VRRP Stuck in Master in both devices

We are trying to configure VRRP in our devices but we have simple configuration, but both devices are stuck in Master.
Could anyone help?

One device has routerOS 7.11.2, and another 7.12.2

VRRP configuration of master:


/interface vlan
add comment="LAN COLMENAR" interface=ether4 name=VLAN_2014 vlan-id=2014
/interface vrrp
add comment="VRRP COLMENAR" interface=VLAN_2014 name=VRRPTEST priority=100 sync-connection-tracking=yes
/ip address
add address=172.23.140.90/29 comment="LAN COLMENAR\
    \nVLAN 2014" interface=VLAN_2014 network=172.23.140.88
add address=172.23.140.89 comment=VRRP interface=VRRPTEST network=172.23.140.89

/ip firewall nat
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat comment="defconf: masquerade" ipsec-policy=out,none out-interface-list=WAN
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat

VRRP configuration of backup:


/interface vlan
add comment="LAN COLMENAR" interface=ether4 name=VLAN_2014 vlan-id=2014
/interface vrrp
add comment="VRRP COLMENAR" interface=VLAN_2014 name=VRRPTEST priority=50 sync-connection-tracking=yes
/ip address
add address=172.23.140.91/29 comment="LAN COLMENAR\
    \nVLAN 2014" interface=VLAN_2014 network=172.23.140.88
add address=172.23.140.89 comment=VRRP interface=VRRPTEST network=172.23.140.89

/ip firewall nat
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat comment="defconf: masquerade" ipsec-policy=out,none out-interface-list=WAN
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat

Could you please help me?

Could anyone help me? Obi Wan?

Try it without sync-connection-tracking to confirm it works first. e.g. sync-connection-tracking=no

I’m not seeing where you’re specifying the remote address to sync with either. Note that sync-connection tracking will only work if the WAN IP is also same on both routers.

Hi,

Thank you for answer.

I´ve tested with and without sync connection, and with and without remote address.

Maybe could be a problem in Router OS versions?

When we put with priority higher Mikrotik with 7.11.2, works fine, but if we put priority higher to Mikrotik with 7.12.2, both stuck in Master.

It could be version specific. There have been bugs in VRRP in a few releases. You’d have to look at the release notes for “vrrp -”. But more with sync-connection-tracking=yes - why I suggest you don’t use that unless you really understand how suppose to works.

Also, perhaps a cut-and-paste error, your last rule will NAT everything, which may include VRRP. You may want remove that line.

/ip firewall nat
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat comment=“defconf: masquerade” ipsec-policy=out,none out-interface-list=WAN
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat

Hi,

I suppose this config line causes problems:

add action=masquerade chain=srcnat

since it may masquerade VRRP packets.

Also, if you want to use a VRRP IP address for SNAT’ing, I suggest using “action=src-nat to-address=<vrrp_ip_adress>” instead of masquerade.

I´ve deleted that line of configuration, but it still have problems.

I´ve updated both routers to 7.14.2 router os and still have problems.

Now, if I configure in one router priority 254 and the other with priority 1, I have router with priority 1 as master and router with priority 254 as backup.

Anyone has experienced that?

Don’t know if case here… But that can happen if preemption-mode=no. e.g. backup starts up before the master, priority won’t matter when preemption-mode=no if backup is running. See docs:

preemption-mode > Whether the master node always has the priority. When set to ‘no’ the backup node will not be elected to be a master until the current master fails, even if the backup node has higher priority than the current master.

Do you still have sync-connection-tracking enabled? Maybe post current config.

Network part mismatch?

R1 / R2 :

add address=172.23.140.89 comment=VRRP interface=VRRPTEST network=172.23.140.88

After a year (2025) the problem exists for me.

First router on 7.16.2 firmware and second router on 7.18.2 firmware. VRRP works as expected, connection tracking and preemption mode. the 7.16.2 has 254 priority and preemption mode enabled, while 7.18.2 has 100 priority and disabled preemption mode. Restarting any of them works correctly to became master-slave. The only drawback the 7.18.2 router shows ‘Connection tracking innactive’ for VRRP instance, but the connection tracking is working.

Then I upgrade the first router to 7.18.2. No config is changed on both routers. VRRP brokes. Both routers have VRRP as master. Its like they do not see each other. But nothing changed in config in firewall. Only a firmware update was made.

I see this as a major bug in 7.18 versions of routeros. 7.16 works as expected, 7.18 breaks VRRP.

If you haven’t already, please report it to Mikrotik support (this is just a user forum).

Mimiko, I call BS, you didnt originate the thread, popped in to complain, and have not provided the configs of your devices…
/export file=anynameyouwish ( minus router serial number, any public WANIP information,keys)

Larsa, I’ve made a ticket on their support and they closed the ticket as duplicate and didn’t give any link to the other tickets with same problem.

Great, that means Mikrotik has at least acknowledged the issue. The next step is to push the matter further and raise awareness in the two release channels that are currently active:
v7.18.2 [stable] is released!
v7.19beta [testing] is released!

Post a short description of the problem, like in this thread, and also mention that you’ve already reported it to support.

Well, what I did to solve the problem, is change V3 protocol to Version 3 and protocol IPv4, setting vrrp IP address to prefix /32 (don’t know if this matters). Seems that using V3 protocol IPv6 does not work, or is not configured correctly for me. Strangely in mikrotik version 7.16.2 it works.

Just for knowledge, I was stuck in the same issue, I tried to downgrade routeros firmware but I was stuck in the master/master issue.
Finally I found the problem: I was using “Trunk channel” for the upstream Procurve 1800-24G switch for the two ports on where I mapped the vrrp virtual devices. With Trunk (LACP) enabled VRRP didn’t exchange correctly the handshake and both router were master. When I turned off the trunk for the tho port magically the VRRP started working. I didn’t find anything about this issue so I wrote this note.