Force ARP packet on VRRP Master state change

Hello!

Is there any way to force RouterOS to send ARP broadcast packets to the net when an VRRP interface becomes master?
Manual says that it sends one unsonlicited packet announcing the change when the VRRP becomes master, but some switches ignore it quite often and I have to wait some minutes for the switch to refresh it’s port/arp-address cache. During that time the IP assigned to the VRRP interface is unreacheable.

The idea is to use an OnMaster script which sends a handful of arp broadcasts to try to speed-up the change.

Thanks!

Any luck on this? I have more or less the same problem: it works fine falling to the backup, but once main is back, I have to wait over 2-3 minutes until the network computer see the virtual gateway.
Due to my setup I need to switch back to the main router, once this is back online.

When the master becomes the primary for the virtual IP a gratuitous ARP broadcast is made. If the switch ignores the gratuitous ARP and doesnt update the port/MAC binding table, I would blame that on the switch.

What you could do (this might or might not help) is for the on-master script ping the management IP of the switch from the router, but set the source IP for the ping to the virtual IP.

Lemme know if it helps :slight_smile:

It’s most likely the switch. Any idea if that is a feature that I should look on switches? Or do you know any 5p switch that works in this setup? I would rather change the switch than put even more scripts for workarounds.

Thanks!

Cant comment on 5 port switches. All of our VRRP implemetations are using 24+ managed HP (1810 or 1910 series) switches.

firs thing that comes into my mind regarding your issue - on script you could run something like traffic-generator (you can make up packet as you like) and send how many packets you like.