Part IV: Wide-Area Networks—Questions

1. Are DLCI addresses defined by a Layer 2 or Layer 3 protocol?

2. What is the name of the field that identifies, or addresses, a Frame Relay virtual
circuit?
3. True or False: “Frame Relay VCs provide a constant amount of bandwidth between
two devices, typically routers—never more and never less.” Defend your answer.
4. Explain how many DS0 channels fit into a T1, and why the total does not add up to
the
purported speed of a T1, which is 1.544 Mbps.
5. Define the term synchronous.
6. Imagine a drawing with two routers, each connected to an external CSU/DSU. Each
CSU/DSU is connected with a four-wire circuit. Describe the role of the devices in
relation to clocking and synchronization.
Part IV: Wide-Area Networks—Questions 26
7. Imagine a drawing with two routers, each connected to an external CSU/DSU. Each
CSU/DSU is connected with a four-wire circuit. List the words behind the acronyms
DTE and DCE, and describe which devices in this imagined network are DTE and
which are DCE.
8. Imagine a drawing with two routers, each connected to a Frame Relay switch over a
local access link. Describe which devices in this imagined network are Frame Relay
DTEs and which are Frame Relay DCEs.
9. Imagine a point-to-point leased line between two routers, with PPP in use. What are
the names of the protocols inside PPP that would be used on this link? What are their
main functions?
10. Define the terms DCE and DTE in the context of the physical layer and a point-to-
point
serial link.
11. Identify the command used to set the clock rate on an interface in which a DCE
cable
has been inserted. Compare and contrast the two styles of the command that may be
entered in configuration mode versus which style shows up in the configuration.
12. Name one WAN data-link protocol used on point-to-point leased lines that defines a
method of announcing the interface’s IP addresses to other devices attached to the
WAN.
13. Can PPP dynamically assign IP addresses? If so, is this feature always enabled?
14. Define the terms PAP and CHAP. Which one sends passwords in clear-text format?
15. CHAP configuration uses names and passwords. Given Routers A and B, describe
what
names and passwords must match in the respective CHAP configurations.
16. Create a CHAP configuration between two routers. Make up specific details as
needed.
17. What two WAN data-link protocols define a method of announcing the interface’s
Layer 3 addresses to other devices attached to the WAN?
18. Explain the purpose of Inverse ARP, as well as how it uses Frame Relay
broadcasts.
19. Would a Frame Relay switch connected to a router behave differently if the IETF
option were deleted from the encapsulation frame-relay ietf command on that
attached router? Would a router on the other end of the VC behave any differently if
the same change were made?
20. What does NBMA stand for? Does it apply to X.25 networks or Frame Relay
networks?
21. Which layer or layers of OSI are most closely related to the functions of Frame
Relay?
Why?
27 Appendix L: ICND2 Open-Ended Questions
22. When Inverse ARP is used by default, what additional configuration is needed to get
IGRP routing updates to flow over each VC, assuming IGRP has already been
configured correctly?
23. Define the attributes of a partial-mesh and full-mesh Frame Relay network.
24. What key pieces of information are required in the frame-relay map statement?
25. Create a configuration for Router1 that has Frame Relay VCs to Router2 and
Router3
(DLCIs 202 and 203, respectively) on Router1’s Serial1 interface. Use any IP
addresses you like. Assume that the network is not fully meshed.
26. What show command tells you when a PVC became active? How does the router
know
what time the PVC became active?
27. What show command lists Frame Relay information about mapping? In what
instances
does the information displayed include the Layer 3 addresses of other routers?
28. True or false: The no keepalive command on a Frame Relay serial interface causes
no
further Cisco-proprietary keepalive messages to be sent to the Frame Relay switch.
29. What debug option shows Inverse ARP messages?
30. What is the name of the field that identifies, or addresses, a Frame Relay virtual
circuit?
Part IV: Wide-Area Networks—Answers
1. Answer: DLCI addresses are defined by a Layer 2 protocol. Frame Relay protocols
do
not define a logical addressing structure that can usefully exist outside a Frame Relay
network; by definition, the addresses would be OSI Layer 2–equivalent.
2. Answer: The data-link connection identifier (DLCI) is used to identify a VC.
3. Answer: False. The provider assigns a guaranteed bandwidth, or CIR, for a VC, but
the
routers on either end of the VC can send more than the CIR of data. As long as the
service provider has enough capacity to support it, the frames are forwarded over the
VC.
4. Answer: Each DS0 channel runs at 64 kbps. With 24 in a T1, the T1 speed seemingly
would be 24 * 64 kbps, or 1.536 Mbps. T1 also includes 8 kbps for management,
which, when added to the 1.536 Mbps total, gives you the full T1 rate—1.544 Mbps.
5. Answer: The imposition of time ordering on a bit stream. Practically, a device will try
to use the same speed as another device on the other end of a serial link. By examining
transitions between voltage states on the link, the device can notice slight variations in
the speed on each end and can adjust its speed accordingly.
Part IV: Wide-Area Networks—Answers 28
6. Answer: The routers receive clocking from their respective CSU/DSUs. One of the
two
CSU/DSUs is configured as the master. The other CSU/DSU, as the slave, adjusts its
clock to match the speed of the master CSU/DSU.
7. Answer: DTE stands for data terminal equipment, and DCE stands for data
communications equipment. The routers are DTEs, and the CSU/DSUs are DCEs.
