Configuring Frame Relay
Once you understand how Frame Relay works, the mechanics of configuration are not very difficult to grasp. There are some interesting concepts, such as subinterfaces, that may be new to you; we’ll cover those in detail here.
Basic Frame Relay with Two Nodes
Figure 23-10 shows a simple two-node Frame Relay network. Router A is connected to Router B using Frame Relay over a T1. The port speed is 1.536 Mbps, the CIR is 512 Kbps, and the burst rate is 2× (1,024 Kbps).

Figure 23-10. Two-node Frame Relay network
The first step in configuring Frame Relay is to configure Frame
Relay encapsulation. There are two types of Frame Relay encapsulation:
cisco and ietf. The default type is cisco, which is configured with the encapsulation
frame-relay command:
interface Serial0/0 encapsulation frame-relay
You configure the ietf type
with the encapsulation frame-relay
ietf command. ietf Frame
Relay encapsulation is usually used only when you’re connecting Cisco
routers to non-Cisco devices.
Once you’ve configured Frame Relay encapsulation and the interface
is up, you should begin seeing LMI status messages. If the PVC has been
provisioned, you can see it with the show frame-relay PVC
command:
Router-A#sho frame pvc
PVC Statistics for interface Serial0/0 (Frame Relay DTE)
Active Inactive Deleted Static
Local 0 0 0 0
Switched 0 0 0 0
Unused 0 1 0 0
DLCI = 102, DLCI USAGE = UNUSED, PVC ...Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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