Cisco Certified Network Professional Practice Test 2026 – Your All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

The timer that determines how long to advertise the additional MAC addresses in Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP) is referred to as the Multiple MAC Timer-Redirect. This timer regulates the frequency with which the virtual gateway sends out advertisements for the additional MAC addresses to ensure that hosts within the network are aware of all available gateways.

When GLBP is utilized, the group of routers can share load and provide redundancy. The timers play a crucial role in maintaining the effectiveness and efficiency of the routing devices within the GLBP setup. The Multiple MAC Timer-Redirect specifically helps manage the advertisement intervals so that routers can recognize the active virtual gateways, which ultimately contributes to load balancing across the gateways.

Understanding the function of this timer is essential because it helps maintain reliable communication in a GLBP environment. Proper management ensures that network devices receive timely updates about available virtual MAC addresses, reducing the likelihood of outages or packet loss when paths change within the load-balancing group.