Using Frame Relay

Frame Relay Overview

Frame Relay (FR) lets you connect multiple LANs to a single high-speed WAN link using point-to-point virtual circuits. A virtual circuit is a logical connection between two sites. The FR network provides a number of virtual circuits that connect stations attached to the same Frame Relay network.

A Frame Relay network consists of the FR backbone, made up of FR switches, that provides the service. Typically, a public Frame Relay supplier offers the Frame Relay service. The router acts as the device that connects your LANs to the Frame Relay WAN.

Terminology

This document uses the following terminology.

Device

A physical device in the router.

Interface

A logical object over which the router sends or receives packets. You can have multiple interfaces running on each physical device.

Virtual Circuit (VC)

A logical link, or channel, between two end points. To the protocols that use it, a VC looks like a point-to-point connection. You can have multiple VCs on each logical interface.

DLCI

Data Link Connection Identifier. The DLCI is the Medium Access Control (MAC) address of the circuit. It identifies a virtual circuit endpoint.

Orphan Circuit

A virtual circuit that Frame Relay dynamically learns about through Frame Relay management. An orphan circuit is not statically configured.

PVC

Permanent Virtual Circuit. A logical link, or channel, between two end points. A PVC requires minimal setup before Frame Relay uses it to transfer data.

Device	A physical device in the router.
Interface	A logical object over which the router sends or receives packets. You can have multiple interfaces running on each physical device.
Virtual Circuit (VC)	A logical link, or channel, between two end points. To the protocols that use it, a VC looks like a point-to-point connection. You can have multiple VCs on each logical interface.
DLCI	Data Link Connection Identifier. The DLCI is the Medium Access Control (MAC) address of the circuit. It identifies a virtual circuit endpoint.
Orphan Circuit	A virtual circuit that Frame Relay dynamically learns about through Frame Relay management. An orphan circuit is not statically configured.
PVC	Permanent Virtual Circuit. A logical link, or channel, between two end points. A PVC requires minimal setup before Frame Relay uses it to transfer data.

Frame Relay Services

Like other Nx Networks WAN implementations, Frame Relay consists of a physical device and logical interfaces. Logical interfaces run over the physical device, and you can have multiple logical interfaces running over one physical device. In addition, multiple Frame Relay VCs can run over each logical interface.

The Frame Relay software provides a set of services made up of the following:

Frame Relay Manager (FRMGR), which manages the physical Frame Relay device, handles the connection to the Frame Relay switch, manages PVCs, and allows other Frame Relay services, FRLANE and FRVC, to run on the Frame Relay device.
Frame Relay LAN Emulation (FRLANE), which acts as a logical interface running over the Frame Relay device. An FRLANE interface looks like an Ethernet or Token Ring interface to protocols. Each FRLANE interface can have many PVCs.
Frame Relay Virtual Circuit (FRVC), which also acts as a logical interface running over the Frame Relay device. Each FRVC interface uses a single PVC.

You can set up multiple FRLANE interfaces and FRVC interfaces, or a combination of the two types of interfaces on each physical Frame Relay device. The FRMGR configuration applies to all logical interfaces on the device. Figure 1 shows a Frame Relay device that has two FRLANE interfaces and one FRVC interface.

Figure 1 Frame Relay Device With Two FRLANE Interfaces and One FRVC Interface

Frame Relay Features

Frame Relay provides the following features:

High throughput and low delay. Using the core aspects (error detection, addressing, and synchronization) of the Link Access Protocol, D-channel (LAPD) datalink protocol, FR eliminates all network layer (Layer 3) processing. By using only the core aspects, FR reduces the delay of processing each frame.
LAN Emulation. Using FRLANE, you can group many circuits onto one interface. FRLANE features include static or dynamic address mapping, multicast emulation, and protocol broadcast.
Single Virtual Circuit Mode. Using FRVC, the VC acts as a point-to-point connection to protocols that run over the VC.
PPP over FRVC. Frame Relay Virtual Circuits can send PPP traffic over the circuit using PPP over Frame Relay encapsulation specified in RFC 1973. Using this feature along with PPP data compression gives you a method of compressing data sent over the circuit.
Network management. As your network requires, Frame Relay can operate with or without a Local Management Interface (LMI).
Circuit access and control. As the router dynamically learns about nonconfigured circuits (orphan circuits), you can control access to those new circuits.
Congestion detection and control. Upon receiving Backward Explicit Congestion Notification (BECN), the router initiates a controlled slowdown of traffic, thereby avoiding a complete FR network shutdown.
1490 Encapsulation. The router encapsulates protocol packets as specified in RFC 1490.
Multiplexing Virtual Circuits. Frame Relay can pass multiple protocols over one circuit. OpenROUTE software supports IP, IPX, AppleTalk, and bridging.
Statistics. Frame Relay monitoring commands provide current statistics on circuits and LMI exchanges.

FR provides no error correction or retransmission function. For error free end-to-end transmission of data, FR relies on the intelligence of the host devices and applications.

How Frame Relay Works

Frame Relay routes traffic based on a Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI). The DLCI allows devices to identify a frame as being from a particular virtual circuit. The DLCI enables multiplexing of several virtual circuits over one physical link.

For example, in Figure 2, a packet destined to go from router B to router C has a DLCI of 19; however, a packet destined to go from router C to router B has a DLCI of 16.

Figure 2 DLCIs in Frame Relay Network

You can configure static circuits and/or use dynamic circuits that FR management learns about from the FR network.

A Frame Relay network has the following characteristics:

Transports frames transparently. The network can modify only the DLCI, congestion bits, and frame check sequence. High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) flags and zero bit insertion provide frame delimiting, alignment, and transparency.
Detects transmission, format, and operational errors (frames with an unknown DLCI).
Preserves the ordering of frame transfer on individual VCs.
Does not acknowledge or retransmit frames.

Frame Relay Frame

A Frame Relay frame consists of a fixed size control field with variable sized encapsulated user data. Figure 3 illustrates an LAPD frame format.

Figure 3 LAPD Frame Format

Table 1 LAPD Field Descriptions

Field Description

HDLC Flags Located in the first and last octet, HDLC flags indicate the beginning and end of the frame.

Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) This 10-bit routing ID resides in bits 3-8 of octet 2 and bits 5-8 of octet 3. The DLCI is the MAC address of the circuit.

Command/Response (C/R) This is LAPD-specific, and this version of FR does not use C/R.

Extended Address (EA) This version of FR does not support extended addressing.

Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN) When this bit is set to 1, the FR backbone network notifies the user receiving the frames that congestion is occurring in the direction the frame is being sent.

Backward Explicit Congestion Notification (BECN) When this bit is set to 1, the FR backbone network notifies the device sending the frames that congestion is occurring in the opposite direction. When the router receives a BECN, it begins a throttle down.

Discard Eligibility (DE) The network may discard transmitted data exceeding the Committed Information Rate (CIR) on a PVC. The network end node sets the DE bit to indicate discard eligibility. This version of FR does not set the DE bit.

User Data This field contains the protocol packet being transmitted. It can contain a maximum of 8189 octets; however, the frame check sequence (FCS) can effectively detect errors only on a maximum of 4096 octets of data.

Frame Check Sequence (FCS) This field is the standard 16-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) that HDLC and LAPD frames use. FCS detects bit errors occurring in the bits of the frame between the opening flag and FCS.

Table 1 describes each of the fields in an LAPD frame.

Table 1 LAPD Field Descriptions
Field	Description
HDLC Flags	Located in the first and last octet, HDLC flags indicate the beginning and end of the frame.
Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI)	This 10-bit routing ID resides in bits 3-8 of octet 2 and bits 5-8 of octet 3. The DLCI is the MAC address of the circuit.
Command/Response (C/R)	This is LAPD-specific, and this version of FR does not use C/R.
Extended Address (EA)	This version of FR does not support extended addressing.
Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN)	When this bit is set to 1, the FR backbone network notifies the user receiving the frames that congestion is occurring in the direction the frame is being sent.
Backward Explicit Congestion Notification (BECN)	When this bit is set to 1, the FR backbone network notifies the device sending the frames that congestion is occurring in the opposite direction. When the router receives a BECN, it begins a throttle down.
Discard Eligibility (DE)	The network may discard transmitted data exceeding the Committed Information Rate (CIR) on a PVC. The network end node sets the DE bit to indicate discard eligibility. This version of FR does not set the DE bit.
User Data	This field contains the protocol packet being transmitted. It can contain a maximum of 8189 octets; however, the frame check sequence (FCS) can effectively detect errors only on a maximum of 4096 octets of data.
Frame Check Sequence (FCS)	This field is the standard 16-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) that HDLC and LAPD frames use. FCS detects bit errors occurring in the bits of the frame between the opening flag and FCS.

