Because the default static route on R1 to R2 has an administrative distance of 1, traffic from R1 to R3 should go through R2. The output in Figure 1 confirms that traffic between R1 and R3 flows through R2.
What would happen if R2 failed? To simulate this failure both serial interfaces of R2 are shut down, as shown in Figure 2.
Notice in Figure 3 that R1 automatically generates messages indicating that the serial interface to R2 is down. A look at the routing table verifies that the default route is now pointing to R3 using the floating static default route configured for next-hop 10.10.10.2.
The output in Figure 4 confirms that traffic now flows directly between R1 and R3.
Note: Configuring IPv6 floating static routes is outside of the scope of this chapter.