Frame-Relay Basics

Posted by Rene Molenaar June 16, 2010 in Frame Relay

Scenario

As a CCNA candidate you are familiar with the concept of Frame-Relay, although you do not need to configure the Frame-Relay switch. Since you are working your way to becoming the ultimate networking Guru, you are prepared to do a full Frame-Relay config….that includes the Frame-Relay Switch! Configuring a point-to-multipoint and point-to-point PVC and having ip connectivity is your goal.

Goal:

Take a good look at the topology before you start configuring.
The green lines are PVC’s (Permanent Virtual Circuit) and this is supposed to be a point-to-multipoint.
Paris should be the “hub” and Berlin and Stockholm are “spoke” routers.
The blue line is a point-to-point PVC between Paris and Berlin.
DLCI numbers are shown on the topology picture.
Use the 192.168.123.0 /24 subnet for the point-to-multipoint connection, use a subinterface.
Use the 192.168.12.0 /24 subnet for the point-to-point connection, use a subinterface.
Achieve full IP connectivity, all ip addresses should be pingable.

It took me 1000s of hours reading books and doing labs, making mistakes over and over again until I mastered all the protocols for CCNA.

Would you like to be a master of networking too? In a short time without having to read 900 page books or google the answers to your questions and browsing through forums?

I collected all my knowledge and created a single ebook for you that has everything you need to know to become a master of CCNA.

You will learn all the secrets about frame-relay, PVCs, subinterfaces and more.

Does this sound interesting to you? Take a look here and let me show you how to Master CCNA!

IOS:

c3640-jk9s-mz.124-16.bin

Topology:

Frame-Relay Basics

Video Solution:

Configuration Files

You need to register to download the GNS3 topology file. (Registration is free!)

Once you are logged in you will find the configuration files right here.

Do you want your CCNA or CCNP Certificate?

The How to Master series helps you to understand complex topics like spanning-tree, VLANs, trunks, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP and more.

Written by René Molenaar - CCIE #41726

Master CCNA and CCNP Today!

ccna-rs frame-relay

About the Author: Rene Molenaar

René - CCIE #41726 is the creator of GNS3Vault.com where he shares CCNA, CCNP and CCIE R&S labs. He also blogs about networking on http://networklessons.com

22 Comments

Galen Kuantan says:

November 27, 2010 at 03:23

just joined the site. and the labs exercises are awesome. love ’em, thanks. right now, I’m preparing for my CCNP ROUTE new exam. I’m trying to do this lab and I was able to configure Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm. but was unable to achieve full IP connectivity. maybe I didn’t read properly, but do we need to also configure the frame relay switch – I previously thought it was pre-configured. thank you.
Galen Kuantan says:

November 27, 2010 at 10:22

never mind, I managed to get full IP connectivity, by replacing the centre router with the frame relay switch, thanks.
Maxim Vinokurov says:

April 3, 2011 at 10:03

Hello!
I did configure all my device in this lab. I speak about frame-relay multipoint network (192.168.123.0/24). And achieved IP connectivity btw all routers, but all routers can’t ping ip address of own frame-relay multipoint interfece.
This is normal?
Rene Molenaar says:

April 4, 2011 at 21:38

Not being able to ping your own IP address with frame relay is normal, if you want to be able to do so you must create a frame relay “map” for your own IP address.
luismg says:

April 5, 2011 at 10:04

I don’t know why don’t you put a frame relay switch in the middle.
Not on even CCIE R&S you need to configure a router as a frame relay switch

kind regards
Rene Molenaar says:

April 10, 2011 at 10:01

I’d rather take the “Cisco” solution for the frame relay switch than the “gns3” solution. It works perfect but this way people can learn how to configure one if they have a real cisco router as well.

Unless you have an older computer running an extra router shouldn’t be a problem.
1. pluto says:
  
  December 11, 2014 at 12:00
  
  I actually enjoyed learning how to configure a Frame Relay switch thanks for adding that extra challenge 🙂
stemrikar says:

April 5, 2012 at 08:08

Missing Config.
I first solved it, then compared my souliton with your final Configs and found something missing.

