Lab ID: 9.9K516A149.TSP.

Troubleshooting Basic Frame Relay

Objective
Find and correct configuration errors in a Frame Relay network across a point-to-point subinterface. You
will be performing tasks on only P1R1 and P2R1 in this lab.

Lab Topology
The topology diagram below represents the NetMap in the Simulator.

Command Summary
Command Description
configure terminal enters global configuration mode from privileged EXEC mode
enable enters privileged EXEC mode
encapsulation frame-relay [cisco | enables Frame Relay encapsulation on the interface
ietf]
end ends and exits configuration mode
exit exits one level in the menu structure
frame-relay interface-dlci dlci-number assigns a data link connection identifier (DLCI) number to an
[broadcast] interface or a subinterface
interface serial number point-to-point creates a point-to-point interface subinterface
interface type number changes from global configuration mode to interface
configuration mode
ip address ip-address subnet-mask assigns an IP address to an interface
ping ip-address sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo
request to the specified address
show frame-relay pvc [dlci-number] displays permanent virtual circuit (PVC) information

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 Command
show interfaces [type number]
show ip interface brief
show running-config
show running-config interface type
number
Description
displays the interface’s Data Link layer status; when the
type and number parameters are included, displays detailed
information about the specified interface
displays a brief summary of interface status and configuration
displays the active configuration file
displays the specified interface’s active configuration file

Lab Tasks
Task 1
A. Document the Network
You have been asked to solve a problem on a network with incomplete documentation.
1. On the network diagram below, fill in the missing information; include interface types, IP addresses,
encapsulation types, and authentication methods. As you examine the current configuration,
record any additional information that might be useful as you begin to identify, isolate, and correct
problems.

B. Analyze the Network

1. This network consists of a Frame Relay connection from P1R1’s Serial 0/0 interface to P2R1’s Serial
0/0 interface. Can P1R1 communicate with P2R1? How do you know? ______________________
______________________________________________________________________________

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 C. Isolate the Problem
1. Which hosts and interfaces make up the link from P1R1 to P2R1? __________________________

2. What is the state of these interfaces? What does this tell you? _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

D. Correct the Error

Company policy requires that Frame Relay use the default encapsulation method.
1. Based on the previous troubleshooting labs, what sorts of problems can result in interfaces being in
this state? ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. Based on your examination of the configuration, what problems do you see? _________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. What configuration changes do you propose to correct this problem? _______________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. After you make this change, what is the state of the network? _____________________________

Task 2
A. Analyze the Network
1. What is the state of the network now? ________________________________________________

2. Is it now possible to ping across the Frame Relay link between P1R1 and P2R1 (10.2.1.1)? ______

B. Isolate the Problem

1. Even though the Serial 0/0 interfaces of P1R1 and P2R1 are up and up, are there any other Layer 2
issues that could prevent traffic from moving between these two interfaces? __________________

2. What commands might you use to troubleshoot this problem? _____________________________

NOTE: You can check the configuration of the Frame Relay cloud in the NetSim NetMap Viewer.
Open the NetMap tab, right-click the FrameRelay cloud, and select the Properties option.

3. What does the output of these commands tell you? _____________________________________

C. Correct the Error

1. Based on your analysis above, what configuration changes do you propose? _________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. On P1R1 and P2R1, make the configuration changes you proposed in the previous step.

3. After you make these changes, what is the state of the network? ___________________________

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 Task 3
A. Analyze the Network
1. Is it now possible to ping across the Frame Relay link between P1R1 and P2R1 (10.2.1.1)? ______

2. Based on this analysis, what would you consider next? __________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

B. Isolate the Problem

1. Examine the interfaces that make up the link between P1R1 and P2R1, and consider possible Layer
3 issues. What do you see? ________________________________________________________

2. What configuration change should you propose to correct this error? ________________________

C. Correct the Error

1. On P2R1, make the configuration changes you proposed in Task 3, B, step 2.

2. What effect did this configuration change have on the state of the network? Can you ping P2R1
(10.1.1.2) from P1R1? ____________________________________________________________

You can do so by clicking the Grade Lab icon ( ) in the toolbar or by pressing Ctrl+G.

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 Lab Solutions
Task 1
A. Document the Network
1. The completed network diagram below shows the interface types, IP addresses, encapsulation
types, and authentication methods configured on the devices when the lab was loaded from the
Lab Tree. The information contained in the diagram can be obtained by issuing the show running-
config and the show interfaces commands.