Frame Relay Manager (FRMGR)

The FRMGR configuration applies to all logical interfaces that run over the physical Frame Relay device. FRMGR handles the following Frame Relay management tasks, which are described in the next sections.

Managing the Frame Relay Network Using LMI

The supplier of the FR network backbone provides network management, which provides status and configuration information about virtual circuits.

This Frame Relay implementation supports the Local Management Interface (LMI) entities LMI Revision 1, ANSI Annex D, and CCITT Annex A. LMI notifies FRMGR of the following:

PVC status, including whether a PVC is active or inactive or has been deleted. Through PVC status, FRMGR learns about orphan circuits. See Full Status Report.
The integrity of the physical link between the end station and the Frame Relay switch. See Link Integrity Verification Report.
Network congestion using FECN and BECN bit settings.

It is not necessary to use LMI for the router to operate over the FR backbone. For example, you can disable LMI during Frame Relay testing. However, you would need to configure PVCs in that case.

PVC Status

FRMGR uses LMI to interact with the Frame Relay switch to find out the status of PVCs. PVCs are either active or inactive. An active circuit has a completed connection to an end system. An inactive circuit does not have a completed connection to an end system because either an end system or an FR switch is offline.

The Frame Relay device cannot send or receive data until an LMI full status message reports the PVC as active.

For example, in Figure 4 router B has a configured PVC to router C. Router B is successfully interacting with FR management through FR switch B. Because either another FR switch is down or the end system is down, the end-to-end PVC connection is not established. Router B receives an inactive status for that PVC.

Figure 4 DLCIs in Frame Relay Network

Orphan Circuits

An orphan circuit is a virtual circuit that is not configured, but that FRMGR dynamically learns through LMI. For example, in Figure 5 router B has a configured PVC to router C, but none to router A. Router A configures a PVC to router B. Router B then learns about the PVC to router A and classifies it as an orphan.

The n2-parameter sets the error threshold. The n3-parameter sets the event window. For example:

FRMGR Config <WAN> set n2-parameter 
Parameter N2  [3]?

FRMGR Config <WAN> set n3-parameter
Parameter N3  [4]?

This sets an error threshold of 3 (n2 = 3) and a window size of 4 (n3 = 4), which causes the software to check four management events to determine if any are in error. If the number of events in error equals three (the n2 parameter) or more, the Frame Relay device considers the network to be Down and resets.

For the Frame Relay device to consider the network to be Up, the number of events in error within the window must be less than n2 prior to any change in status.

Defining Data Rates

Your Frame Relay service provider can tell you the correct value for each data rate. You can use the defaults or define these rates with the add permanent-virtual-circuit FRMGR command. The router does not negotiate these rates with the Frame Relay switch.

Committed Information Rate (CIR)

CIR is the data rate that the FR service provider commits to support for both PVCs and orphan circuits under normal, uncongested conditions. The CIR is a portion of the total throughput for the physical link between 300 bits per second (bps) and 1.54 Megabits per second (Mbps). The most common CIR, and the default CIR, is 64 Kilobits per second (Kbps).

Orphan Circuit CIR

The router assigns orphan circuits a CIR of 64 Kbps. If you rely on an orphan circuit to route important data, you should add a PVC in place of the orphan. Doing so lets you assign a CIR that the network commits to support.

Committed Burst (Bc) Size

Bc is the maximum amount of data in bits that the network commits to deliver during a calculated time (Tc) interval. To calculate the Tc, divide the Bc by the CIR.

Bc/CIR = Tc

For example, if a VC's CIR is 9600 bps, and the Bc is 14,400 bits, the Tc is 1.5 seconds (14,400/9600 = 1.5 seconds). This allows the VC to transmit a maximum of 14,400 bits in 1.5 seconds.

The Bc is important because of its relationship to the maximum frame size. If the maximum frame size in bits is greater than the Bc, the network may discard frames whose size exceeds the Bc. Therefore, make sure the Bc is greater than or equal to the maximum frame size.

The default Bc is 64000 bits.

Excess Burst (Be) Size

Be is the maximum amount of uncommitted data the router can transmit on a VC in excess of the Bc during the time interval Tc (Bc/CIR=Tc).

The network delivers this excess data with a lower probability of success than committed burst size data. Set the Be greater than zero only if you are willing to accept the risk of discarded data and its effect on higher-layer protocol performance.

The default Be is 0.

Minimum and Maximum Information Rates (IR)

The minimum IR is the minimum amount of data the router sends over a VC in time interval Tc (Tc=Bc/CIR) during periods of network congestion. Set the minimum IR using the set ir-adjustment command.

The maximum IR is the maximum amount of data the router sends.

You do not set the maximum IR; the router calculates the maximum IR using the CIR, Bc, and Be as follows:

(Bc + Be) / Tc = maximum IR

Variable Information Rate (VIR)

The VIR ranges from the minimum IR to the maximum IR.

To avoid impulse loading of the network, the router initially sets the VIR to CIR when the network starts up.

The VIR can actually exceed the maximum IR in one case. If the length of a frame in bits is greater than the maximum IR, Frame Relay transmits the frame anyway.

Responding to Circuit Congestion

When circuit congestion occurs, the network must drop packets and/or shut down. In response to circuit congestion, the router implements a throttle down, which is a stepwise slowing of packet transmission to the configured minimum IR. Throttle down occurs during the following conditions:

Circuit congestion is occurring.
The router is the sender of frames.
CIR monitoring or congestion monitoring is enabled.

This section discusses monitoring of Frame Relay data rates and how the router responds to circuit congestion.

CIR Monitoring

CIR monitoring prevents the information rate (IR) of each VC from exceeding its maximum IR.

CIR monitoring is disabled by default. To enable it, enter the enable cir-monitor command. CIR monitoring, when enabled, overrides congestion monitoring.

Congestion Monitoring

Congestion monitoring allows the VIR to vary in response to network congestion. The VIR assumes values between the minimum IR and a maximum of line speed. Congestion monitoring is enabled by default. You can disable it with the disable congestion-monitor command.

CIR monitoring, if enabled, overrides congestion monitoring. If both CIR monitoring and congestion monitoring are disabled, the VIR for each VC on the device is set to the line speed and does not change in response to network congestion.

Congestion Notification and Avoidance

Frame Relay frames contain two bits that notify the device sending or receiving frames if there is congestion on the network. The two bits are

Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN), which notifies devices receiving frames that congestion is occurring in the direction the frame is being sent.
Backward Explicit Congestion Notification (BECN), which notifies devices sending frames that congestion is occurring in the opposite direction.

When the router receives a BECN, it begins to throttle down the VC's IR if either CIR monitoring or congestion monitoring is enabled. As the router receives consecutive frames with BECN, it gradually throttles down until it either reaches the minimum IR, or it receives a frame without BECN. As the router receives consecutive frames without BECN, it gradually increases the IR to its maximum value.

Use the set ir-adjustment command to set the minimum IR and the percentages for increasing and decreasing the IR in response to network congestion.

Figure 6 shows a congestion condition at switch B. Management notifies the downstream node (switch C) and the end station (router) that congestion is occurring by setting the FECN bit on all outgoing frames. Management must also notify switch A and the other end station that congestion is occurring by setting the BECN bit.

Figure 6 Congestion Notification and Throttle Down

Note: If multiple VCs are configured between two end stations when congestion occurs, the router may use a second VC to send data until the congestion on the first VC clears.

Frame Relay LAN Emulation (FRLANE)

The LAN Emulation feature causes a Frame Relay interface to look like an Ethernet or Token Ring interface to protocols such as IP. Using FRLANE, the router encapsulates packets into FR frames and routes them through the network. FRLANE complies with RFC 1490 encapsulation, and supports IP, IPX, AppleTalk, and bridging traffic.

You can set up multiple FRLANE interfaces on each physical Frame Relay device. Each FRLANE interface can have a different protocol address and can belong to a different network. Routing protocols, such as RIP or OSPF, treat each FRLANE interface as a separate network. These features let you set up FRLANE interfaces that represent your network address structure, giving you better control of your network.

Address Mapping

When FRLANE receives a packet, it knows which virtual circuit to send the packet to by mapping the packet's protocol address to a DLCI.