Berlin#pi 192.168.123.1

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.123.1, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 52/72/80 ms
Berlin#
Berlin#pi 192.168.123.3

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.123.3, timeout is 2 seconds:
…..
Success rate is 0 percent (0/5)
Berlin#

Stockholm(config)#interface Serial0/0.301
Stockholm(config-subif)#frame-relay map ip 192.168.123.2 301 broadcast

Berlin(config)#interface Serial0/0.201
Berlin(config-subif)# frame-relay map ip 192.168.123.3 201 broadcast
Berlin(config-subif)#^Z
Berlin#
Berlin#
*Mar 1 00:02:46.195: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
stemrikar says:

April 5, 2012 at 08:08

contd…

Berlin#pi 192.168.123.3

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.123.3, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 120/131/148 ms
Berlin#

Thanks
Shoeb
pistalsilver says:

November 8, 2012 at 22:39

Hi Rene,

These are my output for this frame-relay basic lab:

I have a problem in pinging from PARIS to Stockholm

here is my output:

Router#sh frame-relay map
[b]Serial0/0.102 (up): ip 192.168.123.2 dlci 102[/b](0x66,0x1860), static,
broadcast,
CISCO, status defined, active
[b]Serial0/0.102 (up): ip 192.168.123.3 dlci 103[/b](0x67,0x1870), static,
broadcast,
CISCO, status defined, active
Router#ping 192.168.123.2

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.123.2, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 20/42/60 ms
Router#ping 192.168.123.3

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.123.3, timeout is 2 seconds:
[b]…..[/b]
Success rate is 0 percent (0/5)

And also i coudint able to ping from Stockholm to PARIS

outputs:

Router#sh frame-relay map
Serial0/0.301 (up): ip 192.169.123.1 dlci 301(0x12D,0x48D0), static,
broadcast,
CISCO, status defined, active
Router#ping 192.168.123.1

Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.123.1, timeout is 2 seconds:
[b]…..[/b]
Success rate is 0 percent (0/5)

I believe that is due to frame-relay static router map which we
have created in Paris router bcoz you gave both the routes under
the 102 sub interface. But still i dont know how its working for you.

Plz help.
gudgeong says:

March 25, 2013 at 06:07

Hi and thanks for the lab Rene

Just a quick question.

I configured the spoke ends(Berlin and Stockholm) as point to point interfaces and still got it to work. The Paris end has to be multipoint but I thought the spokes only need to be point-to-point

here is the example of the serial interface configs on the spokes

Berlin:
interface Serial0/0.201 point-to-point
ip address 192.168.123.2 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 201

Stockholm:
interface Serial0/0.301 point-to-point
ip address 192.168.123.3 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 301

I configured Loopbacks on all routers too

[b]PARIS#[/b]ping 2.2.2.2

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 2.2.2.2, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 4/14/32 ms
[b]PARIS#[/b]ping 3.3.3.3

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 3.3.3.3, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 4/8/16 ms

[b]BERLIN#[/b]ping 1.1.1.1
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 1.1.1.1, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 8/8/8 ms

[b]STOCKHOLM#[/b]ping 1.1.1.1

Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 1.1.1.1, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 8/9/12 ms

cheers and thanks again

Geoff
cdyz5 says:

March 29, 2013 at 18:17

Thank you for the great lab
tonydelarocha says:

June 13, 2013 at 17:01

for point-to-point
* multiple point-to-point sub-interfaces per interface

for multipoint
* just one multipoint sub-interface per interface

right ???
damieno613 says:

July 12, 2013 at 20:26

Hi I think the .5kb zip file is missing the basic config files. When I open the console it just sits there. Pressing enter doesn’t help I got these errors tryng to save the project.

Dynamips error 206 unable to extract config of vm r0

I get the above error for all 4 routers
Ian says:

August 18, 2013 at 20:57

Hi Rene.

I first done the lab and then watched the solution. I inserted the

frame-relay interface-dlci 102
frame-relay interface-dlci 103

in the multipoint sub interface to map dynamically so I don’t have to create maps statically, except to ping from berlin to Stockholm.

You mentioned that these commands need to be entered with point to point.
Is it wrong to use it for multipoint too?

Thanx for the LABs. Having a great time working through them.

Ian
Nzelwa says:

June 26, 2014 at 13:21

Hi Rene,
where can I find c3640-jk9s-mz.124-16.bin for GNS 3
1. Nick42518 says:
  
  July 7, 2014 at 01:53
  
  We cannot supply IOS images here. They are Cisco copyrights.
  1. Amoget says:
    
    November 29, 2014 at 06:13
    
    Check it: [link removed]
    I hope have helped you..
2. Amoget says:
  
  November 29, 2014 at 06:12
  
  Check it: http://sobek.su/Cisco/IOS/36xx/3640/
  I hope have helped you..
Andy says:

March 5, 2015 at 13:44

Don’t want to be a smart ass, but don’t we need a static route on Stockholm to be able to ping 192.168.12.2?
1. Nicholas Russo says:
  
  July 7, 2015 at 04:09
  
  It seems you’d need it to reach anything in 192.168.12.0/24, so you are probably right.
Luiz Tamaro Polli says:

June 23, 2015 at 21:25

Hello Rene! About the full connectivity, we can’t pinging from Berlin to Stockholm, until we configure one more frame-relay map between these two.

Comments are closed.