Overview
Frame Relay is another commonly used data link protocol based on packet switching technology. It is mainly incorporated by the
corporate data networks due to its cost-effective data transmission, and flexible bandwidth. Frame relay is mostly used to connect
local area networks with major backbones; also used in public wide area networks and in private network environments with leased
lines over T-1 lines.
Frame Relay access is usually at data rates range of 56 to 2Mbps. Low bit-rate voice compression algorithms such as ITU G.723.1
and G.729A permit the greatest number of simultaneous multiple calls while maintaining high quality voice. The data packets in Frame
Relay are relayed as HDLC frames at the data link layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
GL's Frame Relay Protocol Analyzer can be used to analyze and decode frames conforming to Q.921, Q.922, LAPF, Frame Relay
Forum standard -FRF.9 and FRF.12, Multiple Protocol Encapsulation, LCP RFC1661, Q.933 SVC and LMI SNAP, PPP, IP, SMTP, POP3
and so on.
GL Communications supports the following types of Frame Relay analyzers:
- Real-time Frame Relay Analyzer (Pre-requisites: GL's field proven E1 or T1 internal cards or USB Laptop E1 or T1 external units,
required licenses and Windows 2000/XP Operating System)
- Remote/Offline Frame Relay Analyzer (Pre-requisites: Hardware Dongle, and Windows 2000/XP Operating System)
Frame Relay Analyzer Main Features
- Supports decoding of encapsulated protocols, and long frames up to 16 Kbytes.
- Analyze Permanent Virtual Connection (PVC) and Switched Virtual Connection (SVC) frames
- Supports filtering and search features based on LAPF parameters and Q.933 layer parameters such as DLCIs, Message Type,
FECN, BECN, DE, NLPID's TCP, IP, SMTP, POP3, and so on.
- Provides Summary View, Detail View, Hex dump, statistics, and call trace views.
- Summary view displays LAPF information like DLCI, FECN, BECN, Q.933 Message Type, IP address, TCP/UDP port address etc.
- Detailed view displays easy to understand decodes of user selected frame
- Statistics view displays statistics based on frame count, byte count, frames/sec, bytes/sec etc for the entire capture data.
- Hex dump view displays the frame information in HEX and ASCII format.
- Call Trace view displays called/ calling number, released calls, call status, & more.
- Capability to export summary as well as detail information to an ASCII file for subsequent import into a database or spreadsheet.
- Remote monitoring capability using GL's Network Surveillance System.
Additional features supported by Real-time/Remote Frame Relay Analyzer are
- Supports capturing of encapsulated protocols, and long frames up to 16 Kbytes
- Streams can be captured on the selected time slots (contiguous or non-contiguous), sub-channels or full bandwidth. Frames may
also be contained in either one, n x 64 kbps, or n x 56 kbps data channels. The following variations are accommodated in the
software: inverted or non-inverted data, byte reversal or non-reversal.
- Recorded trace files can be played back using HDLC playback option
- Multiple streams of traffic on various T1/E1 channels can be simultaneously decoded with different GUI instances
- Multiple remote clients may access a single T1/E1 server, which enables monitoring two or more cards instantaneously.
(For Remote Analyzers only)
Additional features supported by Offline Frame Relay Analyzer:
- Trace files for analysis can be loaded through simple command-line arguments
- Multiple trace files can be loaded simultaneously with different GUI instances for offline analysis
Supported Protocols
- Q.921, Q.922, LAPF
- Multi-protocol encapsulation, FRF.9, FRF.12, SNAP, PPP, link control protocol RFC 1661
- Q.933, SVC, and LMI signaling.
- IP, TCP, UDP, SMTP, POP3, STUN, DNS, DHCP, HTTP, FTP, SNMP, RIP
Summary, Detail and Hexdump View
The Frame Relay analyzer application is invoked from the main menu of GL's T1/E1 Analyzer for real-time analyzer. The
remote/offline Frame Relay analyzer is invoked from the installation directory of the Remote Frame Relay Analyzer. The analyzer
displays summary, detail and hex dump view in different panes. The summary pane displays Frame Number, Time, Length, Error,
DLCI, DE, BECN, FECN, CTL, NLPID and more. To analyze in detail, user can select a frame in summary view to analyze and decode
in the detail view. The Hex dump view displays the frame information in HEX and ASCII format.
Screen Shot of Summary, Detail and Hexdump View
Real-time/Remote and Offline Analysis
Users can capture and analyze Frame Relay frames using either real-time or remote analyzers. All or filtered traffic can be
recorded into a trace file. The recorded trace file can then be analyzed offline and exported to ASCII file, or printed. Real-time
capturing requires user to specify timeslots, bit inversion, octet bit reversion, user/network side, and data transmission rate.
Recorded trace file can be played back on T1/E1 using the HDLC Playback option.
Screen Shot of Real-time and Offline Analysis
Filtering and Search
Users can record all or filtered traffic into a trace file. Filtering and search capability adds a powerful dimension to the
Frame Relay analyzers. This feature can isolate required frames from all frames in real-time/remote/offline. Users can specify
custom values for frame length to filter frames during real-time capture. The frames can also be filtered after completion of
capture according to Frame Number, Time, Length, Error, DLCI, DE, BECN, FECN, CTL, NLPID and more. Similarly, Search
capability helps user to search for a particular frame based on specific search criteria
Screen Shot of Filtering and Search
Call Trace and Statistics View
Call trace defining important call specific parameters like Call ID, Call Status, Call duration, Called/Calling Number, CRV, Release
Cause displayed in Call Trace view. Call traces can also be logically grouped with each group comprised of unidirectional (either
'Forward' or 'Backward') data links.
Statistics is an important feature available in Frame Relay analyzer and can be obtained for all frames both in real-time as well as
offline mode. Numerous statistics can be obtained to study the performance and trend in the Frame Relay network and it is based on
protocol fields and different parameters e.g. Use Type (Key/Total/Field), Statistic type (Frame count, Byte count, Frames/Sec) and
patterns like Range List, Wild card.
Screen Shot of Statistics View
Enhanced Trace Saving Options
Users can control the captured trace files by saving the trace using different conventions such as trace files with user-defined
prefixes, trace file with date-time prefixes, and slider control to indicate the total number of files, file size, frame count, or time limit.
This feature also allows the captured frames to be saved into a trace file based on the filtering criteria set using display filter feature.
Screen Shot of Enhanced Trace Saving Options Window
Save/Load All Configuration Settings
Protocol Configuration window provides a consolidated interface for all the important settings required in the analyzer. This
includes various options such as protocol selection, startup options, stream/interface selection, filter/search criteria and so on. All
the configuration settings done in any of these options can be saved to a file, loaded from a configuration file, or user may just
revert to the default values using the default option.
Screen Shot of Save/Load All Configuration Setting Window
Bridge and Monitor Connections
Buyer's Guide
Please Note: The XX in the Item No. refers to the hardware platform, listed at the bottom of the Buyer's Guide,
which the software will be running on. Therefore, XX can either be DPT, DPE, PCT, PCE, HDT, HDE, DLT, DLE or UTE depending
upon the hardware.
Specifications are subject to change without notice.
Back to Protocol Analysis Index Page
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