You can either statically map protocol addresses to PVCs, or Frame Relay can learn them dynamically through the Inverse Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). Static address mapping can reduce broadcast traffic. In either case, Frame Relay performs this mapping by comparing the packet's protocol address to the entries in its ARP cache. If the ARP cache

contains the DLCI that matches the protocol address, FR encapsulates that packet into a frame and sends the frame over the specified circuit.
does not contain a match, FR sends an ARP request over all of its configured PVCs. When the appropriate end point sends an ARP response, FR adds the local DLCI of the circuit that received the ARP response to the ARP cache.

Multicast Emulation

Multicast emulation allows protocols requiring multicast to work properly over the FRLANE interface. Protocols that use multicast are IP, IPX, and ARP. Multicast emulation transmits a frame on each active virtual circuit. You can turn this feature on or off using the enable multicast-emulation and disable multicast-emulation FRLANE commands.

Protocol Broadcast

Protocol broadcast allows protocols such as RIP to function over the FRLANE interface. The multicast parameter must be enabled for protocol broadcast to function properly. You can turn this feature on or off using the enable protocol-broadcast and disable protocol-broadcast FRLANE commands.

LAN Emulation Groups

LAN emulation groups allow an FRLANE interface to use only the VCs you configured for that FRLANE interface and not circuits that it learns about from FRMGR.

You may want to enable LAN emulation groups in either of the following situations:

If you have VCs on an FRLANE interface and want to prevent other FRLANE interfaces from using those VCs. Otherwise, if you have multiple FRLANE interfaces on one Frame Relay device, the first FRLANE to send a unicast frame on a circuit gets exclusive use of the circuit.
If you have a number of FRLANE interfaces on one device. Without LAN emulation groups, all FRLANE interfaces could send broadcasts to the FRMGR, and FRMGR could broadcast multiple copies of the same frame over the Frame Relay network.

Use the disable lane-group and enable lane-group FRLANE configuration commands.

Frame Relay Virtual Circuit (FRVC)

FRVC interfaces use a point-to-point connection over a single VC. You can have multiple FRVC interfaces on each physical Frame Relay device. Each FRVC has one VC. You can use FRVC interfaces over orphan circuits.

The router encapsulates IP, IPX, AppleTalk, and bridging packets using RFC 1490 encapsulation and then routes them over the FRVC interface.

You can also send PPP data over an FRVC. Using this feature along with PPP data compression gives you a method of sending compressed data over an FRVC. The router uses PPP over Frame Relay encapsulation specified in RFC 1973.

With FRVC, the VC acts as a point-to-point connection to protocols that run over the VC. For example, if you are using IP, you can run RIP or use static routes over the VC. You can also assign a different IP address to each FRVC interface, which allows you to set up separate IP filters for each FRVC.

FRVC responds to Inverse ARP requests that it receives.

Choosing Between FRLANE and FRVC

Consider the following when deciding whether to use FRLANE or FRVC.

FRVC

FRVC is the default configuration for Frame Relay devices. FRVC uses one VC for each FRVC interface, and it is simpler to set up than FRLANE.

FRVC causes a VC to act as a point-to-point connection to protocols. If you use FRVC, you can

assign different IP addresses to each VC
use RIP or static routes over the FRVC interface
enable PPP over FRVC, which lets you send compressed PPP data over your Frame Relay connection

FRLANE

Usually, you would use FRLANE if the other end of the link uses FRLANE.

You can use FRLANE to group many circuits on one Frame Relay device, which lets you use only one IP address for all circuits in a group.

Each FRLANE interface can have a different IP address and can belong to a different network. Therefore, you can set up FRLANE virtual interfaces to represent your network address structure, giving you better control of your network.

Frame Relay over ISDN

Figure 7 shows how you can use ISDN to connect to a Frame Relay switch.

Figure 7 Frame Relay Over ISDN Configuration

Because of the costs involved, Frame Relay over ISDN is usually not suitable for continuous connections.

Keep the following in mind if you are using Frame Relay over IDSN:

FRMGR unconditionally calls the Frame Relay switch when the router restarts even if you have dial-on-demand enabled. It does so because Frame Relay needs the status of PVCs.
You can set up FRMGR to disconnect from the Frame Relay switch if no upper-layer protocol requests a connection. (Use the set idle-timeout FRMGR configuration command.)
You can also set up FRMGR to periodically reconnect to the Frame Relay switch to update PVC status. (Use the set redial-timer FRMGR configuration command.)

Displaying the Frame Relay Prompts

This section shows how to display the FRMGR, FRLANE, and FRVC prompts.

Displaying the FRMGR Prompts

Note: The FRMGR configuration applies to all interfaces on a physical Frame Relay device. If you have multiple interfaces on one device, it does not matter which Circuit Config <NET-#> prompt for the device you use to get to the FRMGR prompt.

To display the FR Manager configuration prompt (FRMGR Config <WAN>),

1. At the Config> prompt, enter list interfaces to see a list of interfaces configured on the router.

2. Set the data-link protocol for an interface to Frame Relay if it is not already Frame Relay.

Config>set data-link frame-relay
Interface Number [0]? 1

3. Enter the network command to display the circuit configuration prompt. The network number is the number of a Frame Relay interface.

Config>network
What is the network number [0]? 1
Circuit Configuration
Circuit Config <NET-1>

4. Enter frmgr.

Circuit Config <NET-1> frmgr
Frame Relay Manager Configuration
FRMGR Config <WAN>

To display the FR Manager monitoring prompt (FRMGR <WAN>),

1. At the Monitor> prompt, enter list interfaces to see a list of interfaces configured on the router. Enter network followed by the number of the Frame Relay interface that you want to monitor.

Monitor>network 1
Circuit <NET-1>

2. Enter frmgr.

Circuit <NET-1> frmgr
Frame Relay Manager Console
FRMGR <WAN>

Displaying the FRLANE Prompts

To display the FRLANE configuration prompt (FRMGR Config <WAN>),

1. At the Config> prompt, enter list interfaces to see a list of interfaces configured on the router.

2. If you have not already done so, set the data-link protocol for an interface to Frame Relay.

Config>set data-link frame-relay
Interface Number [0]? 1

3. Enable Frame Relay LAN Emulation on the Frame Relay interface.

Config>enable lan-emulation
Interface number [0]? 1

4. Enter the network command to display the circuit configuration prompt. The network number is the number of the Frame Relay interface.

Config>network
What is the network number [0]? 1
Circuit Configuration
Circuit Config <NET-1>

5. Enter frlane.

Circuit Config <NET-1> frlane
Frame Relay LAN Emulation User Configuration
FRLANE Config <NET-1>

To display the FRLANE monitoring prompt (FLANE <NET-#>),

1. At the Monitor> prompt, enter list interfaces to see a list of interfaces configured on the router. Enter network followed by the number of the Frame Relay interface that you want to monitor.

Monitor>network 1
Circuit <NET-1>

2. Enter frlane.

Circuit <NET-1> frlane
Frame Relay LAN Emulation Console
FRLANE <NET-1>

Displaying the FRVC Prompt

There is no configuration prompt for FRVC. There is a monitoring prompt that you can use to list and clear statistics for the circuit. To display the FRVC monitoring prompt (FRVC <NET-#>),

1. At the Monitor> prompt, enter list interfaces to see a list of interfaces configured on the router.

2. Enter network followed by the number of the Frame Relay interface that you want to monitor.

Monitor>network 1
Circuit <NET-1>

3. Enter frvc.

Circuit <NET-1> frvc
Frame Relay Virtual Circuit Console
FRVC <NET-1>

Configuring Frame Relay

To configure Frame Relay, you need to do the following:

1. Fill out the Frame Relay worksheet

See Choosing Between FRLANE and FRVC.

The next sections describe each of these tasks. Once you finish configuring Frame Relay, restart the router for your configuration to take effect.

Frame Relay Worksheet

To configure Frame Relay, you need the following information. Your Frame Relay provider or network administrator can give you this information.

Table 2 Frame Relay Worksheet
Parameter	Default	Your Setting
Whether to use FRLANE or FRVC	FRVC
LMI type (LMI Rev 1, ANSI, or CCITT)	LMI ANSI
CIR monitoring, enabled or disabled	Disabled
Congestion monitoring, enabled or disabled	Enabled
For each PVC:
Committed Information Rate (CIR) in bps	64,000
Committed Burst Size in bits	64,000
Excess Burst Size in bits	0
Line speed of the serial line in bps	64,000
Maximum frame size of the serial line in bytes	2048

Configuring Frame Relay Manager

Follow these steps to configure the Frame Relay Manager (FRMGR).

