WAN Technologies

FRAME RELAY
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 FRAME RELAY CONCEPTS
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`Introducing Frame Relay

• Frame Relay is a Consultative Committee for CCITT

and ANSI standard.
• Frame Relay is a packet-switched, connection-
oriented, WAN service.
• It operates at the data link layers of the OSI
reference model.
• Originally Frame Relay was designed to allow ISDN
equipment to have access to a packet-switched
service on a B channel. However, Frame Relay is
now a stand-alone technology.
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`Frame Relay Components
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`Frame Relay terminology

Term Description
Data communications equipment Frame Relay switches are DCE devices.
(DCE) DCEs are also known as data circuit-terminating equipment.
DCEs are typically in the service provider’s network.
Data terminal equipment (DTE) DTEs are connected to a Frame Relay service from a
telecommunications company and typically reside at sites
used by the company buying the Frame Relay service.

Virtual circuit (VC) A logical concept that represents the path that frames
travel between DTEs. VCs are particularly useful when
comparing Frame Relay to leased physical circuits.

Permanent virtual circuit (PVC) A predefined VC. A PVC can be equated to a

leased line in concept.
Switched virtual circuit (SVC) A VC that is set up dynamically when needed. An
SVC can be equated to a dial connection in
concept.
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`Frame Relay terminology (cont)

Term Description
Access Link The leased line between the DTE and DCE.
Access rate (AR) The speed at which the access link is clocked. This
choice affects the connection’s price.
Data-link connection identifier A Frame Relay address used in Frame Relay
(DLCI) headers to identify the VC.
Nonbroadcast multiaccess A network in which broadcasts are not supported, but more
(NBMA) than two devices can be connected.
Local Management Interface The protocol used between a DCE and DTE to
(LMI) manage the connection. Signaling messages for
SVCs, PVC status messages, and keepalives are all
LMI messages.
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`Frame Relay terminology: VC

• The connection through the Frame Relay network

between two DTEs is called a virtual circuit (VC).
• Frame Relay virtual circuits fall into two categories
– switched virtual circuits (SVCs)
– permanent virtual circuits (PVCs).
• Frame Relay provides no error recovery mechanism
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`Frame Relay terminology: VC
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`Frame Relay switches interconnected by trunk lines

Trunk
line
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`Frame Relay terminology: DLCI

• May have multiple virtual circuits connecting it to various

end points on a single access line.
• Frame Relay virtual circuits are identified by data-link
connection identifiers (DLCIs). DLCI values typically are
assigned by the Frame Relay service provider (for example,
the telephone company).
• Frame Relay DLCIs have local significance, which means that
their values are unique in the LAN, but not necessarily in the
Frame Relay WAN.
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`Frame Relay Stack layer supports

OSI Reference Model Frame Relay

Application

Presentation

Session
Transport
Network IP/IPX/AppleTalk, etc.
Data Link Frame Relay
EIA/TIA-232,
Physical EIA/TIA-449, V.35,
X.21, EIA/TIA-530
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`Frame Relay topology: Star
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`Frame Relay topology: Mesh
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`Frame Relay address mapping

• The DLCI for each VC must be associated with the

network address of its remote router.
• This information can be configured manually by
using map commands.
• It can also be configured automatically, taking LMI
status information and sending a Inverse Address
Resolution Protocol (IARP) message on each VC
identified.
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`Frame Relay LMI
• A need for DTEs to dynamically acquire information about
the status of the network, which was omitted in the original
design.
• The extensions for this status transfer are called the Local
Management Interface (LMI).
• The 10-bit DLCI field allows VC identifiers 0 through 1023.
• LMI messages are exchanged between the DTE and DCE
using these reserved DLCIs.
• The LMI extensions include the following:
– The heartbeat mechanism, which verifies that a VC is operational
– The multicast mechanism
– The flow control
– The ability to give DLCIs global significance
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`Frame Relay LMI

• The LMI type configured on the router must match

the type used by the service provider. Three types
of LMIs are supported by Cisco routers:
– Cisco – The original LMI extensions
– Ansi – Corresponding to the ANSI standard T1.617
Annex D
– q933a – Corresponding to the ITU standard Q933 Annex
A
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`Stages of LMI operation
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`Stages of Inverse ARP
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`Stages of Inverse ARP
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 CONFIGURING FRAME RELAY
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`Configuring Basic Frame Relay

HQ Branch

interface Serial1 interface Serial1

ip address 10.16.0.1 255.255.255.0 ip address 10.16.0.2 255.255.255.0
encapsulation frame-relay encapsulation frame-relay
bandwidth 64 bandwidth 64
frame-relay lmi-type ansi (IOS 11.2)

# encapsulation frame-relay [cisco | ietf]

#frame-relay lmi-type [ansi | cisco | q933a]
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`Configuring Basic Frame Relay (cont.)

