Chapter 7

Virtual-Circuit Networks:
Frame Relay and ATM

18.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 7-1 FRAME RELAY

Frame Relay is a virtual-circuit wide-area network

that was designed in response to demands for a new
type of WAN in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Topics discussed in this section:

Architecture
Frame Relay Layers
Extended Address
FRADs
VOFR
LMI

7.2
 Figure 7.1 Frame Relay network

Frame Relay provides permanent virtual circuits and switched virtual circuits.

7.3
 Note

VCIs in Frame Relay are called DLCIs.

VCI: Virtual Circuit Identifier

DLCI: data link connection identifier

7.4
 Permanent Versus Switched Virtual Circuits

• A source and a destination may choose to have a permanent virtual circuit

(PVC). In this case, the connection setup is simple. The corresponding table
entry is recorded for all switches by the administrator (remotely and
electronically, of course). An outgoing DLCI is given to the source, and an
incoming DLCI is given to the destination.
• PVC connections have two drawbacks. First, they are costly because two
parties pay for the connection all the time even when it is not in use.
Second, a connection is created from one source to one single destination.
If a source needs connections with several destinations, it needs a PVC for
each connection.

7.5
 Permanent Versus Switched Virtual Circuits

• switched virtual circuit (SVC): The SVC creates a temporary, short

connection that exists only when data are being transferred between source
and destination.
• Each switch in a Frame Relay network has a table to route frames. The table
matches an incoming port-DLCI combination with an outgoing port-DLCI
combination.
• The only difference is that VCIs are replaced by DLCIs.

7.6
 Figure 7.2 Frame Relay layers

ANSI: American National Standards Institute

7.7
 Note

Frame Relay operates only at the

physical and data link layers.

7.8
 Frame Relay features

• Frame Relay operates at a higher speed (1.544 Mbps and recently 44.376
Mbps). This means that it can easily be used instead of a mesh of T-I or T-
3 lines.
• Frame Relay operates in just the physical and data link layers. This means
it can easily be used as a backbone network to provide services to
protocols that already have a network layer protocol, such as the Internet.
• Frame Relay allows bursty data.
• Frame Relay allows a frame size of 9000 bytes, which can accommodate
all local-area network frame sizes.

7.9
 Frame Relay features

• Frame Relay is less expensive than other traditional WANs.

• Frame Relay has error detection at the data link layer only. There is no flow
control or error control. There is not even a retransmission policy if a
frame is damaged; it is silently dropped. Frame Relay was designed in this
way to provide fast transmission capability for more reliable media and for
those protocols that have flow and error control at the higher layers.

7.10
 Figure 7.3 Frame Relay frame

7.11
 Frame Relay frame

• Address (DLCI) field: The first 6 bits of the first byte makes up the first part
of the DLCI. The second part of the DLCI uses the first 4 bits of the second
byte. These bits are part of the lO-bit data link connection identifier defined
by the standard.
• Command/response (CIR): (C/R) bit is provided to allow upper layers to
identify a frame as either a command or a response. It is not used by the
Frame Relay protocol.
• Extended address (EA): (EA) bit indicates whether the current byte is the
final byte of the address. An EA of 0 means that another address byte is to
follow (extended addressing is discussed later). An EA of 1 means that the
current byte is the final one.

7.12
 Frame Relay frame

• Forward explicit congestion notification (FECN): (FECN) bit can be set by

any switch to indicate that traffic is congested. This bit informs the
destination that congestion has occurred. In this way, the destination knows
that it should expect delay or a loss of packets.
• Backward explicit congestion notification (BECN): (BECN) bit is set (in
frames that travel in the other direction) to indicate a congestion problem in
the network. This bit informs the sender that congestion has occurred. In
this way, the source knows it needs to slow down to prevent the loss of
packets.

7.13
 Frame Relay frame

• Discard eligibility (DE): (DE) bit indicates the priority level of the frame. In
emergency situations, switches may have to discard frames to relieve
bottlenecks and keep the network from collapsing due to overload. When
set (DE 1), this bit tells the network to discard this frame if there is
congestion. This bit can be set either by the sender of the frames (user) or
by any switch in the network.

7.14
 Note

Frame Relay does not provide flow or

error control; they must be provided
by the upper-layer protocols.

7.15
 Figure 17.4 Three address formats

7.16
 Figure 7.5 FRAD

To handle frames arriving from other protocols, Frame Relay uses a device
called a Frame Relay assembler/disassembler (FRAD). A FRAD assembles and
disassembles frames coming from other protocols to allow them to be carried
by Frame Relay frames. A FRAD can be implemented as a separate device or as
part of a switch. Figure 7.5 shows two FRADs connected to a Frame Relay
network.

7.17
 7-2 ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is the cell relay

protocol designed by the ATM Forum and adopted by
the ITU-T.