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 B. Analyze the Network
1. This network consists of a Frame Relay connection from P1R1’s Serial 0/0 interface to P2R1’s Serial
0/0 interface. P1R1 cannot communicate with P2R1. Attempted pings from P1R1 to P2R1’s Serial
0/0 interface (10.2.1.1) fail.

P1R1#ping 10.2.1.1

C. Isolate the Problem

1. The Frame Relay configuration uses subinterfaces on the Serial 0/0 interface of P1R1 and P2R1.
The frame relay link between P1R1 and P2R1 consists of the Serial 0/0.1 interface of P1R1 and the
Serial 0/0.2 interface of P2R1.

2. The states of the interfaces are up and down and the state of the subinterfaces are down and down,
as shown in the following sample output from the show ip interface brief command. The up and
down states indicate that you should begin troubleshooting this as a problem with configuration
issues that could affect Layer 2 and below, at least until you get the interfaces up.

P1R1#show ip interface brief

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
Serial0/0 unassigned YES unset up down
Serial0/0.1 10.1.1.1 YES unset down down
Serial0/1 unassigned YES unset up down
FastEthernet0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
FastEthernet0/1 unassigned YES unset down down

P2R1#show ip interface brief

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
Serial0/0 unassigned YES unset up down
Serial0/0.2 10.2.1.1 YES unset down down
Serial0/1 unassigned YES unset up down
FastEthernet0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
FastEthernet0/1 unassigned YES unset down down

D. Correct the Error

1. The problem could result from Data Link layer issues such as an encapsulation mismatch or any
situation where serial keepalives are not being received.

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 2. You should issue the following command on P1R1 and P2R1 to determine the encapsulation type
configured on the interfaces. Based on an examination of the configuration, you can determine that
different types of encapsulation have been configured on the ends of the link. For a Frame Relay
connection to function, the serial interface must be set to Frame Relay encapsulation. Unlike High-
level Data Link Control (HDLC) and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), there are two different types of
Frame Relay encapsulation: Cisco, which is the default, and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
The encapsulation on both ends of a Frame Relay link must match. The Serial 0/0 interface on P1R1
is configured to use IETF and the Serial 0/0 interface of P2R1 is configured to use Cisco, causing a
mismatch. Sample output is shown:

P1R1#show interfaces serial 0/0

Serial0/0 is up, line protocol is down
Hardware is HD64570
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit/sec, DLY 20000 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
Encapsulation FRAME-RELAY IETF, loopback not set, keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted>

P2R1#show interfaces serial 0/0

Serial0/0 is up, line protocol is down
Hardware is HD64570
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1544 Kbit/sec, DLY 20000 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
Encapsulation FRAME-RELAY, loopback not set
Keepalive set (10 sec)
<output omitted>

3. To correct the encapsulation mismatch problem, you should issue the following commands on P1R1
to configure the Serial 0/0 interface with the default encapsulation, which is Cisco; company policy
requires that Frame Relay use the default encapsulation method. The DLCI state should change to
ACTIVE when the mismatch is corrected.

P1R1(config)#interface serial 0/0

P1R1(config-if)#encapsulation frame-relay
21:49:39: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Serial0/0, changed state to up
21:49:39: %FR-5-DLCICHANGE: Interface Serial0/0.1 - DLCI 101 state changed to ACTIVE

4. Now that both ends of the link are configured with the same encapsulation type, the Serial 0/0
interfaces are now up and up on both P1R1 and P2R1. You can verify this by issuing the following
command. Sample output is shown below:

P1R1#show ip interface brief

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
Serial0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
Serial0/0.1 10.1.1.1 YES unset up up
Serial0/1 unassigned YES unset up down
FastEthernet0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
FastEthernet0/1 unassigned YES unset down down

(continued on next page)

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 (continued from previous page)

P2R1#show ip interface brief

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
Serial0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
Serial0/0.2 10.2.1.1 YES unset up up
Serial0/1 unassigned YES unset up down
FastEthernet0/0 unassigned YES unset up up
FastEthernet0/1 unassigned YES unset down down

Task 2
A. Analyze the Network
1. The current state of the network as shown by the show ip interface brief command is that the
Serial 0/0 physical interfaces on P1R1 and P2R1 are up and up and the logical subinterfaces on
P1R1 and P2R1 are up and up.