HQ Branch

interface Serial1 interface Serial1

ip address 10.16.0.1 255.255.255.0 ip address 10.16.0.2 255.255.255.0
encapsulation frame-relay encapsulation frame-relay
bandwidth 64 bandwidth 64
frame-relay lmi-type ansi

• Inverse ARP
– Enabled by default
– Does not appear in configuration output
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`Configuring a Static Frame Relay Map

DLCI=110
IP address=10.16.0.1/24

p1r1
HQ Branch
DLCI=100
IP address=10.16.0.2/24

interface Serial1
ip address 10.16.0.1 255.255.255.0
encapsulation frame-relay
bandwidth 64
frame-relay map ip 10.16.0.2 110 broadcast

#frame-relay map protocol protocol-address dlci [broadcast]

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`Reachability Issues with Routing Updates

B
1 B

2
AA C
C
3 Routing
Update D

• Frame Relay default: NonBroadcast, MultiAccess

(NBMA)
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`Reachability Issues with Routing Updates

Routing Routing B
1 Update B
Update
2 Routing
AA C
Update C
3
Routing
Update D

• Problem:
– Broadcast traffic must be replicated for each active
connection
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`Resolving Reachability Issues

Logical Interface Physical

Interface Subnet A
S0.1 S0
S0.2 Subnet B
S0.3

Subnet C

• Solution:
– Split horizon can cause problems in NBMA environments
– Subinterfaces can resolve split horizon issues
– A single physical interface simulates multiple logical interfaces
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`Configuring Subinterfaces
• Point-to-Point
– Subinterfaces act as leased line
– Each interface would have a single DLCI.
– Each point-to-point subinterface requires its own subnet.
– Applicable to hub and spoke topologies
• Multipoint
– Subinterfaces act as NBMA network so they do not
resolve the split horizon issue
– Each interface would have its own DLCI
– Can save address space because uses single subnet
– Applicable to partial-mesh and full-mesh topology
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`Configuring Point-to-Point Subinterfaces

10.17.0.1
s0.2 DLCI=110 10.17.0.2
A DL
s0.3
C B
10.18.0.1 I=1
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interface Serial0
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
! 10.18.0.2
interface Serial0.2 point-to-point
ip address 10.17.0.1 255.255.255.0
bandwidth 64 C
frame-relay interface-dlci 110
!
interface Serial0.3 point-to-point
ip address 10.18.0.1 255.255.255.0
bandwidth 64
frame-relay interface-dlci 120 Must configure
!
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`Multipoint Subinterfaces Configuration

= 120 B
D LCI
s2.2=10.17.0.1/24 s2.1=10.17.0.2/24
DLCI=130
RTR1
RTR3
DLCI=
140 s2.1=10.17.0.3/24

interface Serial2
RTR4
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay s2.1=10.17.0.4/24
!
interface Serial2.2 multipoint
ip address 10.17.0.1 255.255.255.0
bandwidth 64
frame-relay map ip 10.17.0.2 120 broadcast
frame-relay map ip 10.17.0.3 130 broadcast
frame-relay map ip 10.17.0.4 140 broadcast
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`Verifying Frame Relay Operation

Router#show interface s0
Serial0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is HD64570
Internet address is 10.140.1.2/24
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255
Encapsulation FRAME-RELAY, loopback not set, keepalive set (10 sec)
LMI enq sent 19, LMI stat recvd 20, LMI upd recvd 0, DTE LMI up
LMI enq recvd 0, LMI stat sent 0, LMI upd sent 0
LMI DLCI 1023 LMI type is CISCO frame relay DTE
FR SVC disabled, LAPF state down
Broadcast queue 0/64, broadcasts sent/dropped 8/0, interface broadcasts 5
Last input 00:00:02, output 00:00:02, output hang never
Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
Queueing strategy: fifo
Output queue 0/40, 0 drops; input queue 0/75, 0 drops
<Output omitted>

•Displays line, protocol, DLCI, and LMI information

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`Verifying Frame Relay Operation (cont.)