1. Follow the steps in Displaying the FRMGR Prompts to display the FRMGR Config <WAN> prompt.

2. Add a PVC. This step is optional except in certain situations, listed under add permanent-virtual-circuit.

FRMGR Config <WAN> add permanent-virtual-circuit
Circuit number [16]?
Committed Information Rate (CIR) in bps [64000]?
Committed Burst Size (Bc) in bits [64000]?
Excess Burst Size (Be) in bits [0]?
Assign circuit name? rochester

3. If your Frame Relay supplier uses an LMI type other than ANSI Annex D, change the LMI type to LMI Revision 1 (Rev1) or CCITT.

FRMGR Config <WAN> set lmi-type rev1

Configuring HDLC Parameters

You can adjust the following HDLC parameters, if necessary.


Parameter	Default
Cable Type*	RS-232 DTE
Clocking*	External
Encoding	NRZ
Frame size	2048 bytes
Idle	Flag
Speed	64,000 bps
Transmit delay	0

* Not configurable on all platforms. Some platforms automatically detect the cable type and set clocking to internal or external.

To set these parameters, enter sl at the circuit configuration prompt, and then use the set hdlc commands.

Circuit Config <NET-1> sl
Serial Line Configuration

Serial Config <WAN> set hdlc Space

The choices/prefixes are (a complete list):
 CABLE
 CLOCKING
 ENCODING
 FRAME-SIZE
 IDLE
 SPEED
 TRANSMIT-DELAY

Configuring Frame Relay over ISDN

To run Frame Relay over an ISDN interface, set the name of the destination to call to establish a connection with the Frame Relay switch. Add the same address name, along with the dial address (telephone number) of the Frame Relay switch, using the add address ISDN configuration command at the BRI Config <WAN>.

FRMGR Config <WAN2-1> set switch-address-name
Assign switch address name? rochester

You can also use the set idle-timeout and set redial-timer commands to control connections to the Frame Relay switch.

For information on how to set up ISDN, see Using the ISDN Interface.

Configuring Frame Relay LAN Emulation

Follow these steps to configure FRLANE.

1. Configure the Frame Relay Manager as described in Configuring Frame Relay Manager.

2. If you need multiple FRLANE interfaces running on a Frame Relay device, add Frame Relay interfaces.

Config>add interface frame-relay  
Adding interface 2 linked to base device WAN.

3. Enable LAN emulation on each interface over which you are running FRLANE.

Config>enable lan-emulation
Interface number [0]? 1
Config>enable lan-emulation
Interface number [0]? 2

4. Follow the steps in Displaying the FRLANE Prompts to display the FRLANE Config <NET-#> prompt.

5. Add a circuit. This step is optional unless you run bridging or IPX over FRLANE, or you want to set up the circuit as required to trigger WAN Reroute.

To run IPX or bridging over the FRLANE interface, in the FRMGR configuration, add a PVC that has the same number as the circuit you add here and optionally assign a name to the PVC.

FRLANE Config <NET-1> add circuit
Circuit number [16]?
Is circuit required for interface operation? [N]?

6. To allow FRLANE to use only circuits that you added, and not circuits that it learns about from FRMGR, enable a LAN emulation group. See LAN Emulation Groups.

FRLANE Config <NET-1> enable lane-group

7. Add static destination protocol addresses to connect with devices that do not support Inverse ARP.

FRLANE Config <NET-1> add protocol-address
Protocol name or number [IP]?
IP Address [0.0.0.0]? 10.1.65.3

8. Repeat step 4 through step 7 for each FRLANE interface.

Configuring Frame Relay Virtual Circuit (FRVC)

Follow these steps to configure an FRVC interface.

1. Configure FRMGR as described in Configuring Frame Relay Manager.

2. If you need multiple FRVC interfaces running on the same Frame Relay device, add Frame Relay interfaces.

Config>add interface frame-relay
Adding interface 2 linked to base device WAN.

3. FRVC is the default for new Frame Relay interfaces. However, if you previously enabled LAN emulation, disable it on each interface over which you are running FRVC.

Config>disable lan-emulation
Interface number [0]? 2

4. Set a destination for this FRVC at the circuit configuration prompt. The address name that you assign is the name or DLCI of a PVC that you added in the FRMGR configuration using the add permanent-virtual-circuit command, or the DLCI of an orphan circuit.

Config>network
What is the network number [0]? 2

Circuit Configuration
Circuit Config <NET-2> set destination
Assign destination address name []?  rochester

There is no configuration prompt for FRVC. There is a monitoring prompt that you can use to list and clear statistics. See Displaying the FRVC Prompt. For a description of the FRVC commands, see FRVC Commands.

Running PPP over FRVC

You can optionally set up an FRVC to send PPP data over the FRVC. By also enabling PPP data compression, you can compress the data that the router sends over the FRVC. To use PPP over FRVC, enable it at the configuration prompt and then set up PPP as you normally would.

Config>enable ppp-over-frvcInterface Number [0]? 2

Note: Make sure you also enable PPP over FRVC on the remote router to which this FRVC connects.

FRMGR Commands

This section describes the Frame Relay Manager (FRMGR) commands.

Press Space twice after you type a command to display the available options for each command. Enter help for information about using the command line interface.

[C] means the command is available at the FRMGR Config <WAN> prompt.

[M] means the command is available at the FRMGR <WAN> prompt.

Table 3 FRMGR Commands

Command Function

Add [C] Adds PVCs to the FRMGR configuration.

Change [C] Changes the configuration of PVCs that were added using the add command.

Clear [M] Resets all statistics on the Frame Relay device.

Delete [C] Deletes any previously added PVCs.

Disable [C] [M] Disables circuit and congestion monitoring, LMI, and the use of orphan circuits.

Enable [C] [M] Enables circuit and congestion monitoring, LMI, and the use of orphan circuits.

Exit [C] [M] Returns to the previous prompt.

List [C] [M] Displays the current configuration of LMI and PVCs. At the monitoring prompt, it also displays statistics and the status of PVCs.

Remove [C] Deletes any previously added PVCs.

Set [C] [M] Sets the Frame Relay management options, idle timeout, redial timer, and a switch address name.

Table 3 FRMGR Commands
Command	Function
Add [C]	Adds PVCs to the FRMGR configuration.
Change [C]	Changes the configuration of PVCs that were added using the add command.
Clear [M]	Resets all statistics on the Frame Relay device.
Delete [C]	Deletes any previously added PVCs.
Disable [C] [M]	Disables circuit and congestion monitoring, LMI, and the use of orphan circuits.
Enable [C] [M]	Enables circuit and congestion monitoring, LMI, and the use of orphan circuits.
Exit [C] [M]	Returns to the previous prompt.
List [C] [M]	Displays the current configuration of LMI and PVCs. At the monitoring prompt, it also displays statistics and the status of PVCs.
Remove [C]	Deletes any previously added PVCs.
Set [C] [M]	Sets the Frame Relay management options, idle timeout, redial timer, and a switch address name.

Add [C]

Adds a PVC to the FRMGR configuration. Add a PVC if you

have disabled LMI,
do not want to use orphan circuits to a specific destination,
need to change the default information rates for a circuit, or
are running IPX or bridging over an FRLANE interface. In this case, you must either
- assign a name to the PVC that you add here and use that name when you set up IPX or bridging, or
- use the circuit number that you add here in your IPX or bridging configuration.
In the FRLANE configuration, you also need to add a circuit that has the same number as the PVC you add here. See add circuit.

Syntax: add

permanent-virtual-circuit

permanent-virtual-circuit

Adds a PVC to the FRMGR configuration beyond the reserved range of 0 through 15. The maximum number of PVCs that you can add is 992, but the actual number of PVCs that the device can support is affected by the configured size of the receive buffers on the device. (You can add a circuit that has the same number as a circuit configured in the FRLANE configuration.)

Example: add permanent-virtual-circuit

Circuit Number [16]?
Committed Information Rate (CIR) in bps [64000]?
Committed Burst Size (Bc) in bits [64000]?
Excess Burst Size (Be) in bits [0]?
Assign Circuit name []?