2. No, it is not possible to ping across the Frame Relay link. A ping from P1R1 to P2R1 (10.2.1.1) fails.

P1R1#ping 10.2.1.1

B. Isolate the Problem

1. Even though the Serial 0/0 interfaces of P1R1 and P2R1 are up and up, there are other Layer 2
issues that could prevent traffic from moving between these two interfaces. For example, the DLCI
values configured on an interface must match those assigned by the service provider for each end of
the PVC. The misconfiguration of DLCI values is a common Frame Relay problem. The DLCI value
on one end of a Frame Relay link does not necessarily have any bearing on the DLCI value at the
other end of the link; the values only serve to identify each end of the link in the service provider’s
Frame Relay cloud.

2. You should issue the following command on both ends of the link to troubleshoot this problem. Note
that, in the sample output below, there are no input and output packets on P1R1 or P2R1:

P1R1#show frame-relay pvc

PVC Statistics for interface Serial0/0 (Frame Relay DTE)

DLCI = 201, DLCI USAGE = UNUSED, PVC STATUS = INACTIVE, INTERFACE = Serial0/0

input pkts 0 output pkts 0 in bytes 0

out bytes 0 dropped pkts 0 in FECN pkts 0
in BECN pkts 0 out FECN pkts 0 out BECN pkts 0
in DE pkts 0 out DE pkts 0
out bcast pkts 0 out bcast bytes 0
pvc create time 00:25:37, last time pvc status changed 00:25:37

(continued on next page)

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 (continued from previous page)

P2R1#show frame-relay pvc

PVC Statistics for interface Serial0/0 (Frame Relay DTE)

DLCI = 102, DLCI USAGE = UNUSED, PVC STATUS = INACTIVE, INTERFACE = Serial0/0

input pkts 0 output pkts 0 in bytes 0

out bytes 0 dropped pkts 0 in FECN pkts 0
in BECN pkts 0 out FECN pkts 0 out BECN pkts 0
in DE pkts 0 out DE pkts 0
out bcast pkts 0 out bcast bytes 0
pvc create time 00:25:37, last time pvc status changed 00:25:37

3. The output from the show frame-relay pvc command tells you that there might be a DLCI
configuration problem.

C. Correct the Error

1. You should ensure that the DLCI values assigned to the Frame Relay subinterfaces match the
service provider’s DLCI values for each end of your PVC. Remember that DLCI values are usually
locally significant and only serve to identify each end of the PVC; therefore, they might not be
the same on both ends. Check the configuration of the Frame Relay cloud in the NetSim NetMap
Viewer, and make sure your router subinterfaces are configured with the DLCI values assigned in
the cloud.

Open the NetMap tab, right-click the FrameRelay cloud, and click Properties to open the following
dialog box and verify the connection.

Click the X next to Apply Settings to close the dialog box.

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 2. On P1R1, you should change the DLCI value of 101 that is currently configured on the Serial 0/0.1
interface to its correct DLCI value of 201 by issuing the following commands:

P1R1(config)#interface serial 0/0.1 point-to-point

P1R1(config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 201

On P2R1, you should change the DLCI value of 202 that is currently configured on the Serial 0/0.2
interface to its correct DLCI value of 102 by issuing the following commands:

P2R1(config)#interface serial 0/0.2 point-to-point

P2R1(config-subif)#frame-relay interface-dlci 102

3. The output from the following command shows you that the PVC link between the two interfaces is
passing traffic. The input packets/bytes and output packets/bytes counters are nonzero on both ends
of the link. Both the physical interfaces and logical subinterfaces of P1R1’s Serial 0/0 and P2R1‘s
Serial 0/0 interfaces are up and up. Sample output from both routers is shown below:

P1R1#show frame-relay pvc

PVC Statistics for interface Serial0/0 (Frame Relay DTE)

DLCI = 201, DLCI USAGE = LOCAL, PVC STATUS = ACTIVE, INTERFACE = Serial0/0.1

input pkts 87 output pkts 76 in bytes 9293

out bytes 8817 dropped pkts 85 in FECN pkts 51
in BECN pkts 66 out FECN pkts 82 out BECN pkts 120
in DE pkts 63 out DE pkts 61
out bcast pkts 98 out bcast bytes 8976
Shaping adapts to BECN
pvc create time 00:32:04, last time pvc status changed 00:32:05
cir 6000 bc 6000 be 0 limit 1875 interval 125
mincir 3000 byte increment 90 Adaptive Shaping BECN
pkts 111 bytes 137046 pkts delayed 0 bytes delayed 0
shaping inactive
traffic shaping drops 0
Serial0/0.1 dlci 201 is first come first serve default queueing
Output queue 0/40, 0 drop, 49 dequeued

