How to configure HRSP between Nexus 7000 and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches?

Configuring HRSP in a Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch is often an easy task and it takes slight different approach. Recently we had some issues in our Data Centre and then I was forced to configuring the HSRP between a Cisco Nexus 7010 Switch and Cisco Catalyst 6506 E Switch. The configuration was quite simple, I would like to share the steps need to configure HSRP between a Cisco Nexus 7000 Series and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches.

In the below example I will configure HRSP for VLAN 34 with a subnet of 10.204.34.0/24

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switch Configuration

Step 1 – Create VLAN 34 in Cisco Catalyst Switch and assign an IP Address

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01(config)#interface vlan 34

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01(config-if)#ip address 10.204.34.3 255.255.255.0

Step 2 – Configure HSRP group id, priority and timers, my active switch will be Cisco 6500 Switch due to its priority

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01(config-if)# standby 34 ip 10.204.34.1

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01(config-if)# standby 34 timers 1 3

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01(config-if)# standby 34 priority 150

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01(config-if)# standby 34 preempt

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch Configuration

Step 1 – Create VLAN 34 in Cisco Nexus Switch and assign an IP Address

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002(config)# interface vlan 34

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002(config-if)# ip address 10.204.34.2/24

Step 2 – Configure HSRP group id, priority and timers , Nexus will be in standby mode

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002(config-if)#hsrp 34

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002(config-if-hsrp)# priority 110

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002(config-if-hsrp)# timers 1 3

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002(config-if-hsrp)# ip 10.204.34.1

Verify the HSRP States

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Switch Status

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01:1#sho standby brief

P indicates configured to preempt.

|

Interface   Grp Prio P State    Active          Standby         Virtual IP

Vl34        34  150  P Init     local           10.204.34.3         10.204.34.1

MBGF-DAC-6500-BB01:1#

Nexus 7000 Series Switch HSRP Status

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002# sho hsrp group 34

Vlan34 – Group 34 (HSRP-V1) (IPv4)

Local state is Standby, priority 110 (Cfged 110)

Forwarding threshold(for vPC), lower: 1 upper: 110

Hellotime 1 sec, holdtime 3 sec

Next hello sent in 0.179000 sec(s)

Virtual IP address is 10.204.34.1 (Cfged)

Active router is 10.204.34.2

Standby router is local

Virtual mac address is 0000.0c07.ac22 (Default MAC)

2 state changes, last state change 2d18h

IP redundancy name is hsrp-Vlan34-34 (default)

VDC-Admin-AG01-MB-1256-002#

Configuring HRSP is a quite a simple and if you are facing any problems configuring you can post your scenario in the comments area of this post.