Circuit Number	The circuit number in the range of 16 to 1007.
Committed Information Rate (CIR)	The data rate in bits per second (bps) that the Frame Relay provider commits to support for the PVC under normal, uncongested conditions. The range is 300 bps to 2048000 bps. The default is 64000 bps.
Committed Burst Size	The maximum amount of data in bits that the network agrees to deliver during a measurement interval equal to Committed Burst (Bc) Size/CIR seconds. See Committed Burst (Bc) Size. The range is 300 to 2048000 bits. The default is 64000 bits.
Excess Burst Size	The maximum amount of uncommitted data in bits in excess of Committed Burst Size that the router attempts to deliver during a measurement interval equal to (Committed Burst Size/CIR) seconds. See Excess Burst (Be) Size. The range is 0 to 2048000 bits. The default is 0.
Assign Circuit Name	A name that describes the circuit. Assigning a name is optional.

Change [C]

Changes the configuration of PVCs.

Syntax: change

permanent-virtual-circuit

permanent-virtual-circuit

Changes the configuration of a PVC that you added with the add permanent-virtual-circuit command.

Example: change permanent-virtual-circuit

Circuit Number [16]?
Committed Information Rate in bps [64000]?
Committed Burst Size (Bc) in bits [64000]?
Excess Burst Size (Be) in bits [0]?
Assign Circuit Name: []?

Clear [M]

Resets all FRMGR statistics on the Frame Relay device.

Note: You can also clear statistics using the clear command at the Monitor> prompt.

Syntax: clear

Example: clear

Delete [C]

Deletes PVCs from the FRMGR configuration.

Syntax: delete

permanent-virtual-circuit

permanent-virtual-circuit

Deletes a PVC that you added using the add permanent-virtual-circuit command.

Example: delete permanent-virtual-circuit

Circuit number [16]? 20

Disable [C] [M]

Disables FRMGR features that are enabled.

Syntax: disable

cir-monitor
congestion-monitor
lmi
orphan-circuits

cir-monitor

Disables the circuit monitoring feature that enforces the committed information rate. The default is disabled.

Example: disable cir-monitor

congestion-monitor

Disables congestion monitoring, which prevents FRMGR from varying the circuit's information rate in response to network congestion. The default is enabled.

Example: disable congestion-monitor

lmi

Disables all management activity. The default is LMI ANSI enabled. Disabling LMI causes the software to mark all PVCs that you added as present and active. If the status of a PVC changes, FRMGR has no way to learn of the change. FRMGR also has no way to learn about orphan circuits. This command is available only at the FRMGR Config <WAN> prompt.

Note: Disabling LMI allows for normal operation or end-to-end Frame Relay testing in the absence of a real network or management interface. For end-to-end Frame Relay testing, add PVCs on both ends of the link and assign the same circuit number to them.

Example: disable lmi

orphan-circuits

Prohibits the use of orphan circuits on the device. The default is orphan circuits enabled. Disabling orphan circuits adds a measure of security to your network by preventing unauthorized entry into your network from a nonconfigured circuit.

This command is available only at the FRMGR Config <WAN> prompt.

Example: disable orphan-circuits

Enable [C] [M]

Enables circuit and congestion monitoring, LMI, and the use of orphan circuits.

Syntax: enable

cir-monitor
congestion-monitor
lmi
orphan-circuits

cir-monitor

Enables the circuit monitoring feature that enforces the committed information rate. The default is disabled.

See CIR Monitoring.

Example: enable cir-monitor

congestion-monitor

Enables congestion monitoring, which allows a circuit's information rate to vary in response to network congestion. The default is enabled.

See Congestion Monitoring.

Example: enable congestion-monitor

lmi

Enables management activity. The default is LMI ANSI enabled. Use enable lmi to resume LMI management if you previously disabled LMI.

To change the management type, use the set set lmi-type command

This command is available only at the FRMGR Config <WAN> prompt.

Example: enable lmi

orphan-circuits

Allows FRMGR to use orphan circuits, which is the default. The CIR of orphan circuits is 64000 bps, the committed burst (Bc) size is 64000 bps, and the excess burst (Be) size is 0.

This command is available only at the FRMGR Config <WAN> prompt.

Example: enable orphan-circuits

Exit [C] [M]

Returns to the previous prompt.

Syntax: exit

Example: exit

Circuit Config <NET-1>

List [C] [M]

This section explains list commands available at the FRMGR configuration and monitoring prompts.

List [C]

Displays currently configured management and PVC information.

Syntax: list

all
lmi
permanent-virtual-circuits

all

Comprehensively displays the output of the other list command options.

lmi

Displays logical management and related configuration information.

Example: list lmi

                         Frame Relay LMI Configuration

  LMI enabled  =   Yes  LMI DLCI        =    0
  LMI type     =  ANSI  LMI Orphans OK  =  Yes

  Congestion monitoring  =  Yes     CIR monitoring                =   No

  PVCs P1 allowed        =      64  CIR monitor adjustment        =     1
  Timer T1 seconds       =      10  Counter N1 increments         =     6
  LMI N2 error threshold =       3  LMI N3 error threshold window =     4
  MIR % of CIR           =      25  IR % increment                =    12
  IR % decrement         =      25  Redial timer                  =     0
  Idle timeout           =       0
  Switch address name   = seattle


LMI enabled	Indicates whether the management feature is enabled.
LMI DLCI	The circuit number over which LMI sends status enquiries and responses. ANSI and CCIT use 0 and Rev1 uses 1023.
LMI Type	The LMI type set, Rev1, ANSI, or CCITT.
LMI Orphans OK	Indicates whether nonconfigured circuits are available for use.
Congestion monitoring	Indicates whether the congestion monitoring feature that responds to network congestion is enabled.
CIR monitoring	Indicates whether the circuit monitoring feature that enforces the transmission rate is enabled.
PVCs P1 allowed	Number of PVCs allowed for use with this device.
CIR monitor adjustment	Used to calculate the maximum burst transmission speed allowed over a PVC when CIR monitoring is enabled. The maximum burst transmission speed is the CIR value times the CIR monitor adjustment. If you specify a Committed Burst Size, the software ignores this value.
Timer T1 seconds	Rate at which FRMGR performs a sequence number exchange with management.
Counter N1 increments	The interval in seconds at which FRMGR queries management for complete PVC status.
LMI N2 error threshold	Number of management event errors that reset the connection to the Frame Relay switch.
LMI N3 error threshold window	Number of events in the management window.
MIR % of CIR	Minimum IR, which is a percentage of CIR.
IR % Increment	Percentage by which FRMGR increases the IR each time it receives a frame without BECN until it reaches the maximum IR.
IR % Decrement	Percentage by which FRMGR decreases the IR each time it receives a frame that contains BECN until it reaches the minimum IR.
Redial timer	Setting of the redial timer. See set redial-timer.
Idle timeout	Setting of the idle timeout. See set idle-timeout.
Switch address name	Shows an address name if you set one using the set switch-address-name command.

permanent-virtual-circuits

Displays all PVCs configured on the FRMGR.

Example: list permanent-virtual-circuit

Maximum PVCs allowable  =   64
Total PVCs configured   =    2

    Circuit            Circuit     Circuit    CIR      Burst    Excess
    Name               Number      Type      in bps    Size     Burst
--------------------   -------     -------   ------    -----    -----
houston                 16         Permanent 64000     64000    0
portland                32         Permanent 64000     64000    0


Maximum PVCs Allowable	The number of circuits that can exist for this device, both PVCs and orphan circuits.
Total PVCs Configured	PVCs configured for this device.
Circuit Name	Name of the PVC.
Circuit Number	Number of the PVC.
Circuit Type	The type of virtual circuit. This release of Frame Relay supports only permanent virtual circuits.
Committed Information Rate	Data rate that the Frame Relay provider commits to support for the PVC under normal, uncongested conditions.
Burst Size	Maximum amount of data in bits that the network commits to deliver during a measurement interval equal to (Committed Burst Size/CIR) seconds.
Excess Burst	Maximum amount of uncommitted data in bits in excess of Committed Burst Size that the router attempts to deliver during a measurement interval equal to (Committed Burst Size/CIR) seconds.

List [M]

Displays statistics and configuration information.

Syntax: list

all
circuit
lmi
permanent-virtual-circuits

all

Comprehensively displays the output of the other list command options.

circuit

Displays statistics and configuration information for the circuit that you specify.

