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364 Chapter 10: X.25/Frame Relay Topologies
Figure 10-23
Frame Relay Hierarchical Mesh
If Idaho has a connection to NY1 with a CIR of 64 Kbps, you should also make the redundant
connection to NY2 64 Kbps. Companies have been known to make the redundant connection
0K CIR to save money. But when they lose their connection to the NY1 router, they can't move
data through NY2 due to congestion in the Frame Relay network, preventing their users from
getting to the server. Again, load sharing will probably happen here, depending on the routing
protocol.
Here are some benefits of hierarchical mesh:
·
Load balancing is a possibility between sites
·
Availability
Dial-on-Demand Backup
There are a couple of choices for backing up Frame Relay circuits. The most popular is
probably ISDN. Most companies usually rely on the remote sites to call the central site, as
shown in Figure 10-24. NY is the central site in this case because the remote site has one PVC.
Notice that the hub site has two PVCs. If one of the PVCs at the hub site loses its connection,
the interface still receives and sends keepalive messages over the other PVC, which keeps the
interface up.
Cloud
Server
Maryland
Idaho
Hawaii
Vermont
Utah
Alaska
NY2
NY1
87200333.book Page 364 Wednesday, August 22, 2001 2:53 PM