P2R1#show frame-relay pvc

PVC Statistics for interface Serial0/0 (Frame Relay DTE)

DLCI = 102, DLCI USAGE = LOCAL, PVC STATUS = ACTIVE, INTERFACE = Serial0/0.2

input pkts 110 output pkts 23 in bytes 1490

out bytes 11423 dropped pkts 7 in FECN pkts 64
in BECN pkts 65 out FECN pkts 8 out BECN pkts 28
in DE pkts 56 out DE pkts 120
out bcast pkts 47 out bcast bytes 14377
pvc create time 00:32:04, last time pvc status changed 00:32:05

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 Task 3
A. Analyze the Network
1. No, it is still not possible to ping across the Frame Relay link; a ping from P1R1 to P2R1 (10.2.1.1)
fails.

P1R1#ping 10.2.1.1

2. The link between P1R1 and P2R1 seems to be functioning at Layer 2 and below. You should focus
on Layer 3 at this point.

B. Isolate the Problem

1. You should issue the following command on P1R1 and P2R1 to verify the configuration on the
logical subinterfaces. The relevant subinterfaces on each end of the link are in different networks.
This is an IP addressing problem.

P1R1#show running-config
Building configuration...
Current configuration : 933 bytes
!
<output omitted>
!
interface Serial0/0
no ip address
no fair-queue
encapsulation frame-relay
frame-relay traffic-shaping
frame-relay class map1
!
interface Serial0/0.1 point-to-point
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 201
!
<output omitted>

P2R1#show running-config
Building configuration...
Current configuration : 786 bytes
!
<output omitted>
!
interface Serial0/0
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
!
interface Serial0/0.2 point-to-point
ip address 10.2.1.1 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 102
!
<output omitted>

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 2. You should change the IP address on the P2R1 Serial 0/0.2 interface so that it is in the same
network as the subinterface on P1R1.

C. Correct the Error

1. You should issue the following commands to correct the IP address configured on the Serial 0/0.2
interface on P2R1:

P2R1(config)#interface serial 0/0.2 point-to-point

P2R1(config-subif)#ip address 10.1.1.2 255.255.255.0

2. From P1R1, a ping to P2R1 (10.1.1.2) should be successful.

P1R1#ping 10.1.1.2

Sample Configuration Scripts

P1R1 P1R1 (continued)
P1R1#show running-config interface Serial0/1
Building configuration... no ip address
Current configuration : 933 bytes no ip directed-broadcast
! !
Version 15.b interface FastEthernet0/0
service timestamps debug uptime no ip address
service timestamps log uptime no ip directed-broadcast
no service password-encryption !
! interface FastEthernet0/1
hostname P1R1 no ip address
! no ip directed-broadcast
ip subnet-zero !
! ip classless
ip cef no ip http server
no ip domain-lookup !
! map-class frame-relay map1
interface Serial0/0 frame-relay traffic-rate 6000 6000
no ip address frame-relay adaptive-shaping becn
no fair-queue !
encapsulation frame-relay line con 0
frame-relay traffic-shaping line aux 0
frame-relay class map1 line vty 0 4
! login
interface Serial0/0.1 point-to-point !
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 no scheduler allocate
frame-relay interface-dlci 201 end
!

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 P2R1
P2R1#show running-config
Building configuration...
Current configuration : 786 bytes
!
Version 15.b
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log uptime
no service password-encryption
!
hostname P2R1
!
ip subnet-zero
!
ip cef
no ip domain-lookup
!
interface Serial0/0
no ip address
encapsulation frame-relay
!
interface Serial0/0.2 point-to-point
ip address 10.1.1.2 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 102
!
interface Serial0/1
no ip address
no ip directed-broadcast
!
interface FastEthernet0/0
no ip address
no ip directed-broadcast
!
interface FastEthernet0/1
no ip address
no ip directed-broadcast
!
ip classless
no ip http server
!
line con 0
login
exec-timeout 20 0
line aux 0
line vty 0 4
login
!
no scheduler allocate
end

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