Example: list circuit

Circuit number [16]?
   Circuit name = houston   

   Circuit state        =       Idle  Circuit is orphan   =         No
   Frames transmitted   =          0  Bytes transmitted   =          0 
   Frames received      =          0  Bytes received      =          0
   Total FECNs          =          0  Total BECNs         =          0
   Times congested      =          0  Times Inactive      =          0
   CIR in bits/second   =       9600  Current Info Rate   =       9600 
   Committed Burst (Bc) =      64000  Excess Burst (Be)   =          0 
  
   Xmit frames dropped due to queue overflow             =          0


Circuit state	State of the circuit. Active— Data is being transferred. Congested— Data flow is being throttled back. Idle— Waiting for LMI to report the PVC's status. Inactive— Waiting for LMI to activate the circuit.
Circuit is orphan	Indicates whether the circuit is a nonconfigured circuit learned through management.
Frames/Bytes transmitted	Frames and bytes that this PVC has transmitted.
Frames/Bytes received	Frames and bytes that this PVC has received.
Total FECNS	Times that this PVC was notified of inbound or downstream congestion.
Total BECNS	Times that this PVC was notified of outbound or upstream congestion.
Times congested	Times that this PVC has become congested.
Times inactive	Times that this PVC was inoperable.
CIR in bits/sec	Committed Information Rate configured for the PVC.
Current Info Rate	The rate in bits per second at which information is currently being transmitted for the circuit.
Committed Burst (Bc)	Maximum amount of data in bits that the network commits to deliver during a measurement interval equal to (Committed Burst Size/CIR) seconds.
Excess Burst (Be)	Maximum amount of uncommitted data in bits in excess of Committed Burst Size that the router attempts to deliver during a measurement interval equal to (Committed Burst Size/CIR) seconds.
Frames dropped	Frames that this PVC has dropped.

lmi

Displays statistics and configuration information related to the logical management of the Frame Relay device.

Example: list lmi

Management Status:
------------------
  LMI state     =  Initial
  LMI enabled   =   Yes  LMI DLCI        =     0
  LMI type      =  ANSI  LMI orphans OK  =   Yes
  LMI sequence interval seconds          =    10

  Congestion monitoring =      Yes  CIR monitoring             =     No
  PVCs P1 allowed       =       64  Interface MTU in bytes     =     2048
  Line access rate bps  =     9600  CIR monitor adjustment     =     1
  Timer T1 seconds      =       10  Counter N1 increments      =     6
  LMI N2 threshold      =        3  LMI N3 threshold window    =     4
  MIR % of CIR          =       25  IR % increment             =    12
  IR % decrement        =       25  Redial timer               =     0
  Idle timeout          =        0
  Switch address name   =           

  Current receive sequence  =          0
  Current transmit sequence =          0
  Total status enquiries    =          0  Total status responses =   0
  Total sequence requests   =          0  Total responses        =   

PVC Status:
-----------
  Total allowed  =         64  Total configured  =          1
  Total active   =          0  Total congested   =          0
  Total left net =          0  Total join net    =          0


LMI state	State of the circuit. Active— Interface is up and running. Initial— Interface is not up and running yet. Full Status— Waiting for a response to an LMI full status request. Sequence Request— Waiting for a response to an LMI sequence request.
LMI enabled	Indicates whether the management features are enabled.
LMI DLCI	The circuit number over which LMI sends status inquiries and responses. ANSI and CCIT use 0 and Rev1 uses 1023.
LMI type	The LMI type set, Rev1, ANSI, or CCITT.
LMI Orphans OK	Indicates whether nonconfigured circuits are available for use.
LMI sequence interval seconds	Interval that management uses when exchanging keepalive information with an end station.
Congestion monitoring	Indicates whether the congestion monitoring feature that responds to network congestion is enabled.
CIR monitoring	Indicates whether the circuit monitoring feature that enforces the transmission rate is enabled.
PVCs P1 allowed	Number of PVCs allowed for use with this device.
Interface MTU in bytes	Size of user data contained in the Frame Relay frame.
Line access rate bps	Physical data rate of the Frame Relay device.
CIR monitor adjustment	Used to calculate the maximum burst transmission speed allowed over a circuit when CIR monitoring is enabled. The maximum burst transmission speed is the CIR value times the CIR monitor adjustment. If you specify a Committed Burst Size, the software ignores this value.
Timer T1 seconds	Rate at which FRMGR performs a sequence number exchange with management.
Counter N1 increments	The interval in seconds at which FRMGR queries management for PVC status.
LMI N2 threshold	Number of management event errors that reset the connection to the Frame Relay switch.
LMI N3 threshold window	Number of events in the management window.
MIR % of CIR	Minimum IR, which is a percentage of CIR.
IR % Increment	Percentage by which FRMGR increases the IR each time it receives a frame without BECN until it reaches the maximum IR.
IR % Decrement	Percentage by which FRMGR decreases the IR each time it receives a frame that contains BECN until it reaches the minimum IR.
Redial timer	Setting of the redial timer. See set redial-timer.
Idle timeout	Setting of the idle timeout. See set idle-timeout.
Switch address name	Shows a switch address name if you set one using the set switch-address-name command.
Current receive sequence	Current receive sequence number that FRMGR received from management.
Current transmit sequence	Current transmit sequence number that FRMGR sent to management.
Total status enquiries	Enquiries that management made as to the status of the Frame Relay device.
Total status responses	Responses that FRMGR received from management in response to status enquiries.
Total sequence requests	Sequence number requests that FRMGR made to management.
Total responses	Sequence number responses received in response to management sequence number exchange.
Total allowed	Virtual circuits allowed (including orphans) for use with this device.
Total configured	Configured PVCs for this interface.
Total active	Active virtual circuits on this interface.
Total congested	Virtual circuits that are throttled down because of congestion within the network.
Total left net	Virtual circuits that are no longer on the network.
Total join net	Virtual circuits that have joined the network.

permanent-virtual-circuits

Shows the circuits that FRMGR knows about, either PVCs or orphan circuits.

Example: list permanent-virtual-circuits

                                     Orphan   Type/    Frames        Frames
 Circuit#        Circuit Name        Circuit  State  Transmitted    Received
 --------  ------------------------  -------  -----  -----------   ----------
     16    houston                     No      P/I             0            0

    A - Active     I - Inactive   R - Removed
    P - Permanent  M - Multicast  C - Congested


Circuit#	Number of the virtual circuit.
Circuit Name	Name assigned to the virtual circuit.
Orphan Circuit	Indicates whether the circuit is an orphan circuit.
Type/State	State of the circuit.
Frames Transmitted	Frames and bytes that this circuit transmitted.
Frames Received	Frames and bytes that this circuit received.

Remove [C]

Deletes PVCs from the FRMGR configuration.

Syntax: remove

permanent-virtual-circuit

permanent-virtual-circuit

Deletes a PVC that you added using the add permanent-virtual-circuit command.

Example: remove permanent-virtual-circuit

Circuit number [16]? 20

Set [C] [M]

This section explains set commands available at the FRMGR configuration and monitoring prompts.

Set [C]

Sets the Frame Relay management options, idle timeout, redial timer, and a switch address name.

Syntax: set

idle-timeout
ir-adjustment
lmi-type
n1-parameter
n2-parameter
n3-parameter
p1-parameter
redial-timer
switch-address-name
t1-parameter

idle-timeout

For Frame Relay over ISDN connections, sets the number of seconds FR waits after connecting to the FR switch before it disconnects if no upper-layer protocol requests to use the connection to the switch.

The default is 60. The range is 1 to 65535 seconds.

Example: set idle-timeout

Idle timeout in seconds (1-65535) [60]?

ir-adjustment

Sets the minimum Information Rate (IR) and the percentages for increasing and decreasing the IR in response to network congestion.

When network congestion clears, each time the router receives a frame without BECN, it increases the IR by this percentage until it reaches the maximum IR. The minimum percentage is 1, and the maximum percentage is 100. The default is 12.

When network congestion occurs, each time the router receives a frame containing BECN, it decreases the IR by this percentage until it reaches the minimum IR. The minimum percentage is 1, and the maximum percentage is 100. The default is 25.

The minimum IR is a percentage of CIR, and is the lower limit of the information rate. The minimum percentage is 1, and the maximum percentage is 100. The default is 100.

See Congestion Notification and Avoidance.

Example: set ir-adjustment

IR adjustment % increment [12]?
IR adjustment % decrement [25]?
Minimum IR as % of CIR [100]?

lmi-type

Sets the management type that is in use on the Frame Relay network. The default is ANSI. Check with your Frame Relay service provider to find out which management type to use.


Type	Conforms to . . .
rev1	LMI Revision 1, (Stratacom's Frame Relay LMI Specification).
ansi	ANSI T1.617 ISDN-DSS1-Signalling Specification for Frame Relay Bearer Service, Annex D.
ccitt	Annex A of CCITT Recommendation Q.933 - DSS1 Signalling Specification for Frame Mode Basic Call Control.

