The /etc/keepalived/keepalived.conf configuration file is divided into the following sections:

global_defs

Defines global settings such as the email addresses for sending notification messages, the IP address of an SMTP server, the timeout value for SMTP connections in seconds, a string that identifies the host machine, the VRRP IPv4 and IPv6 multicast addresses, and whether SNMP traps are enabled.

static_ipaddress

static_routes

Define static IP addresses and routes, which VRRP can't change. These sections aren't required if the addresses and routes are already defined on the servers and these servers already have network connectivity.

vrrp_sync_group

Defines a VRRP synchronization group of VRRP instances that fail over together.

vrrp_instance

Defines a moveable virtual IP address for a member of a VRRP synchronization group's internal or external network interface, which follows other group members during a state transition. Each VRRP instance must have a unique value of virtual_router_id, which identifies which interfaces on the primary and backup servers can be assigned a specified virtual IP address. You can also specify scripts that are run on state transitions to BACKUP, MASTER, and FAULT, and whether to trigger SMTP alerts for state transitions.

vrrp_script

Defines a tracking script that Keepalived can run at regular intervals to perform monitoring actions from a vrrp_instance or vrrp_sync_group section.

virtual_server_group

Defines a virtual server group, through a real server can be configured to be a member of several virtual server groups.

virtual_server

Defines a virtual server for load balancing, which is composed of several real servers.

For more information about setting up load balancing with Keepalived, see Setting Up Load Balancing by Using Keepalived