8. Answer: The routers are DTEs, and the Frame Relay switches are DCEs.
9. Answer: The PPP Link Control Protocol (LCP) controls and manages the link. The IP
Control Protocol (IPCP) also would be used because you need a CP for each Layer 3
protocol. IPCP can assign IP addresses to devices on the other end of a link.
10. Answer: At the physical layer, DTE refers to the device that looks for clocking from
the device on the other end of the cable on a link. The DCE supplies that clocking. For
example, the computer is typically the DTE, and the modem or CSU/DSU is the DCE.
At the data link layer, both X.25 and Frame Relay define a logical DTE and DCE. In
this case, the customer premises equipment (CPE), such as a router and CSU/DSU, is
the logical DTE, and the service provider equipment (the Frame Relay switch and
CSU/DSU) is the DCE.
11. Answer: The clock rate command and the clockrate command both set the rate at
which an interface clocks over a serial DCE cable. When you ask for help while in
interface configuration mode, the clock rate command is shown, but help does not list
the clockrate command. However, after you issue the command, a show
runningconfig
lists the clockrate command under the interface, regardless of which of the two
commands was entered in configuration mode.
12. Answer: PPP uses an IP Control Protocol (IPCP) to announce, and sometimes
assign,
IP addresses to each end of the link.
13. Answer: PPP’s IPCP protocol can assign an IP address to the device on the other
end
of the link. This process is not required and is not performed by default. PPP usually
does address assignment for dial access, such as when a user dials an Internet service
provider.
14. Answer: PAP stands for Password Authentication Protocol. CHAP stands for
Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. PAP sends passwords as simple text,
whereas CHAP uses MD5 hashing to protect the password contents.
15. Answer: Router A has name B and a corresponding password configured. Router B
has
name A and the same password configured. The names used are the host names of the
routers unless the CHAP name is configured.
29 Appendix L: ICND2 Open-Ended Questions
16. Answer: Your configuration will probably be a little different from the one shown
here.
To be correct, you need the username global commands that refer to the other router’s
host name, with correct case and the same password on each side. PPP must be
enabled
on each serial link, and ppp authentication chap must be on each interface.
Router Fred Router Barney
username Barney password Bedrock username Fred password Bedrock
!!
interface serial 0 interface serial 0
encapsulation ppp encapsulation ppp
ppp authentication chap ppp authentication chap
..
17. Answer: PPP and Frame Relay. PPP uses control protocols specific to each Layer 3
protocol supported. Frame Relay uses Inverse ARP.
18. Answer: A router discovers the Layer 3 address(es) of a router on the other end of a
VC
when that other router sends an Inverse ARP message. The message is not a
broadcast.
19. Answer: The switch does not behave differently. The other router, however, must
also
use IETF encapsulation. Otherwise, the routers will not look at the correct fields to
learn the packet type.
20. Answer: NBMA stands for nonbroadcast multiaccess. X.25 and Frame Relay are
NBMA networks. Multiaccess really means that more than two devices are connected
to the data link, because many other devices may be reached by a single device. For
instance, Router1 might have a PVC to Router2 and Router3, making it multiaccess.
21. Answer: OSI Layers 1 and 2 are most closely related to the functions of Frame
Relay.
Frame Relay refers to well-known physical layer specifications. Frame Relay defines
headers for delivery across the Frame Relay cloud, but it provides no addressing
structure to allow VCs among many different Frame Relay networks. Thus, it is not
considered to match OSI Layer 3 functions.
22. Answer: No additional configuration is required. The forwarding of broadcasts as
unicasts can be enabled on each VC and protocol for which Inverse ARP is received.
23. Answer: In a partial-mesh network, not all DTEs are directly connected with a VC. In
a full-mesh network, all DTEs are directly connected with a VC.
24. Answer: The pieces of information required are the Layer 3 protocol, the next-hop
router’s Layer 3 address, the DLCI to reach that router, and whether to forward
broadcasts. Frame Relay maps are not required if Inverse ARP is in use.
Part IV: Wide-Area Networks—Answers 30
25. Answer:
interface serial 1
encapsulation frame-relay
interface serial 1.1 point-to-point
ip address 168.10.1.1 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 202
interface serial 1.2 point-to-point
ip address 168.10.2.1 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 203
This is not the only valid configuration given the problem statement. However,
because there is not a full mesh, point-to-point subinterfaces are the best choice. Cisco
encapsulation is used by default. The LMI type is autosensed.
26. Answer: The show frame-relay pvc command lists the time since the PVC came
up.
You can subtract this time from the current time to derive the time at which the VC
came up. The router learns about when PVCs come up and go down from LMI
messages.
27. Answer: show frame-relay map lists Frame Relay information about mapping. The
mapping information includes Layer 3 addresses when multipoint subinterfaces are
used or when no subinterfaces are used. The two cases in which the neighboring
routers’ Layer 3 addresses are shown are the two cases in which Frame Relay acts like
a multiaccess network. With point-to-point subinterfaces, the logic works like a pointto-
point link, in which the next router’s Layer 3 address is unimportant to the routing
process.
28. Answer: False. This command stops LMI status inquiry messages from being sent.
They are defined in Frame Relay Forum standards. Cisco sends proprietary keepalive
messages on point-to-point serial and LAN interfaces.
29. Answer: debug frame-relay events shows Inverse ARP messages.
30. Answer: The data-link connection identifier (DLCI) is used to identify a VC. The
number may be different on either side of the VC.