AI Systems
AIRA OS
Personal modular AI assistant for networking and automation.
Networking
High Availability Network
Designing a redundant gateway architecture for school infrastructure.
Overview
- Networking
- Completed
- 2026
- MikroTik, VRRP, VLAN, OSPF
The Problem
The school network relied on a single router as its only path to the internet. Any hardware failure, firmware update, or scheduled maintenance meant a full outage for every connected classroom and lab.
Architecture & Approach
Two MikroTik routers were configured as a VRRP pair sharing one virtual gateway IP. Two managed switches carry VLAN10 and VLAN20, so client traffic can fail over between routers without any change on the end-user side.
Implementation
Result
The virtual IP failed over between routers in under three seconds during simulated failure, with no manual intervention and no change required on connected devices.
Redundant gateway successfully simulated
Lessons Learned
VRRP priority and preemption settings matter more than expected — a small misconfiguration can cause both routers to believe they are master at the same time. Testing failover under real traffic, not just at idle, surfaced issues a quiet lab test missed.