Chapter 4

Packet Switching
Networks
&
Frame Relay

1
Introduction
 Packet-Switching
– Switching Technique
– Routing
– X.25
 Frame Relay Networks
– Architecture
– User Data Transfer
– Call Control

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Introduction - Taxonomy

Communication
Networks

Circuit -Switched Packet -Switched

FDM TDM Datagram Virtual Circuit

The Internet Frame Relay

(TCP/IP) ATM
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Circuit-Switching
 Historically– long-haul telecom
networks designed for voice
and/or constant bit rate
applications
 Network resources dedicated to
one “call” after circuit setup
 Shortcomings when used for data:
– Inefficient (high idle time) for
“bursty” sources
– Constant data rate not appropriate
for varied endpoint capabilities
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
 Packet-Switching
 Historically – network technology designed
for general data communications
 Basic technology is the same as in the 1970s
 One of the few effective technologies for long
distance data communications in use today
 Frame relay and ATM are variants of packet-
switching (using virtual circuits)
 Advantages:
– flexible, resource sharing, robust, responsive
 Disadvantages:
– Time delays in distributed network, overhead penalties
– Need for routing and congestion control

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Packet-Switching
 Data transmitted in short blocks,
or packets
 Packet length typically < 1000
octets
 Each packet contains user data
plus control info (routing)
 Store and forward

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Advantages over Circuit-
Switching
 Greater line efficiency (many
packets can go over shared link)
 Data rate conversions
 Non-blocking (e.g. no “busy
signals”) under heavy traffic (but
increased delays)
 Each packet can be handled
based on a priority scheme

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Disadvantages relative to
Circuit-Switching
 Packets incur delay with every
node they pass through
Q * (dprop + dtrans + dqueue + dproc)
 Jitter: variation in end-to-end
packet delay
 Data overhead in every packet for
routing information, etc
 More processing overhead for
every packet at every node
traversed… circuit switching has
little/no processing at each node
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Switching Technique
 Large are messages broken up into
smaller “chunks,” generically called
packets
 Store and forward packet handling in core
 Two approaches to switching data:
– Datagram
 Each packet sent independently of the others
 No call setup

 More reliable (can route around failed nodes or

congestion)
– Virtual circuit
 Fixed route established before any packets sent
 No need for routing decision for each packet at each

node 11
Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Packet Switching: Datagram
Approach

Advantages:
•No call setup
•Flexible routes
•Reliability

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Packet Switching: Virtual-Circuit
Approach

Advantages:
•Network services
•sequencing
•error control
•Performance

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Routing
 Key function of any packet-
switched network: forwarding
packets to a destination
 Adaptive routing, routes are
adjusted based on:
– Node/trunk failure
– Congestion
 Nodes (routers/switches) must
exchange information about the
state of the network
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
The Use of Virtual Circuits
Virtual end-to-end
circuits

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
X.25
 Firstcommercial packet switched
network interface standard
 Motivates discussion of frame relay
and ATM design
 X.25 defines 3 levels of functionality
L1 - Physical level (X.21, EIA-232, etc.):
physical connection of a station to the link
L2 - Link/frame level (LAPB, a subset of
HDLC): logical, reliable transfer of data
over the physical link
L3 - Packet level: network layer, provides
virtual circuit service to support logical
connections between two subscriber
stations (multiplexing) 16
Chapter 4 Frame Relay
 User Data and X.25 Protocol
Control Information

• Virtual circuit id#

• Sequence #s
3 bytes  128 bytes

• Flags, address, control, FCS

• Link layer framing
• Reliable physical transfer
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
X.25 Features
 Call control packets
– set up and tear down virtual
circuits
Processing
– use same channel and VC as Overhead
data packets (tproc)
 Multiplexing of VCs at layer at each
node!
3 RESULT:
 Layers 3 (packet) and 2 64kbps
(frame) both include Max. data
extensive flow control and rate
error control mechanisms
Chapter 4 Frame Relay
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Frame Relay Networks
 Most widely deployed WAN link-layer
protocol in use today
 Designed to eliminate much of the
processing overhead in X.25
 Designed to support “bandwidth on
demand” for modern, bursty applications
 Throughput is an order of magnitude
higher than X.25
 ITU-T Recommendation I.233 indicates
effective rates of frame relay of up to 2
Mbps, but current practice is much
higher (up to T-3 equivalent, or 44.376
Mbps)
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Frame Relay Networks
Important Improvement over X.25:
 Call control signaling is on a separate
logical connection from user data
 Multiplexing/switching of logical
connections is at layer 2 (not layer 3)
 No hop-by-hop flow control and error
control; responsibility of higher layers
 Frames sizes can vary (up to 9000
bytes), supporting all current LAN
frame sizes
 Direct support for TCP/IP packets, since
no network layer redundancy
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Comparison of X.25 and
Frame Relay Protocol Stacks

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Frame Relay Architecture
 X.25 has 3 layers: physical, link,
network
 Frame Relay has 2 layers:
physical and data link (or LAPF)
 LAPF core: minimal data link
control
– Preservation of order for frames
– Small probability of frame loss

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
LAPF Core
 Frame delimiting, alignment and
transparency
 Frame
multiplexing/demultiplexing
 Inspection of frame for length
constraints
 Detection of transmission errors
 Congestion control

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
 LAPF-core Formats

10-bit address
23-bit address

16-bit address

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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
User Data Transfer Frame
 No connection control fields,
which are normally used for:
– Identifying frame type (data or
control)
– Sequence numbers, used for
error/flow control
 Implication:
– Connection setup/teardown carried
on separate channel
– No flow and error control, must be
handled by higher layer in protocol
stack 26
Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Frame Relay Call Control
 Frame Relay Call Control
– Details of call control depend on the
context of its use
– Assumes FR over ISDN
– Generally simpler for point-to-point
use
 Data transfer involves:
– Establish logical connection and assign
a unique DLCI
– Exchange data frames
– Release logical connection
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay
Frame Relay Call Control
4 message types needed
 SETUP…request link establishment
 CONNECT…reply to SETUP with
connection accepted
 RELEASE…request to clear (tear
down) a connection
 RELEASE COMPLETE… reply to
SETUP with connection denied, or
response to RELEASE
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Chapter 4 Frame Relay