Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) 200-301 Practice Test 44
Question 430
A branch routing engineer is evaluating a deployment. Two routers on one host VLAN should present one stable virtual default-gateway IP and MAC that survives active-router failure. What approach correctly addresses the stated requirement?
- Configure every host with R1’s physical interface IP and assume R2 takeover changes that address automatically.
- Assign separate default gateways from R1 and R2 at random and assume all clients will choose the surviving one.
- Configure a common FHRP virtual IP on the host subnet and use it as every client’s default gateway; the active owner answers for the virtual MAC.
- Use a shared DNS server name as the FHRP MAC address instead of a virtual gateway IP.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:HSRP/VRRP provide a stable host-facing virtual next hop while router roles change. On failure, the surviving eligible router takes ownership of the virtual IP/MAC without reconfiguring clients.
Incorrect Answers
A:An FHRP transition moves the virtual gateway, not R1’s unique physical interface IP.
B:Hosts using a failed physical gateway may not switch without explicit alternate-gateway logic.
D:Default-gateway forwarding uses an IP next hop and resolved L2 MAC, not a DNS hostname masquerading as a MAC.
Question 431
A proposed network design has this requirement: One HSRP router owns the virtual IP/MAC in Active state while another observes Standby and can take over. Which choice is technically appropriate for that deployment?
- Set the preferred R1 HSRP priority lower than R2 and expect it always to win initial election.
- Assign two different virtual IPs to the same HSRP group and assume hosts will see one stable gateway.
- Assign R1 higher HSRP priority for the group, with R1 Active and R2 Standby; configure `standby <group> preempt` if R1 must retake Active after recovery.
- Disable all HSRP hello communication and expect the routers to coordinate one Active and one Standby.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:HSRP priority influences the active election, but an already-active lower-priority router is not automatically preempted by a returning higher-priority peer unless preemption is configured. Both peers need the same shared L2 segment.
Incorrect Answers
A:HSRP normally favors the higher eligible priority, subject to current state and preemption.
B:Peers must agree on the group’s intended virtual gateway address.
D:Loss of HSRP connectivity can cause each peer to believe it should be active.
Question 432
HSRP group 10 uses R1 as active gateway with priority 110 and R2 as standby with priority 100. R1 fails; R2 becomes active. R1 later returns but stays standby even though it has higher priority. Which command behavior would allow the preferred R1 to reclaim active role after recovery?
- Configure an additional OSPF router ID on R1 and leave HSRP settings untouched.
- Lower R2's default gateway virtual IP so hosts can elect R1 by numerical address.
- Enable HSRP preemption on R1 for group 10, optionally with a recovery delay appropriate to its uplink readiness.
- Increase R2's HSRP priority above R1's while expecting R1 to become active.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:HSRP normally provides an active and standby router sharing a virtual gateway. Without preemption, a router that became active during failure can remain active when a higher-priority peer returns. On R1, enabling `standby 10 preempt` permits its higher priority 110 to reclaim the active role when it is operational. A configured preempt delay can avoid shifting traffic to a router before critical upstream connectivity stabilizes. Confirm the group virtual IP agrees on both routers and inspect `show standby brief` before, during and after a controlled failover. Priority alone does not guarantee automatic takeover after recovery.
Incorrect Answers
A:OSPF router IDs control an OSPF routing process, which is independent of HSRP's virtual-gateway active/standby election settings. An additional router ID would not instruct R1 to reclaim the HSRP active role after it returns. The specific HSRP preemption behavior is the missing control.
B:Hosts use the virtual IP as their default gateway; changing that address can break their configuration and group consistency. HSRP active selection is based on group state, priority and preemption behavior, not which router has a numerically smaller gateway address. Keep the virtual address stable.
D:Raising R2 above R1 would make R2 more preferred at a later election and does not make R1 reclaim active state. R1 already has higher priority; the observed failure to reclaim after recovery occurs because preemption is not enabled. Configure preempt on the intended primary instead.
Question 433
Two HSRP routers provide one virtual gateway. R1 has priority 120, R2 has 110, and the critical WAN uplink on R1 fails while its LAN interface stays up. Users should switch to R2 if R1 cannot reach the WAN. What mechanism should lower R1's effective HSRP preference on that specific failure?
- Track the WAN interface or an appropriate reachability object and decrement R1's HSRP priority enough for R2 to become preferred.
- Change the workstation default gateway from the HSRP virtual address to R1's physical address.
- Increase R1's HSRP priority from 120 to 200 when the WAN uplink fails.