Example: set lmi-type ansi

n1-parameter

Sets the number of T1 timer intervals that must expire before Frame Relay makes a complete PVC status enquiry. The range is 5 to 30. The default is 2.

Example: set n1-parameter

Parameter N1 [2]?

n2-parameter

Sets the number of errors that can occur in the management event window that the n3-parameter monitors before the Frame Relay connection resets. See Managing Errors.

The range is 1 to 10. The default is 3. Set this parameter less than or equal to the n3-parameter.

Example: set n2-parameter

Parameter N2 [3]?

n3-parameter

Sets the number of monitored management events for measuring the n2-parameter. See Managing Errors. The range is 1 to 10. The default is 4.

Example: set n3-parameter

Parameter N3 [4]?

p1-parameter

Sets the maximum number of PVCs that FRMGR supports. The range is 0 to 992. The default is 64. A 0 (zero) implies that the device supports no PVCs.

Example: set p1-parameter

Parameter P1 [64]?

redial-timer

Use this parameter in Frame Relay over ISDN configurations. It causes FRMGR to reconnect to the Frame Relay switch automatically after being disconnected. Doing so allows FRMGR to periodically check the status of virtual circuits.

The default of 0 (zero) means FRMGR does not redial automatically. To set up FRMGR to redial automatically, enter the number of seconds FRMGR waits after it disconnects before attempting another connection. The range is 0 to 65535 seconds.

Example: set redial-timer

Redial timer in seconds (0-65535, 0 means no redial) [0]?

switch-address-name

To run Frame Relay over ISDN, add a switch address name. This is the address name of the Frame Relay switch to which you are connecting. You must add the same address name along with the dial address (telephone number) of the Frame Relay switch using the add address ISDN configuration command at the BRI Config <WAN>.

Example: set switch-address-name

Assign switch address name? seattle

t1-parameter

Sets the interval in seconds that FRMGR takes to perform a sequence number exchange with Frame Relay management. The management's T2 timer is the allowable interval for an end station to request a sequence number exchange with the manager. Set the T1 interval less than the T2 interval of the network. The range is 5 to 30. The default is 10.

Example: set t1-parameter

Parameter T1  [10]?

Set [M]

This section explains set commands available at the FRMGR monitoring prompt. These commands take affect immediately, and the software does not save any changes you make with these commands when you restart the router.

Syntax: set

circuit
ir-adjustment

circuit

Dynamically changes the configuration of a PVC that you added with the add permanent-virtual-circuit command.

Example: set circuit

Circuit Number [16]?
Committed Information Rate in bps [64000]?
Committed Burst Size (Bc) in bits [64000]?
Excess Burst Size (Be) in bits [0]?

ir-adjustment

Dynamically sets the minimum Information Rate (IR) and the percentages for increasing and decreasing the IR in response to network congestion.

The minimum IR is a percentage of CIR, and is the lower limit of the information rate. The minimum percentage is 1, and the maximum percentage is 100. The default is 100.

Example: set ir-adjustment

IR adjustment % increment [12]?
IR adjustment % decrement [25]?
Minimum IR as % of CIR [100]?

FRLANE Commands

This section describes the FRLANE commands.

Press Space twice after you type a command to display the available options for each command. Enter help for information about using the command line interface.

[C] means the command is available at the FRLANE Config <NET-#> prompt.

[M] means the command is available at the FRLANE <NET-#> prompt.

Note: To display these prompts, you must first enter enable lan-emulation at the Config> prompt.

Table 4 FRLANE Commands
Command	Function
Add [C]	Adds a circuit or destination protocol address.
Change [C]	Changes circuits or protocol addresses that were added with the add command.
Clear [M]	Resets statistics related to FRLANE.
Delete [C]	Deletes circuits or protocol addresses that were added with the add command.
Disable [C] [M]	Disables LAN emulation groups, multicast emulation, protocol broadcast, and the no-PVC flag.
Enable [C] [M]	Enables LAN emulation groups, multicast emulation, protocol broadcast, and the no-PVC flag.
Exit [C] [M]	Returns to the previous prompt.
List [C] [M]	At the configuration prompt, displays FRLANE circuits, LAN emulation configuration, and any protocol address mappings. At the monitoring prompt, displays statistics and configuration information for FRLANE circuits.
Remove [C]	Deletes circuits or protocol addresses that were added with the add command.

Add [C]

Adds a circuit or destination protocol address.

Syntax: add

circuit
protocol-address

circuit

Adds a circuit to the FRLANE interface beyond the reserved range of 0 through 15. The maximum number of circuits that you can add is 992, but the actual number of circuits that the interface can support is affected by the configured size of the receive buffers on the device. Assign a circuit number that is the same as the DLCI of a circuit configured in the FRMGR configuration or an orphan circuit.

To run IPX or bridging over FRLANE,

: 1. Add a circuit here.
: 2. In the FRMGR configuration, add a PVC that has the same number as the circuit you add here and assign a name to the PVC. See add permanent-virtual-circuit.

For WAN Reroute operation, you can configure a circuit as required, which causes the FRLANE interface to declare itself down if the circuit becomes unavailable. WAN Reroute uses this as a trigger to bring up the alternate link.

Configuring a circuit as required causes all circuits on the FRLANE interface to go down when a required circuit becomes unavailable. Instead of configuring a circuit as required to trigger WAN Reroute, you can enter enable no-pvc, which causes the interface to declare itself down if there are no active circuits.

Example: add circuit

Circuit Number [16]?
Is circuit required for interface operation? [N]?

protocol-address

Adds static destination protocol addresses to the FRLANE interface. You may need to add an address if a remote Frame Relay device does not support Inverse ARP. You can also add static address mappings to reduce broadcast traffic. See Address Mapping.

This parameter prompts you for different information depending on the type of protocol address you are adding.

Example: add protocol-address

Protocol name or number [IP]?

IP protocol:

IP Address [0.0.0.0]?
Circuit number [16]?

IPX protocol:

Host Number (in hex)[]?
Circuit number [16]?

AppleTalk:

Network number (1-65279) []?
Node number (1-253) []?
Circuit number [16]?


Protocol name or number	The name or number of the protocol you are adding. You can add IP, IPX, or AP2 (AppleTalk Phase 2).
IP Address	The 32-bit Internet address in dotted-decimal notation.
Host number	The 48-bit MAC address of the IPX host. If you configure IPX on Ethernet interfaces as well as on Frame Relay, the software may change this address at runtime.
Network number	AppleTalk network number.
Node number	The node number of the interface for an AppleTalk network.
Circuit number	The circuit in the range of 16 to 1007 that this protocol is to run over.

Change [C]

Changes circuits or protocol addresses that were added with the add command.

Syntax: change

circuit
protocol-address

circuit

Sets whether or not a circuit that you added is required. Configure a circuit as required to cause the FRLANE interface to declare itself down if the circuit becomes unavailable. WAN Reroute uses this as a trigger to bring up the alternate link.

Configuring a circuit as required causes all circuits on the interface to go down when a required circuit becomes unavailable. Instead of configuring a circuit as required to trigger WAN Reroute, you can enter enable no-pvc, which causes the interface to declare itself down if there are no active circuits.

Example: change circuit

Circuit number [16]?
Is circuit required for interface operation? [N]? y

protocol-address

Changes a destination protocol address that you added to a circuit.

Example: change protocol-address

Protocol name or number [IP]?
IP Address [0.0.0.0]? 128.185.10.2
Circuit number [16]?

Clear [M]

Resets FRLANE statistics on this FRLANE interface.

Syntax: clear

Example: clear

Delete [C]

Deletes circuits or protocol addresses that you added with the add command.

Syntax: delete

circuit
protocol-address

circuit

Deletes circuits that you added with the add circuit command.

Example: delete circuit

Circuit number [16]?

protocol-address

Deletes destination protocol addresses that you added with the add protocol-address command.

Example: delete protocol-address

Protocol name or number [IP]?
IP Address [0.0.0.0]? 128.185.10.2
Circuit number [16]?

Disable [C] [M]

Disables LAN emulation groups, multicast-emulation, protocol-broadcast, and the no-PVC flag.

Syntax: disable

lane-group
multicast-emulation
protocol-broadcast
no-pvc

lane-group

Lets FRLANE use available circuits that it learns about dynamically from FRMGR in addition to circuits that you added manually.

Example: disable lane-group

multicast-emulation

Disables multicast emulation on all active VCs on this interface. Multicast emulation allows protocols requiring multicast to work properly over the FRLANE interface. Protocols that use multicast are IP, IPX, and ARP. The default setting for this feature is enabled. If you disable this feature, you must add static destination protocol addresses.

