FRAME RELAY

8 16 Flags Address

Protocol Data Units

Variable 16 8 Data FCS Flags

Frame Relay Subinterfaces

Point-to-point Where a single PVC connects one router to another and each subinterface is in its own IP subnet. Multipoint Where the router is the middle point of a group of routers. All other routers connect to each other through this router, and all routers are in the same subnet.

Flags - Delimits the beginning and end of the frame. Address Contains the 10 bit DLCI, Extended Address, C/R and the congestion control. Data - Contains encapsulated upper-layer data.
Frame Check Sequence - Ensures the integrity of transmitted data.

Frame Relay QoS Features

CIR Committed Information Rate: the contracted minimum throughput of a Virtual Circuit. EIR Excess Information Rate: the available capacity above the CIR. FECN Forward Explicit Congestion Notice BECN Backward Explicit Congestion Notice

LMI Frame Format

1 Flag 2 LMI DLCI 1 Unnumbered Information Indicator 1 Protocol Discriminator 1 Call Reference 1 Message Type Variable Information Elements 2 FCS 1 Flag

Frame Relay
(config)# int s0 (config-if)# ip address 117.106.10.8 255.255.0.0 (config-if)# no shutdown (config-if)# encapculation frame-relay (config-if)# frame-relay map ip 117.106.10.13 102 broadcast (config-if)# frame-relay map ip 117.106.10.16 103 broadcast (config-if)# frame-relay lmi-type cisco

Flags - Delimits the beginning and end of the frame.

LMI DLCI - Identifies the frame as an LMI frame instead of a basic Frame Relay frame.

Unnumbered Information Indicator - Sets the poll/final bit to zero.

Protocol Discriminator - Always contains a value indicating that the frame is an LMI frame.

Frame Relay With Point-to-Point Subinterface

(config)#interface Serial0 (config-if)#description Frame-Relay host circuit (config-if)#no ip address (config-if)#encapsulation frame-relay (config-if)#exit (config)#interface Serial0.1 point-to-point (config-subif)#description PVC to first branch - DLCI 101 (config-subif)#ip address 192.168.1.5 255.255.255.252 (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 101 (config-fr-dlci)#exit (config-subif)#exit (config)#interface Serial0.2 point-to-point (config-subif)#description PVC to second branch - DLCI 102 (config-subif)#ip address 192.168.1.9 255.255.255.252 (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 102 Note: All of the branches would follow the same basic configuration, but with different IP addresses and DLCI numbers

Call Reference - Always contains zeros. This field currently is not used.
Message Type - Labels the frame as one of the following: Status-inquiry message - Inquiry about the network status. Status message - Responds to status-inquiry messages.

Information Elements - Contains information elements (IEs). IE Identifier - Uniquely identifies the IE. IE Length - Indicates the length of the IE. Data - Contains encapsulated upper-layer data.
Frame Check Sequence - Ensures the integrity of transmitted data.

Configuring Frame Relay

! Enables Frame Relay with default encapsulation of cisco.

Multipoint Subinterfaces
(config)#interface Serial0.1 multipoint (config-subif)#description Frame Relay to branches (config-subif)#ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 101 (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 102 (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 103 (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 104

(config-if)#encapsulation frame-relay
! Enables Frame Relay with encapsulation type of ietf. Used when connecting to non-Cisco equipment.

(config-if)#encapsulation frame-relay ietf

! (Optional) Sets the LMI type. LMI is auto-sensed.

(config-if)#frame-relay lmi type {ansi | cisco | q933a}

! Sets the DLCI number. This number is locally significant, only.

(config-if)#frame-relay interface-dlci 110

! Maps the remote IP address (192.168.100.1) to the local DLCI number.

PPP over Frame Relay

Note: PPP over Frame Relay, you need to associate the DLCI with a Virtual Template, which will carry the Layer 3 information. Because PPP fundamentally involves a single connection between two devices, it is most natural to use this feature on point-to-point subinterfaces: (config)#interface Loopback1 (config-if)#ip address 10.1.200.5 255.255.255.252 (config-if)#exit (config)#interface Virtual-Template1 (config-if)#ip unnumbered Loopback1 (config-if)#encapsulation ppp (config-if)#exit (config)#interface Serial0 (config-if)#no ip address (config-if)#encapsulation frame-relay (config-if)#exit (config)#interface Serial0.1 point-to-point (config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 104 ppp Virtual-Template1 Version 1.0

(config-if)#frame-relay map ip 192.168.100.1 110

! Disable Inverse ARP.

(config-if)#no frame-relay inverse arp

Verifying Frame Relay

! Displays IP/DLCI map entries

show frame-relay map

! Displays the status of all PVCs configured

show frame-relay pvc

! Displays LMI statistics

show frame-relay lmi

! Clears and resets all Frame Relay counters

clear frame-relay counters

! Clears all Inverse ARP entries from the map table

clear frame-relay inarp

Troubleshooting Frame Relay

! Used to determine whether a router and a Frame Relay switch are exchanging LMI packets properly.

debug frame-relay lmi by Scott Schmit (Slaingod)