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Feature Description - WAN Access 4 HDLC and IP-Trunk

4 HDLC and IP-Trunk

About This Chapter

4.1 Overviews of HDLC and IP-Trunk

4.2 Understanding HDLC and IP-Trunk
4.3 Application Scenarios for HDLC and IP-Trunk
4.4 Terminology for HDLC and IP-Trunk

4.1 Overviews of HDLC and IP-Trunk

Definition
As a bit-oriented link layer protocol, HDLC transparently transmits bit flows of any type
without specifying data as a set of characters.

l Bit flow: data is transmitted in bit flows.

l Character set: data is transmitted in character sets.

Through the trunk technology, you can aggregate many physical interfaces into an
aggregation group to balance received and sent data among these interfaces and to provide
more highly-reliable connections.

HDLC
Compared with other data link layer protocols, HDLC has the following features:

l Full-duplex communication, which can send data continuously without waiting for
acknowledgment and has high data transmission efficiency.
l All frames adopt the Circle Redundancy Check (CRC) that numbers information frames.
In this way, the information frames can be prevented from being lost or received
repeatedly; therefore, the transmission reliability is improved.

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l Transmission control function is separated from process function. Therefore, HDLC has
high flexibility and excellent control function.
l HDLC does not depend on any character set and can transmit data transparently.
l Zero-Bit Insertion, which is used to perform transparent transmission, is easy to be
applied on hardware.

4.2 Understanding HDLC and IP-Trunk

4.2.1 HDLC Principles

Background
Synchronous data link protocols include character-oriented, bit-oriented, and byte-oriented
protocols.
IBM put forward the first character-oriented synchronous protocol, called Binary
Synchronous Communication (BISYNC or BSC).
Later, ISO put forward related standards. The ISO standard is ISO 1745:1975 Information
processing - Basic mode control procedures for data communication systems.
In the early 1970s, IBM introduced the bit-oriented Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC)
protocol.
Later, ANSI and ISO adopted and developed SDLC, and then later put forward their own
standards. ANSI introduced the Advanced Data Communications Control Protocol (ADCCP),
and ISO introduced HDLC.

HDLC Features
HDLC is a bit-oriented code-transparent synchronous data link layer protocol. It provides the
following features:
l HDLC works in full-duplex mode and can transmit data continuously without waiting
for acknowledgement. Therefore, HDLC features high data link transmission efficiency.
l HDLC uses cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for all frames and numbers them. This helps
you know which frames are dropped and which frames are repeatedly transmitted.
HDLC ensures high transmission reliability.
l HDLC separates the transmission control function from the processing function and
features high flexibility and perfect control capabilities.
l HDLC is independent of any character encoding set and transparently transmits data.
l Zero-bit insertion, which is used for transparent data transmission, is easy to implement
on hardware.
HDLC is especially used to logically transmit data that is segmented into physical blocks or
packages. These blocks or packages are called frames, each of which is identified by a start
flag and an end flag. In HDLC, all bit-oriented data link control protocols use a unified frame
format, and both data and control information are transmitted in frames. Each frame begins at
and ends with a frame delimiter, which is a unique sequence of bits of 01111110. The frame
delimiter marks the start or end of a frame or marks for synchronization. The frame delimiter
is invisible inside a frame to avoid confusion.

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Zero-bit insertion is used to ensure that the sequence of bits used for the flag does not appear
in normal data. On the transmit end, zero-bit insertion monitors all fields except the flag and
places a 0 after five consecutive 1s. On the receive end, zero-bit insertion also monitors all
fields except the flag. After five consecutive 1s are found, if the following bit is a 0, the 0 is
automatically deleted to restore the former bit flow. If the following bit is a 1, it means that an
error has occurred or an end delimit is received. In this case, the frame receive procedure is
generally either restarted or aborted.

4.2.2 HDLC Operation Modes

Introduction
Nodes on a network running HDLC are called stations. HDLC specifies three types of
stations: primary, secondary, and combined.

A primary station is the controlling station on a link. It controls the secondary stations on the
link and manages data flow and error recovery.

A secondary station is present on a link where there is a primary station. The secondary
station is controlled by the primary station, and has no direct responsibility for controlling the
link. Under normal circumstances, a secondary station will transfer frames only when
requested to do so by the primary station, and will respond only to the primary station.

A combined station is a combination of primary and secondary stations.

Frames transferred by a primary station to a secondary station are called commands, and
frames transferred by a secondary station to a primary station are called responses.

On a point to multipoint (P2MP) link, there is a primary station and several secondary
stations. The primary station polls the secondary stations to determine whether they have data
to transmit, and then selects one to transmit its data. On a point to point (P2P) link, both ends
can be combined stations. If a node is connected to multiple links, the node can be the primary
station for some links and a secondary station for the other links.

HDLC Operation Modes

HDLC can run in three separate modes:

l Normal Response Mode

In Normal Response Mode (NRM), the primary station on an HDLC link initiates
information transfers with secondary stations. A secondary station will respond only
after receiving a command from the primary station. The secondary station can respond
with one or more frames, and must indicate which frame is the last frame in the
transmission.
The primary station manages the entire link and is responsible for timeout,
retransmission, and error recovery.
NRM is generally used for terminal-oriented P2P links and P2MP links.
l Asynchronous Response Mode
In Asynchronous Response Mode (ARM), the secondary station can transmit frames to
the primary station without first receiving a command from the primary station. The
secondary station is responsible for timeout and retransmission.
This mode is necessary for multi-node links that use polling.

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l Asynchronous Balanced Mode

In Asynchronous Balance Mode (ABM), all stations are combined stations. All stations
can transmit information without permission from any other station, as well as transmit
and receive commands, send responses, and correct errors. This mode improves link
transmission efficiency.