Example: disable multicast-emulation

protocol-broadcast

Prevents routing protocols that use broadcasts, such RIP, from running over the FRLANE interface. The default setting for this feature is enabled.

Example: disable protocol-broadcast

no-pvc

Disables the no-PVC flag on the FRLANE interface. The WAN Reroute feature uses the no-PVC flag. When enabled, this flag triggers WAN Reroute to bring up the alternate circuit by causing the interface to declare itself down if there are no active circuits.

Example: disable no-pvc

Enable [C] [M]

Enables LAN emulation groups, multicast-emulation, protocol-broadcast, and the no-PVC flag.

Syntax: enable

lane-group
multicast-emulation
protocol-broadcast
no-pvc

lane-group

Allows FRLANE to use only circuits that you added manually. FRLANE cannot use circuits that it learns about dynamically from FRMGR.

Example: enable lane-group

Enables the no-PVC flag on the FRLANE interface. The WAN Reroute feature uses the no-PVC flag. When enabled, this flag triggers WAN Reroute to bring up the alternate circuit by causing the interface to declare itself down if there are no active circuits available.

Example: enable no-pvc

Exit [C] [M]

Returns to the previous prompt.

Syntax: exit

Circuit Config <NET-1>

List [C] [M]

This section explains list commands available at the FRLANE configuration and monitoring prompts.

List [C]

Displays FRLANE VCs, LAN emulation configuration, and any protocol address mappings.

Syntax: list

all
circuits
lane
protocol-addresses

all

Comprehensively displays the output of the other list command options.

circuits

Displays circuits that you manually added for FRLANE and whether or not the circuits are required.

Example: list circuits

                 Frame Relay LAN Emulation Configured Circuits

    Circuit#    Required
    --------    --------
        16      No

lane

Displays the LAN emulation configuration.

Example: list lane

                  Frame Relay LAN Emulation Configuration

  LANE emulation group      = Disabled
  Protocol broadcast        = Yes   Multicast emulation        = No
  Down if no circuits       = No

protocol-addresses

Displays protocol addresses that you statically configured using the add protocol-address command.

Example: list protocol-addresses

                 Frame Relay Protocol Address Translations

  Protocol Type               Protocol Address      Circuit Number
  -------------               ----------------      --------------
       IP                      128.185.10.2                  16


Protocol Type	The name of the protocol running over the interface.
Protocol Address	The address of the protocol running over the interface.
Circuit Number	The VC that is running the protocol.

List [M]

Displays statistics and configuration information for FRLANE circuits.

Syntax: list

all
circuit

all

Displays LAN emulation configuration, state information, and circuit statistics.

Example: list all

                        Frame Relay LAN Emulation

  State               = Up
  LAN emulation group = Disabled
  Protocol broadcast  = No    Emulate multicast     = Yes
  Down if no circuits = No
  Active circuits     = 0     Total circuits        = 1

                                      Type/     Frames       Frames
  Circuit#       Circuit Name         State   Transmitted   Received
  --------  ------------------------  ------  -----------  ----------
      16    houston                     S/I             0           0

    D - Dynamic    S - Static    * - Required
    A - Active     I - Inactive


State	State of this FRLANE interface, Up or Down.
LAN emulation group	If disabled, FRLANE can use available circuits that it learns about dynamically from FRMGR in addition to circuits that you added manually. If enabled, FRLANE can use only circuits that you added manually, and not circuits that it learns about from FRMGR.
Protocol broadcast	Shows whether protocol broadcast is enabled or disabled.
Emulate multicast	Shows whether multicast emulation is enabled on active circuits.
Down if no circuits	Shows whether the no-PVC flag is enabled or disabled.
Active circuits	Number of active circuits.
Total Circuits	Number of configured and orphan circuits.
Circuit#	DLCI of the circuit.
Circuit Name	Name assigned to the circuit.
Type/State	Type and state of the circuit.
Frames Transmitted	Frames and bytes that this circuit transmitted.
Frames Received	Frames and bytes that this circuit received.

circuits

Displays statistics for the circuit that you specify.

Example: list circuit

Circuit number [16]?
     Circuit name         =                  houston

     Circuit state        = Inactive
     Frames transmitted   =          0  Bytes transmitted   =       0
     Frames received      =          0  Bytes received      =       0


Circuit number	The number of the circuit you want to display.
Circuit name	Shows the name of this circuit if you added the circuit and gave it a name in the FRMGR configuration.
Circuit state	State of the circuit. Inactive— Waiting for management to activate the circuit. Active— Data is being transferred.
Frames/Bytes transmitted	Frames and bytes that this PVC transmitted.
Frames/Bytes received	Frames and bytes that this PVC received.

Remove [C]

Deletes circuits or protocol addresses that you added with the add command.

Syntax: remove

circuit
protocol-address

circuit

Deletes circuits that you added with the add circuit command.

Example: remove circuit

Circuit number [16]?

protocol-address

Deletes destination protocol addresses that you added with the add protocol-address command.

Example: remove protocol-address

Protocol name or number [IP]?
IP Address [0.0.0.0]? 128.185.10.2
Circuit number [16]?

FRVC Commands

This section describes the Frame Relay Virtual Circuit (FRVC) commands.

Press Space twice after you type a command to display the available options for each command. Enter help for information about using the command line interface.

There is no configuration prompt for FRVC.

[M] means the command is available at the FRVC <NET-#> prompt.

Table 5 FRVC Commands

Command Function

Clear [M] Resets all statistics for Frame Relay Virtual Circuits.

Exit [M] Returns to the previous prompt.

List [M] Displays statistics for the virtual circuit.

Table 5 FRVC Commands
Command	Function
Clear [M]	Resets all statistics for Frame Relay Virtual Circuits.
Exit [M]	Returns to the previous prompt.
List [M]	Displays statistics for the virtual circuit.

Clear [M]

Clears all statistics for Frame Relay Virtual Circuits.

Syntax: clear

Example: clear

Exit [M]

Returns to the previous prompt.

Syntax: exit

Example: exit

Circuit <NET-1>

List [M]

Displays statistics for the virtual circuit.

Syntax: list

Example: list

                    Frame Relay Virtual Circuit

     Circuit name         =
     State                =       Down

     Frames transmitted   =        0  Bytes transmitted   =        0
     Frames received      =        0  Bytes received      =        0


Circuit name	Shows the name of this circuit if you added the circuit and gave it a name in the FRMGR configuration.
Circuit state	Whether the circuit is Up or Down.
Frames/Bytes transmitted	Frames and bytes that this circuit transmitted.
Frames/Bytes received	Frames and bytes that this circuit received.

[Top] [Prev] [Next] [Bottom]

Using Frame Relay

Frame Relay Manager (FRMGR)

Frame Relay LAN Emulation (FRLANE)

Frame Relay Virtual Circuit (FRVC)

Choosing Between FRLANE and FRVC

Frame Relay over ISDN

Displaying the Frame Relay Prompts

Configuring Frame Relay

FRMGR Commands

FRLANE Commands

FRVC Commands

Frame Relay Overview

Frame Relay Frame

Table 1 LAPD Field Descriptions

Managing the Frame Relay Network Using LMI

Link Integrity Verification Report

Variable Information Rate (VIR)

Frame Relay LAN Emulation (FRLANE)

Multicast Emulation

FRLANE

Displaying the Frame Relay Prompts

Displaying the FRLANE Prompts

Displaying the FRVC Prompt

Configuring Frame Relay

Table 2 Frame Relay Worksheet

Configuring HDLC Parameters

Configuring Frame Relay over ISDN

Configuring Frame Relay Virtual Circuit (FRVC)

FRMGR Commands

Table 3 FRMGR Commands

permanent-virtual-circuit

permanent-virtual-circuit

Clear [M]

permanent-virtual-circuit

Disable [C] [M]

cir-monitor

cir-monitor

List [C] [M]

all

all

permanent-virtual-circuit

Set [C] [M]

idle-timeout

ir-adjustment

lmi-type

n2-parameter

n3-parameter

p1-parameter

redial-timer

switch-address-name

t1-parameter

Set [M]

circuit

ir-adjustment

FRLANE Commands

Table 4 FRLANE Commands

circuit

protocol-address

circuit

protocol-address

Clear [M]

circuit

protocol-address

Disable [C] [M]

lane-group

lane-group

List [C] [M]

all

lane

protocol-addresses

all

circuit

protocol-address