Router#show frame-relay lmi

LMI Statistics for interface Serial0 (Frame Relay DTE) LMI TYPE = CISCO
Invalid Unnumbered info 0 Invalid Prot Disc 0
Invalid dummy Call Ref 0 Invalid Msg Type 0
Invalid Status Message 0 Invalid Lock Shift 0
Invalid Information ID 0 Invalid Report IE Len 0
Invalid Report Request 0 Invalid Keep IE Len 0
Num Status Enq. Sent 113100 Num Status msgs Rcvd 113100
Num Update Status Rcvd 0 Num Status Timeouts 0

•Displays LMI information

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`Verifying Frame Relay Operation (cont.)

Router#show frame-relay pvc 100

PVC Statistics for interface Serial0 (Frame Relay DTE)

DLCI = 100, DLCI USAGE = LOCAL, PVC STATUS = ACTIVE, INTERFACE = Serial0

input pkts 28 output pkts 10 in bytes 8398

out bytes 1198 dropped pkts 0 in FECN pkts 0
in BECN pkts 0 out FECN pkts 0 out BECN pkts 0
in DE pkts 0 out DE pkts 0
out bcast pkts 10 out bcast bytes 1198
pvc create time 00:03:46, last time pvc status changed 00:03:47

•Displays PVC traffic statistics

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`Verifying Frame Relay Operation (cont.)

Router#show frame-relay map

Serial0 (up): ip 10.140.1.1 dlci 100(0x64,0x1840), dynamic,
broadcast,, status defined, active

•Displays the route maps, either static or dynamic

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`Verifying Frame Relay Operation (cont.)

Router#show frame-relay map

Serial0 (up): ip 10.140.1.1 dlci 100(0x64,0x1840), dynamic,
broadcast,, status defined, active
Router#clear frame-relay-inarp
Router#sh frame map
Router#

• Clears dynamically created Frame Relay maps

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`Verifying Frame Relay Operation (cont.)

Router#debug Frame lmi

Frame Relay LMI debugging is on
Displaying all Frame Relay LMI data
Router#
1w2d: Serial0(out): StEnq, myseq 140, yourseen 139, DTE up
1w2d: datagramstart = 0xE008EC, datagramsize = 13
1w2d: FR encap = 0xFCF10309
1w2d: 00 75 01 01 01 03 02 8C 8B
1w2d:
1w2d: Serial0(in): Status, myseq 140
1w2d: RT IE 1, length 1, type 1
1w2d: KA IE 3, length 2, yourseq 140, myseq 140
1w2d: Serial0(out): StEnq, myseq 141, yourseen 140, DTE up
1w2d: datagramstart = 0xE008EC, datagramsize = 13
1w2d: FR encap = 0xFCF10309
1w2d: 00 75 01 01 01 03 02 8D 8C
1w2d:
1w2d: Serial0(in): Status, myseq 142
1w2d: RT IE 1, length 1, type 0
1w2d: KA IE 3, length 2, yourseq 142, myseq 142
1w2d: PVC IE 0x7 , length 0x6 , dlci 100, status 0x2 , bw 0

• Displays LMI debug information

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` Configuring Cisco Router as FR Switch
FRS(config)# frame-relay switching

FRS(config)# int s1
FRS(config-if)# encapsulation frame-relay [cisco | ietf]
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay intf-type dce
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay lmi-type [cisco | ansi | q933a] 1
FRS(config-if)# clock rate 64000
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay route 122 interface serial 2 221 S0
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay route 123 interface serial 3 321 122 123
FRS(config)# int s2
S1
FRS(config-if)# encapsulation frame-relay [cisco | ietf]
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay intf-type dce
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay lmi-type [cisco | ansi | q933a]
FRS
S2 S3
FRS(config-if)# clock rate 64000 221 321
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay route 221 interface serial 1 122
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay route 223 interface serial 3 322 223 S0
S0
322
FRS(config)# int s3
FRS(config-if)# encapsulation frame-relay [cisco | ietf] 2 3
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay intf-type dce
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay lmi-type [cisco | ansi | q933a]
FRS(config-if)# clock rate 64000
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay route 321 interface serial 1 123
FRS(config-if)# frame-relay route 322 interface serial 2 223
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`Summary
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