Which of the following descriptions of ARP requests in the VRRP protocol are correct? (Multiple choice)

Question

Options

• ABackup device does not respond to ARP requests for virtual IP addresses
• BWhen the Backup device receives the VRRP message from the Master device, it does not perform any processing.
• CWhen the Master device is abnormal and the Backup device switches to the Master device, it is the Master device.
• DThe backup device does not process packets whose destination IP address is a virtual IP address.

• A
  74% (25)
• B
  18% (6)
• C
  9% (3)

Explanation

In VRRP, only the Master device owns and responds on behalf of the virtual IP address - Backup devices remain passive regarding that address. A is correct because Backup devices deliberately stay silent to ARP requests for the virtual IP, avoiding conflicts with the Master. D is correct because if a Backup receives a packet destined for the virtual IP, it drops it rather than processing it - traffic handling is exclusively the Master's job.

B is wrong: Backup devices absolutely do process VRRP advertisement messages from the Master - that's how they monitor the Master's health and know when to trigger a failover election if heartbeats stop arriving.

C is wrong: While a Backup does become Master upon failover, the statement misses the critical ARP behavior that makes VRRP work: the new Master must send gratuitous ARP announcements to update the ARP caches of all hosts on the subnet, redirecting traffic to itself. Without this step, hosts would keep sending packets to the failed device's MAC address.

Memory tip: Think of the Master as a "celebrity" and Backups as "bodyguards" - only the celebrity (Master) takes questions (ARP requests) and handles mail (IP packets to the virtual IP). Bodyguards (Backups) watch the celebrity closely (monitoring VRRP messages), and if the celebrity collapses, a bodyguard takes the stage and announces themselves (gratuitous ARP) - they don't just silently step up.

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