CISSP · Question #950
In a High Availability (HA) environment, what is the PRIMARY goal of working with a virtual router address as the gateway to a network?
The correct answer is C. The first of two routers fails and is reinstalled, while the second handles the traffic flawlessly. In HA environments, a virtual router address (as used in HSRP, VRRP, or GLBP) provides a single, stable gateway IP that remains available even if the primary physical router fails. The virtual address abstracts the gateway from any single physical device.
Question
In a High Availability (HA) environment, what is the PRIMARY goal of working with a virtual router address as the gateway to a network?
Options
- AThe second of two routers can periodically check in to make sure that the first router is
- BThe second of two routers can better absorb a Denial of Service (DoS) attack knowing the first
- CThe first of two routers fails and is reinstalled, while the second handles the traffic flawlessly.
- DThe first of two routers can better handle specific traffic, while the second handles the rest of the
How the community answered
(24 responses)- A8% (2)
- B4% (1)
- C75% (18)
- D13% (3)
Why each option
In HA environments, a virtual router address (as used in HSRP, VRRP, or GLBP) provides a single, stable gateway IP that remains available even if the primary physical router fails. The virtual address abstracts the gateway from any single physical device.
Periodic health-checking between routers (hello messages) is a mechanism used to detect failure, but it is not the primary goal of using a virtual router address as the gateway.
DoS attack absorption is a security concern unrelated to the purpose of a virtual router gateway address, which is focused on availability and failover rather than attack mitigation.
The primary goal of a virtual router address in HA is seamless failover: end devices use the virtual IP as their default gateway, so when the active/primary router fails, the standby router assumes forwarding responsibility for that virtual address without requiring any reconfiguration on client devices, making the transition transparent and uninterrupted.
Load distribution of specific traffic types describes load balancing (e.g., GLBP or multiple HSRP groups), which is a secondary use case, not the primary goal of a virtual router gateway address in an HA context.
Concept tested: Virtual router gateway failover in HA (HSRP/VRRP)
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-ha-ports-overview
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