Cisco CLI Error: Invalid next hop address (it's this router)

When does this error appear?

Appears while attempting to configure a Static Route on a Layer 3 device running Cisco IOS.

What does this error mean?

The next hop IP address specified in the route is invalid because it is an IP address assigned to an interface on the device itself.

Example:

Router1		Router2
	Segment 2 172.20.100.96/30 172.20.100.97172.20.100.98
10.8.0.1		10.8.1.1

Segment 1 10.8.0.0/24 Segment 3 10.8.1.0/24

Router1 Console

Router1(config)#ip route 10.8.1.0 255.255.255.0 172.20.100.97

% Invalid next hop address (it's this router)

Router1(config)#

The example above shows 2 routers and 3 network segments. In order to route traffic to Segment 3, Router1 would require a static route.

Given a network diagram as shown above, sometimes a student may try to configure a static route on Router1 as follows:

ip route 10.8.1.0 255.255.255.0 172.20.100.97

172.20.100.97 is an interface on Router1 itself. When the next hop in an ip route command is specified as an IP Address, it should be the IP Address of the next router along the path to the destination network.

The correct ip route command would be:

ip route 10.8.1.0 255.255.255.0 172.20.100.98

Static Routing on Cisco routers is covered extensively in Course 4 - Static Routes on this website.

Want to test your networking skills with hands-on configuration and troubleshooting questions? Try out the Workshops section of this website here: Workshops (Login required).

Read how to use the device simulators on this website here: Workshops - General Instructions

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