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Frame Relay: Frame Relay Is A High-Performance WAN Protocol That Operates at The Physical

Frame Relay is a high-performance WAN protocol that operates at the physical and data link layers of the OSI model. It uses variable-length packets and statistical multiplexing to efficiently transfer data between devices like terminals, PCs, routers and bridges connected to the Frame Relay network. Frame Relay establishes permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) and switched virtual circuits (SVCs) between these devices to transfer data. The Frame Relay frame contains fields for flags, address, data and error checking.

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Neeti Saurav Pahuja
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115 views4 pages

Frame Relay: Frame Relay Is A High-Performance WAN Protocol That Operates at The Physical

Frame Relay is a high-performance WAN protocol that operates at the physical and data link layers of the OSI model. It uses variable-length packets and statistical multiplexing to efficiently transfer data between devices like terminals, PCs, routers and bridges connected to the Frame Relay network. Frame Relay establishes permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) and switched virtual circuits (SVCs) between these devices to transfer data. The Frame Relay frame contains fields for flags, address, data and error checking.

Uploaded by

Neeti Saurav Pahuja
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Frame Relay

Frame Relay is a high-performance WAN protocol that operates at the physical


and data link layers of the OSI reference model. Frame Relay originally was
designed for use across Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) interfaces.
Today, it is used over a variety of other network interfaces as well. Frame Relay is
a simplified form of Packet Switching, similar in principle to X.25, in which
synchronous frames of data are routed to different destinations depending on
header information. The biggest difference between Frame Relay and X.25 is that
X.25 guarantees data integrity and network managed flow control at the cost of
some network delays. Frame Relay switches packets end to end much faster, but
there is no guarantee of data integrity at all.
Frame Relay is an example of a packet-switched technology. Packet-switched
networks enable end stations to dynamically share the network medium and the
available bandwidth. The following two techniques are used in packet-switching
technology:
1 Variable-length packets
2 Statistical multiplexing
Variable-length packets are used for more efficient and flexible data transfers.
These packets are switched between the various segments in the network until the
destination is reached.
Frame Relay Devices
Devices attached to a Frame Relay WAN fall into the following two general
categories:
1 Data terminal equipment (DTE)
2 Data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE)
DTEs generally are considered to be terminating equipment for a specific network
and typically are located on the premises of a customer. In fact, they may be owned
by the customer. Examples of DTE devices are terminals, personal computers,
routers, and bridges.

DCEs are carrier-owned internetworking devices. The purpose of DCE equipment


is to provide clocking and switching services in a network, which are the devices
that actually transmit data through the WAN. In most cases, these are packet
switches.
Virtual Circuits
Frame Relay is a virtual circuit network, so it doesnt use physical addresses to
define the DTEs connected to the network.
Switched Virtual Circuits
Switched virtual circuits (SVCs) are temporary connections used in situations
requiring only sporadic data transfer between DTE devices across the Frame Relay
network. A communication session across an SVC consists of the following four
operational states:
l setupThe virtual circuit between two Frame Relay DTE devices is established.
Data transferData is transmitted between the DTE devices over the virtual
circuit.
IdleThe connection between DTE devices is still active, but no data is
transferred. If an SVC remains in an idle state for a defined period of time, the call
can be terminated.
Call terminationThe virtual circuit between DTE devices is terminated.
Permanent Virtual Circuits
Permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) are permanently established connections that are
used for frequent and consistent data transfers between DTE devices across the
Frame Relay network. Communication across PVC does not require the call setup
and termination states that are used with SVCs. PVCs always operate in one of the
following two operational states:
Data transfer: Data is transmitted between the DTE devices over the virtual
circuit.
Idle: The connection between DTE devices is active, but no data is transferred.

Frame Relay Layers


Frame Relay has only 2 layers, namely Physical layer and Data Link layer. And as
compared to other layer of packet switching network such as X.25, frame relay has
only 1.5 layers whereas X.25 has 2 layers. Frame Relay eliminates all network
layer functions and a portion of conventional data-link layer functions.
Physical Layer
No specific protocol is defined for physical layer in frame relay. Frame relay
supports any one of the protocols recognized by ANSI, and thus the choice of
physical layer protocol is up to the implementer.
Data Link Layer
At Data-link Layer Frame employs a simpler version of HDLC. To understand
much of the functionality of Frame Relay, it is helpful to understand the structure
of the Frame Relay frame.

FlagsDelimits the beginning and end of the frame. The value of this field is
always the same and is represented either as the hexadecimal number 7E or as the
binary number 01111110.
AddressContains the following information:

DLCIThe 10-bit DLCI is the essence of the Frame Relay header. This value
represents the virtual connection between the DTE device and the switch.
Extended Address (EA)The EA is used to indicate whether the byte in which
the EA value is 1 is the last addressing field. If the value is 1, then the current byte
is determined to be the last DLCI octet.
C/RThe C/R is the bit that follows the most significant DLCI byte in the
Address field. The C/R bit is not currently defined.
Congestion ControlThis consists of the 3 bits that control the Frame Relay
congestion-notification mechanisms. These are the FECN, BECN, and DE bits,
which are the last 3 bits in the Address field.
Discard eligibility (DE) is set by the DTE device, such as a router, to indicate that
the marked frame is of lesser importance relative to other frames being transmitted.
DataContains encapsulated upper-layer data. Each frame in this variable-length
field includes a user data or payload field that will vary in length up to 16,000
octets. This field serves to transport the higher-layer protocol packet (PDU)
through a Frame Relay network.
Frame Check SequenceEnsures the integrity of transmitted data. This value is
computed by the source device and verified by the receiver to ensure integrity of
transmission.

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