Help regarding Frame-Relay?

[imran_mcse]

Friends pls help me, I am really confused about frame-relay networks. What is the advantage of using frame-relay instead of other wAN links. Pls tell me in easy word.

and one thing i also wants to know that as i read that DLCI is local significance,(as my thought) it means that all routers can use the same DLCI for connectivity. I m really confused about this so friends pls help me understand these.Pls also tell me that could we use our cisco router as frame-relay switch.

[dinekal]

Hi Imran,

In short, FR allows a cost effective WAN solution rather dedicated leased lines.

Per se lets assume your traffic pattern varies by time in a day and your peak hrs. be 10.00 am to 12.00 pm.

Commited burst rate allows you to provide maximum bandwidth during this period as you wish. You are expected to define such parameters as SLAs with the service provider.

Yes DLCIs has only local significance. In otherwords, a DLCI value assigned to the router has significance only with the FR switch to which it is connected. Apparently, packet delivery beyond the FR-Switch to which router is connected must be service provider's concern.So there may be same DLCI number defined to other end of the router in a PVC.

Yes you could use a router as FR Switch.This URL may help you out.

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/125/fr_switching.pdf

Hope this helps.

Regds,

Dinesh