HSRP Configuration Lab

In this lab, you will learn how to configure HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol) on two routers to provide a redundant default gateway for your network.
HSRP is an important CCNA topic because it ensures that end devices stay connected even if one router becomes unavailable.

Figure 1 - HSRP Configuration Lab Topology

Your objective is to set up the HSRP group, verify the Active and Standby roles, update the PCs so they use the virtual gateway, test the failover process, and confirm that preemption restores the main router as Active when it comes back online.

We’ll walk through everything step by step directly inside Packet Tracer so you can understand both the configuration and how HSRP behaves in a real scenario.

How to Begin

Before starting, download the lab file using the button at the top of the page.
The topology is already prepared with all IP addresses configured, so you can focus entirely on the HSRP setup.

Lab Overview

Here’s the structure we’ll follow throughout this lab:

• Step 1 – Initial Connectivity

• Step 2 – Configure HSRP on R1 and R2

• Step 3 – Configure PCs with the virtual gateway

• Step 4 – Test HSRP failover

• Step 5 – Restore R1 and verify preemption

Let’s Get Started

Open the Packet Tracer file and begin with Step 1 to verify the initial connectivity.
Then follow each step carefully to configure, test, and fully understand how HSRP works.

Let’s begin by looking at our topology.
We have the LAN network 192.168.10.0/24 connected to two routers.
In this step, we will use PC1 to check if it can reach the external destination 8.8.8.8.

Figure 2 - Access the Command Prompt on PC1

This address is represented by a loopback address connected to the ISP router in the lab context.

First, open the command prompt on PC1.

Figure 2 - Access the Command Prompt on PC1

We can now test basic connectivity by sending a ping to 8.8.8.8:

C:\> ping 8.8.8.8

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

The ping succeeds, which means PC1 can already reach the external network through its current gateway.

Figure 3 – Initial HSRP topology overview

Next, let’s check which gateway PC1 is using.

Run the following command:

C:\> ipconfig

FastEthernet0 Connection:(default port)

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix..: 
   Link-local IPv6 Address.........: FE80::202:16FF:FE48:B8C9
   IPv6 Address....................: ::
   IPv4 Address....................: 192.168.10.10
   Subnet Mask.....................: 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway.................: ::
                                     192.168.10.1

We can see that the default gateway is 192.168.10.1, which belongs to R1.

To confirm the path taken by packets, use:

C:\> tracert 8.8.8.8

Tracing route to 8.8.8.8 over a maximum of 30 hops: 

  1   0 ms      0 ms      0 ms      192.168.10.1
  2   0 ms      0 ms      0 ms      8.8.8.8

Trace complete.

The first hop is 192.168.10.1, confirming that R1 is currently acting as the gateway.

Everything looks good.
In the next step, we will configure HSRP on R1 and R2 to provide a redundant default gateway.

In this step, we will configure HSRP on both routers so they can share a single virtual default gateway.
We’ll start with R1, then apply the same logic on R2.

On R1, go to the interface facing the LAN, which is GigabitEthernet0/0.
We enable HSRP version 2 using the standby version 2 command.

R1# conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R1(config)# int g0/0
R1(config-if)# standby version 2
R1(config-if)# standby ?
  <0-4095>  group number
  ip        Enable HSRP and set the virtual IP address
  ipv6      Enable HSRP IPv6
  preempt   Overthrow lower priority Active routers
  priority  Priority level
  timers    Hello and hold timers
  track     Priority Tracking
  version   HSRP version

Here, you can see all options available for the standby ? command.
Now we configure the virtual IP address, set the priority to 110, and enable preemption so R1 becomes the Active router.

R1(config-if)# standby 1 ip 192.168.10.3
R1(config-if)# standby 1 priority 110
R1(config-if)# standby 1 preempt 

%HSRP-6-STATECHANGE: GigabitEthernet0/0 Grp 1 state Init -> Init
%HSRP-6-STATECHANGE: GigabitEthernet0/0 Grp 1 state Speak -> Standby
%HSRP-6-STATECHANGE: GigabitEthernet0/0 Grp 1 state Standby -> Active

After enabling preemption on R1, we now configure HSRP on R2.
The process is the same, but this time we set a lower priority (90) so R2 becomes the standby router.

R2# conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R2(config)# int g0/0
R2(config-if)# standby version 2
R2(config-if)# standby 1 priority 90
R2(config-if)# standby 1 ip 192.168.10.3
R2(config-if)# standby 1 preempt 

At this point, both routers are part of HSRP Group 1.
Let’s verify the configuration.

Figure 4 – HSRP Group 1 configuration overview

The show standby command is very useful because it allows us to see the state of each HSRP group in detail.
Let’s check the configuration on R1:

R1# show standby 
GigabitEthernet0/0 - Group 1 (version 2)
  State is Active
    5 state changes, last state change 00:06:08
  Virtual IP address is 192.168.10.3
  Active virtual MAC address is 0000.0C9F.F001
    Local virtual MAC address is 0000.0C9F.F001 (v2 default)
  Hello time 3 sec, hold time 10 sec
    Next hello sent in 1.979 secs
  Preemption enabled
  Active router is local
  Standby router is 192.168.10.2, priority 90 (expires in 6 sec)
  Priority 110 (configured 110)
  Group name is hsrp-Gig0/0-1 (default)

Here, R1 clearly shows itself as the Active router, with R2 as the Standby router.
We can also see the configured priority value that determines the election result.