What is the primary purpose of a First Hop Redundancy Protocol?

A First Hop Redundancy Protocol protects the default gateway function for hosts on a subnet. Without FHRP, a host typically points to one router interface as its default gateway. If that router or interface fails, the host loses off-subnet connectivity even if another router is available. FHRP solves that by allowing multiple routers to present a single virtual gateway to the LAN. Depending on the protocol, routers elect active and standby roles or share forwarding. Cisco technologies in this space include HSRP, while VRRP is standards-based and GLBP adds gateway load-balancing behavior. The exam answer is not about sharing configuration data, bridge priorities, or OSPF equal-cost routing. Those are separate functions. Cisco CCNA 200-301 v1.1 tests FHRP under IP Connectivity because a working default gateway is essential to end-to-end routing. The primary purpose is to reduce routing failures by allowing more than one router to represent itself as the default gateway for a network.