HSRP vs VRRP for IPv6 on IOS-XE - rekindling an old flame

A while back I brought up a discussion about IPv6 and I mentioned having some HSRP issues. Not end of the world, just adjusting to IPv6. Several folks went offline to tell me that I should dump "legacy" HSRP and go to VRRP. While I never did find anyone who could explain how HSRP is a sunset feature in IOS, I did agree with a few folks to look into VRRP for IPv6. Well I'm just now getting around to it and there is literally nothing out there. I found a few older articles implying that it's not there yet and of course I found the usual docs about RAs and SLAC and whatnot. But nothing recent. So, for those who criticized me previously about using HSRP (or anyone else) instead of VRRP, do you have VRRP up and running on Cisco IOS-XE and if so how? Can anyone provide a link or a document explaining how this is accomplished? Sample configs? Usually if you can't find it on Google or CCO it's not promising. I'm also reaching out to our AS team for guidance on the subject.

PS: I'm not taunting here. It's just that several folks made the effort to go offline with me and tell me how wrong I was with HSRP and that I need to progress to VRRP and I can't find a single doc on the subject now that I look. Were these folks mistaken or am I missing something? Any help would be appreciated.

And two seconds after I hit send I find an updated article....

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios-xml/ios/ipapp_fhrp/configuration/xe-3s/fhp-vrrp.html

<facepalm>

If you have more information I still welcome it. I'm going to go sit in the corner now...

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

Correction. Still looking for something IPv6 specific.

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

Last time I looked, the support looked like this:

XR: v4: HSRPv1, VRRP v6: VRRP
IOS: v4: HSRPv1, HSRPv2, VRRP, GLBP v6: HSRPv2, GLBP

You'll notice a certain lack of joined-up thinking here.

Nick

Yeah I see the disconnect. I'm assuming that what I see is what I get. Which means I'm going to stick with HSRP. If our AS team gives me any good feedback that I can share I will do so. Thanks Nick.

XE: v4: HSRPv1, HSRPv2, VRRP v6: HSRPv2

Reflections of a madman... Why is parity such a difficult task?

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

Yeah I see the disconnect. I'm assuming that what I see is what I get.
Which means I'm going to stick with HSRP. If our AS team gives me any
good feedback that I can share I will do so. Thanks Nick.

XE: v4: HSRPv1, HSRPv2, VRRP v6: HSRPv2

Not particularly relevant to the original question - however, I'd like
to mention that we've been using IPv6 VRRP on our Juniper routers for
well over a year. No particular problems so far.

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no

VRRP is to HSRP what 802.1q is to ISL...

I highly recommend using VRRP instead of HSRP because:

1. It is a more robust protocol
2. It is vendor agnostic
3. Being vendor agnostic it is more likely to have a continuing future.

Does anyone still use ISL?

Owen

It's a good argument Owen. Unfortunately it looks like VRRP is not an available feature on the ASR for IPv6 FHRP. I'm still trying to confirm it but it is definitely not configurable in my version of code and if it's "just coming out" in a "new release" there is no way I'm jumping in with both feet. I'll have to stick with HSRP and LL addressing. If anyone knows different please let me know. Thanks

PS: Yes, I still have some ISL. :frowning: On legacy environments only though. I promise. Nothing new in years...

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

That's good to know. Seriously. I can point that out to the Cisco guys... :slight_smile:

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

...rhetorical question perhaps; historically, interesting:

ISL: I last used in 2005
CET: ....2000

./Randy

Any idea what to do if you want to use a FHRP for >255 subinterfaces?
HSRP allows you to use the same group number under multiple subinterfaces, while VRRP doesn't.
I don't know if this is only a Cisco limitation (giving preference to their child).

It's too early for me to say that. I know for HSRP I had to define a group for IPv4 and a separate group for IPv6. Since it looks like VRRP is out for me I haven't looked into that. And I have no idea about other options for other manufacturers or specific implementations (NSRP, GSLB, etc.). I'm still hoping someone on this thread from Cisco or elsewhere will confirm my findings. I'll update the thread with what our direct AS folks come back with as well.

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

Last time I looked, the support looked like this:

XR: v4: HSRPv1, VRRP v6: VRRP
IOS: v4: HSRPv1, HSRPv2, VRRP, GLBP v6: HSRPv2, GLBP

You'll notice a certain lack of joined-up thinking here.

Looks like IOS 15.2(4)M finally supports VRRPv3, which supports ipv6.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/15_2m_and_t/release/notes/152-4MNEWF.html#wp63073

This is really useful - finally you can either or both of vanilla IOS or XR
to provide VRRP resilient first hop for ipv6.

Nick