Topics discussed in this section:

Design Goals
Problems
Architecture
Switching
ATM Layers

7.18
 Design Goals

Among the challenges faced by the designers of ATM, six stand out:
• Foremost is the need for a transmission system to optimize the use of
high-data-rate transmission media, in particular optical fiber. In addition to
offering large bandwidths, newer transmission media and equipment are
dramatically less susceptible to noise degradation. A technology is
needed to take advantage of both factors and thereby maximize data rates.
• The system must interface with existing systems and provide wide-area
interconnectivity between them without lowering their effectiveness or
requiring their replacement.

7.19
 Design Goals

• The design must be implemented inexpensively so that cost would not

be a barrier to adoption. If ATM is to become the backbone of
international communications, as intended, it must be available at low
cost to every user who wants it.
• The new system must be able to work with and support the existing
telecommunications hierarchies (local loops, local providers, long-
distance carriers, and so on).
• The new system must be connection-oriented to ensure accurate and
predictable delivery.
• One objective is to move as many of the functions to hardware as
possible (for speed) and eliminate as many software functions as
possible (again for speed).

7.20
 Problems with existing systems

Frame Networks

Before ATM, data communications at the data link layer had been based
on frame switching and frame networks. Different protocols use frames of
varying size and intricacy. As networks become more complex, the
information that must be carried in the header becomes more extensive.
The result is larger and larger headers relative to the size of the data unit.

7.21
 Problems with existing systems

Mixed Network Traffic

As you can imagine, the variety of frame sizes makes traffic unpredictable.
Switches, multiplexers, and routers must incorporate elaborate software
systems to manage the various sizes of frames. A great deal of header
information must be read, and each bit counted and evaluated to ensure
the integrity of every frame. Internetworking among the different frame
networks is slow and expensive at best, and impossible at worst.

7.22
 Figure 7.6 Multiplexing using different frame sizes

7.23
 Note

A cell network uses the cell as the basic

unit of data exchange.
A cell is defined as a small, fixed-size
block of information.

7.24
 Figure 7.7 Multiplexing using cells

7.25
 Figure 18.8 ATM multiplexing

7.26
 Figure 7.9 Architecture of an ATM network

NNI: Network to Network Interface

UNI: User to Network Interface

7.27
 Figure 7.10 TP, VPs, and VCs

TP: transmission Path (cable, wire, satellite): connection between endpoints

VP: Virtual Path: connection between two switches
VC: Virtual Circuits: Cell networks are based on VC

7.28
 Figure 7.11 Example of VPs and VCs

7.29
 Note

Note that a virtual connection is defined

by a pair of numbers:
the VPI and the VCI.

7.30
 Figure 7.12 Connection identifiers

7.31
 Figure 7.13 Virtual connection identifiers in UNIs and NNIs

7.32
 Figure 7.14 An ATM cell

7.33
 Figure 7.15 Routing with a switch

7.34
 Figure 7.16 ATM layers

7.35
 Figure 7.17 ATM layers in endpoint devices and switches

7.36
 Figure 7.18 ATM layer

7.37
 Figure 7.19 ATM headers

7.38
 ATM headers components

• Generic flow control (GFC): The 4-bit GFC field provides flow control at the
UNI level. The ITU-T has determined that this level of flow control is not
necessary at the NNI level.
• Virtual path identifier (VPI): The VPI is an 8-bit field in a UNI cell and a 12-bit
field in an NNI cell.
• Virtual circuit identifier (VCI): The VCI is a 16-bit field in both frames.
• Payload type (PT): In the 3-bit PT field, the first bit defines the payload as
user data or managerial information.

7.39
 ATM headers components

7.40
 Figure 7.20 AAL1

SAR: Segmentation And Reassembly sublayer ,

CS: Convergence Sublayer.

7.41
 Figure 7.21 AAL2

7.42
 Figure 7.22 AAL3/4

7.43
 Figure 7.23 AAL5

7.44
 7-3 ATM LANs

ATM is mainly a wide-area network (WAN ATM);

however, the technology can be adapted to local-area
networks (ATM LANs). The high data rate of the
technology has attracted the attention of designers
who are looking for greater and greater speeds in
LANs.
Topics discussed in this section:
ATM LAN Architecture
LAN Emulation (LANE)
Client/Server Model
Mixed Architecture with Client/Server
7.45
 Figure 7.24 ATM LANs

7.46
 Figure 7.25 Pure ATM LAN

7.47
 Figure 7.26 Legacy ATM LAN

7.48
 Figure 7.27 Mixed architecture ATM LAN

7.49
 Figure 7.28 Client and servers in a LANE

LEC: LAN Emulation Client

LECS: LAN Emulation Configuration Server (for initial connection)
LES:LAN Emulation Server
BUS: broadcast Unknown Server (for Multicasting and broadcasting)

7.50
 Figure 7.29 Client and servers in a LANE

7.51