4.2.3 HDLC Frame Format

In HDLC, data and control information is transmitted in the standard format of a frame.
HDLC frames are similar to BSC character blocks but are not transmitted independently.
A complete HDLC frame consists of several fields, such as the Flag field, Address field,
Control field, Information field, and Frame check sequence (FCS) field. Figure 4-1 shows the
format of a complete HDLC frame.

Figure 4-1 HDLC frame format

4.2.4 HDLC Frame Types

In an HDLC frame, the format of the Control field determines the type of the HDLC frame.
The HDLC frame types are as follows:
l Information frames (I-frames): used to transmit valid user data. An I-frame contains a
receive sequence number N(R) and a sequence number of the sent frame N(S) in the
Control field.
l Supervisory frames (S-frames): used for flow and error control. An S-frame contains
only N(R) in the Control field. S-frames do not have information fields.
l Unnumbered frames (U-frames): used to set up, tear down, and control links. A U-frame
does not contain N(R) or N(S) in the Control field.

4.2.5 IP-Trunk
A trunk can aggregate many interfaces into an aggregation group to implement load balancing
on member interfaces. Therefore, link connectivity is of higher reliability. Trunk interfaces are
classified as Eth-Trunk interfaces and IP-Trunk interfaces. An IP-Trunk can only be
composed of POS links. It has the following characteristics:
l Increased bandwidth: An IP-Trunk obtains the sum of bandwidths of all member
interfaces.
l Improved reliability: When a link fails, traffic is automatically switched to other links,
which improves connection reliability.

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Member interfaces of an IP-Trunk interface must be encapsulated with HDLC. IP-Trunk and
Eth-Trunk technologies have similar principles. For details, see the chapter about trunk in the
NE40E Feature Description - LAN Access and MAN Access.

4.2.6 HDLC Flapping Suppression

Background
Due to unstable signals on physical links or incorrect configurations at the data link layer on
live networks, an interface on which High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) is enabled may
frequently experience HDLC negotiation, and the HDLC protocol status of the interface may
alternate between Up and Down, causing routing protocol or MPLS flapping. As a result,
devices and networks are severely affected. Worse still, devices are paralyzed and networks
become unavailable.
HDLC flapping suppression restricts the frequency at which the HDLC protocol status of an
interface alternates between Up and Down. This restriction minimizes the impact of flapping
on devices and networks.

Implementation Principles
HDLC flapping suppression involves the following concepts:
l Penalty value: This value is calculated based on the HDLC protocol status of the
interface using the suppression algorithm. The core of the suppression algorithm is that
the penalty value increases with the changing times of the interface status and decreases
exponentially.
l Suppression threshold: The HDLC protocol status of an interface remains Down when
the penalty value is greater than the suppression threshold.
l Reuse threshold: The HDLC protocol status of an interface is no longer suppressed when
the penalty value is smaller than the reuse threshold.
l Ceiling threshold: The penalty value no longer increases when the penalty value reaches
the ceiling threshold, preventing the HDLC protocol status of an interface from being
suppressed for a long time. The ceiling value can be calculated using the following
formula: ceiling = reuse x 2(MaxSuppressTime/HalfLifeTime).
l Half-life-period: period that the penalty value takes to decrease to half. A half-life-period
begins to elapse when the HDLC protocol status of an interface goes Down for the first
time. If the specific half life expires, the penalty value decreases by half. Once a half life
ends, another half life starts.
l Max-suppress-time: maximum period during which the HDLC protocol status of an
interface is suppressed. After a max-suppress-time elapses, the HDLC protocol status of
the interface is renegotiated and reported.
Figure 4-2 shows the relationships between these parameters.

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Figure 4-2 HDLC flapping suppression

At t1, the HDLC protocol status of an interface goes Down, and its penalty value increases by
1000. Then, the interface goes Up, and its penalty value decreases exponentially based on the
half-life rule. At t2, the HDLC protocol status of the interface goes Down again, and its
penalty value increases by 1000, reaching 1600, which has exceeded the suppression
threshold of 1500. The HDLC protocol status of the interface is therefore suppressed. As the
interface keeps flapping, its penalty value keeps increasing until it reaches the ceiling
threshold of 10000 at tA. As time goes by, the penalty value decreases and reaches the reuse
value of 750 at tB. The HDLC protocol status of the interface is then no longer suppressed.

4.3 Application Scenarios for HDLC and IP-Trunk

HDLC

Figure 4-3 HDLC

On the network shown in Figure 4-3, a point-to-point link is established betweenDevice A

and Device B, and HDLC is configured on Device A and Device B. HDLC provides simple,
stable, and reliable data transmission and features high fault tolerance at the data link layer.

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IP-Trunk
For an IP-Trunk interface, you can configure weights for member interfaces to implement
load balancing among member interfaces. There are two load balancing modes, namely, per-
destination and per-packet load balancing.
l Per-destination load balancing: packets with the same source and destination IP
addresses are transmitted over one member link.
l Per-packet load balancing: packets are transmitted over different member links.
As shown in Figure 4-4, two routers are connected through POS interfaces that are bundled
into an IP-Trunk interface to transmit IPv4, IPv6, and MPLS packets.

Figure 4-4 IP-Trunk networking

4.4 Terminology for HDLC and IP-Trunk

Terms
Term Definition

Aggregation Two or more interfaces are bundled together so that they function as a
single interface for load balancing and link protection.

Inter-board Interfaces on different boards are bundled together to form a link

aggregation aggregation group to improve the reliability of the link aggregation group.

Bundling Two boards can be bundled together and considered as one board.

Load Member interfaces in a link aggregation group are determined as outbound

balancing interfaces for packets based on their source and destination MAC addresses.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronym & Full Name
Abbreviation

LAG link aggregation group

LACP Link Aggregation Control Protocol

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