

The output of show standby for a two-router HSRP configuration is shown below.

R2#show standby

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Getting Started With HSRP

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  Getting Started With HSRP

HSRP seems simple enough, but there are a lot of options you need to know to pass the CCNP exams!  Learn how to get started with HSRP from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.


Defined in RFC 2281, HSRP is a Cisco-proprietary protocol in which routers are put into an HSRP router group. Along with dynamic routing protocols and STP, HSRP is considered a high-availability network service, since all three have an almost immediate cutover to a secondary path when the primary path is unavailable.