- Disable the LAN VLAN on both routers to force the hosts to use DNS instead of a gateway.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:HSRP tracking ties gateway preference to the operational state of a specified interface or tracked reachability object. Here R1's LAN stays alive after its WAN uplink fails, so ordinary interface-down detection on the LAN might not move the active gateway. Configure tracking so the WAN failure reduces R1's effective priority below R2's 110, with preemption and failover behavior configured as needed for the platform and group. Test by failing the WAN path and observing `show standby` plus client reachability. A decrement too small to reverse priority would not meet the requirement, and tracking an irrelevant interface would not detect the failure.
Incorrect Answers
B:Workstations should continue using the shared HSRP virtual IP so gateway failover is transparent. Repointing clients to R1's physical address would defeat the redundancy model and strand traffic when R1 loses reachability. The fix is on the routers' preference and track logic rather than individual endpoint settings.
C:Increasing R1's priority during WAN failure makes the impaired router even more preferred and contradicts the goal of steering traffic to R2. Tracking must reduce its effective preference when the monitored uplink or reachability condition fails. Verify the actual numerical priority difference after decrement.
D:DNS maps hostnames to addresses and does not replace a router's default-gateway forwarding role. Disabling both routers' LAN VLANs would eliminate the path to the virtual IP rather than selecting a healthy WAN router. Keep the gateway VLAN operational and use HSRP tracking for failover.
Question 434
A branch routing engineer is evaluating a deployment. Two routers share a VRRP virtual gateway; the highest eligible priority normally wins master status at election time. What approach correctly addresses the stated requirement?
- Configure matching VRRP group/virtual address on both subnet routers and appropriate priorities; the highest eligible priority wins Master on normal election, with an IP-owner caveat.
- Give the virtual gateway different IPs on the two VRRP peers and expect one stable next hop for clients.
- Use OSPF interface cost as the VRRP Master priority and ignore VRRP advertisements.
- Assume a router with priority zero must become Master ahead of a healthy peer with priority 120.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:VRRP elects a Master to answer for the shared virtual IP/MAC. Priority 255 identifies an address owner, and preemption is enabled by default in standard VRRP behavior unless configured otherwise.
Incorrect Answers
B:A VRRP group must represent the same virtual IP service to host stations.
C:VRRP election uses its own priority/advertisements, not the dynamic route metric.
D:Priority zero is not the normal high-priority Master selection value; it can signal release of Master status.
Question 435
Hosts use a first-hop redundancy group virtual IPv4 address and virtual MAC as their default gateway. The active/master router fails and its peer takes over. Which behavior lets hosts continue sending frames without configuring a new default gateway?
- Each host must replace the default gateway with the surviving router's physical interface IP.
- Both routers must forward for the same virtual IP and MAC concurrently on one LAN to avoid an outage.
- The surviving router assumes ownership of the virtual gateway IP and virtual MAC, so frames for that gateway can be forwarded by the new active/master.
- Hosts must change their destination MAC to a router's globally unique physical MAC at every failover.
Explanation
Correct Answer
C:HSRP/VRRP maintain a stable virtual next hop for hosts, and the active/master for a group responds for its virtual identity. On failover the surviving member takes that forwarding responsibility; hosts can keep the configured virtual gateway IP and generally the virtual MAC.
Incorrect Answers
A:Clients point to the group virtual address rather than a particular router's physical interface. Changing every host default gateway manually defeats the purpose of first-hop redundancy.
B:Normally one active/master owns the forwarding responsibility for a given group at a time. Simultaneous active devices due to a partition can cause split-brain symptoms, not intentional normal operation.
D:The virtual MAC represents the redundant gateway identity, so host gateway resolution need not be changed to each physical router MAC whenever the master changes. Physical interface MACs do not provide the same stable next hop.
Question 436
A branch routing engineer must implement a change. HSRP peers require working shared VLAN connectivity to exchange hello/advertisement messages and elect a single active owner. Which technical decision most directly meets these requirements?
- Ensure both HSRP peers remain in the same active VLAN and can exchange group hello messages; an isolated peer may independently assert Active, causing split-brain.
- Disable the shared VLAN between peers and expect an always-coordinated single Active state.
- Configure different virtual gateway IPs on each peer to preserve one common gateway.
- Use client DNS search suffixes to choose the HSRP Active router.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:HSRP election depends on peer control reachability over the shared LAN. A trunk pruning/partition that blocks those hellos can lead both devices to consider themselves Active for one group.
