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WAN Emulation

Hi there,

I have two 805 serial routers and would like to emulate a frame relay link between them. What do you experts suggest me to use ? I am considering an Adtran ATLAS but can I find something less expensive ? Thanks for all.

12 Replies 12

Richard Burts
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Alessandro

I believe that the answer to your question depends on how closely you want to emulate Frame Relay and what you want to test or evaluate. I have configured 2 routers with a back to back serial connection to emulate Frame Relay (assigning encapsulation frame-relay, interface DLCI, etc) and passed traffic. But if you really need to emulate Frame Relay switching and especially if you need to emulate something that can mark DE bits on frames, then you need some piece of equipment like the Adtran. So if you can provide a more specific statement of your requirements then perhaps we could give you better recommendations.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

Rick,

Thanks for replying.

In fact I need this WAN emulation in order to set up a routing class infrastructure. This is suposed to be a lab where students can test applications and measure performance and another issues through the WAN.

Any suggestions will be very welcome.

Thanks !

Alessandro Jannuzzi

Alessandro

If you are trying to set up a routing class infrastructure and if students need to test applications and measure performance then I believe that you probably need something with the sophistication of the Adtran.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

Rick,

Do you know if I can use the standard serial cable that come with the router to connect to the Adtran device ?

And by the way, are you familiar with the Simena?s N100 appliance ? As far as I know it is a bridge-style device that can inser jitter, delays and other things. But it does not emulate a specific configuration for a link.

Regards,

Alessandro Jannuzzi

Alessandro

I am slightly familiar with the Adtran but not in specifics of what cables it supports. I would guess that it supports the standard serial cable from the Cisco, but I stress that this is a GUESS. I am not familiar with Simena N100. If it can insert jitter, delay, and other things it could be a very interesting part of the setup. You could potentially set up routers with Frame Relay encapsulation on back to back connections through Simena and let it change performance characteristics.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

Rick,

Great suggestion.

But one more thing: I know the 800 series doesn?t support features I?m gonna need in this WAN emulation such as EIGRP and more QoS methods.

Doubt: if i use the 1801 router, with one WAN ethernet will I be able to encapsulate MPLS and frame relay over the back to back ethernet connection ?

Best regards,

Alessandro Jannuzzi

Hi,

Ethernet interfaces doesn't support frame-relay encapsulation.

HTH, please rate if it does help,

Mohammed Mahmoud.

Mohammed,

So, given this information what do you suggest ?

That is my scenario:

1 ethernet-based WAN emulator (Simena N100)

2 routers (model undefined yet) which need to support QoS, EIGRP, BGP, OSPF and need to simulate an MPLS and Frame relay WAN link.

If I cannot use the back to back ethernet connection and encapsulate FR and MPLS over it, I should use a back to back serial connection instead. But how to use the ether-based WAN emulator this way ?

Any help will be very welcome.

Best Regards,

Alessandro Jannuzzi

Hi,

Have you thought about having 2 Cisco routers serial back-to-back via a null modem cable (DCE/DTE)?

BR,

Mohammed Mahmoud.

Hi Mohammed,

In this case, will I have the possibility to simulate jitter, duplicated packets, delays, etc, only by confuguring the routers as if they were connected through a WAN ?

Regards,

Alessandro Jannuzzi

Hi,

Yes no doubt it will do the job, if i understand you right, your WAN emulator will do the job, all it needs is a frame-relay connection between 2 routers, which can be done via a null modem cable over back-to-back serial interfaces.

HTH, please rate if it does help,

Mohammed Mahmoud.

Hi Mohammed,

The problem consists in the fact that I cannot use the WAN emulator through a serial connection. It supports only ethernet connections. If the routers are connected by serial, I cannot split the link and put the emulator in the middle. That?s why my original idea was to use ethernet back to back, but you have pointed that MPLS and FR cannot be encapsulated over ethernet.

Regards,

Alessandro Jannuzzi

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