Incorrect Answers
B:Without HSRP advertisements each side can lose knowledge of the other.
C:That breaks the shared FHRP gateway design, rather than restoring election synchronization.
D:DNS suffixes do not coordinate HSRP hello state or virtual MAC ownership.
Question 437
Hosts in one subnet should use the same virtual default gateway instead of different physical router IPs in an FHRP group. The team needs a solution consistent with this requirement. Which option is the most appropriate design or configuration decision?
- Give clients R1’s real interface IP as their only default gateway and rely on R2 taking ownership of that physical IP.
- Set client default gateway (for example DHCP option 3) to the shared HSRP/VRRP virtual IP in the client’s own subnet, not either router’s unique interface IP.
- Set the host gateway to an address outside the locally connected subnet without a valid on-link path.
- Use the VRRP group number as a dotted-quad client default gateway instead of the virtual IP.
Explanation
Correct Answer
B:An FHRP virtual address remains available when router ownership changes. Clients should ARP for that address and learn the expected virtual MAC instead of becoming pinned to one failed physical gateway.
Incorrect Answers
A:FHRP generally moves its configured VIP, not each router’s unique hardware-interface address.
C:Normal hosts need an appropriately reachable next-hop gateway in their VLAN.
D:A numeric group identifier is not the gateway IPv4 address.
Question 438
A branch routing engineer is evaluating a deployment. A LAN may use HSRP or VRRP to protect a host's Layer 3 default gateway independently of upper-layer application failover. What approach correctly addresses the stated requirement?
- Treat HSRP as a replacement for application database replication and multi-site session state failover.
- Treat VRRP solely as an OSPF routing cost algorithm without any host-facing virtual gateway.
- Assume only HSRP can provide a virtual gateway and VRRP never offers a virtual IP/MAC.
- Use HSRP or standards-based VRRP as a first-hop gateway redundancy mechanism; neither alone guarantees that application sessions survive upstream failures.
Explanation
Correct Answer
D:These FHRPs maintain host default gateway availability by changing the active router ownership of the virtual IP/MAC. HSRP is Cisco-origin, whereas VRRP is standardized for interoperable first-hop redundancy.
Incorrect Answers
A:A working default gateway does not supply application-layer state synchronization.
B:VRRP manages a shared first-hop address and Master/Backup roles, separate from OSPF.
C:VRRP also provides a shared gateway address with virtual MAC behavior.
Question 439
A branch routing engineer must explain an outage. Clients use the real IP of R1, so a failover to R2 leaves their configured default gateway unreachable despite an FHRP group. Which diagnosis follows from these observations?
- The clients are configured with R1’s physical IP instead of the FHRP virtual IP; R2’s takeover does not make R1’s real address move.
- The clients use the shared virtual IP and MAC correctly, so an R1 outage necessarily breaks their next-hop address.
- The wrong default gateway proves the AP RF channel is congested.
- Changing only the HSRP hello interval forces R2 to own R1’s physical interface address.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:FHRP protects the virtual next-hop address. Hosts pinned to one router’s interface address can lose their gateway after that router fails despite healthy virtual-gateway failover.
Incorrect Answers
B:A healthy FHRP takeover keeps the virtual gateway reachable through the backup.
C:This is an IP first-hop address choice problem, not wireless contention evidence.
D:Hello timing controls failure detection; it does not transfer the physical IP as the virtual gateway.
Question 440
R1 is HSRP Active and R2 Standby. R1 loses power, but R2’s VLAN 20 SVI is operationally down after VLAN 20 was pruned from its only active trunk; R2 cannot take over HSRP while the gateway interface is down. What must be investigated first?
- Restore VLAN 20 on R2’s active trunk so its SVI becomes up/up and can assume HSRP Active state.
- Force both routers to Active permanently so traffic is load-balanced by duplicate virtual MACs.
- Change the host default gateway from the virtual address to R1 physical interface IP.
- Increase the failed router’s priority to ensure it still wins elections.
Explanation
Correct Answer
A:R2 cannot serve the virtual gateway while its HSRP interface is down. Repair VLAN 20 connectivity, verify the SVI is up/up and confirm R2 transitions to Active after R1 disappears.
Incorrect Answers
B:Running two active owners of one virtual gateway creates an unsafe state and does not solve the standby router’s failure to take over.
C:Using the failed physical gateway eliminates FHRP resilience and worsens the outage for hosts.
D:Priority cannot restore an SVI whose VLAN is absent from the only active trunk. Repair the Layer 2 VLAN path first, then validate HSRP state.
