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Configuring the Control Word for Layer 2 Circuits

To emulate the virtual circuit (VC) encapsulation for Layer 2 circuits, a 4-byte control word is added between the Layer 2 protocol data unit (PDU) being transported and the VC label that is used for demultiplexing. For most protocols, a null control word consisting of all zeroes is sent between Layer 2 circuit neighbors.

However, individual bits are available in a control word that can carry Layer 2 protocol control information. The control information is mapped into the control word, which allows the header of a Layer 2 protocol to be stripped from the frame. The remaining data and control word can be sent over the Layer 2 circuit, and the frame can be reassembled with the proper control information at the egress point of the circuit.

The following Layer 2 protocols map Layer 2 control information into special bit fields in the control word:

Frame Relay—The control word supports the transport of discard eligible (DE), forward explicit congestion notification (FECN), and backward explicit congestion notification (BECN) information. For configuration information, see Configuring the Control Word for Frame Relay Interfaces.
ATM AAL5 mode—The control word supports the transport of sequence number processing, ATM cell loss priority (CLP), and explicit forward congestion indication (EFCI) information. When you configure an AAL5 mode Layer 2 circuit, the control information is carried by default and no additional configuration is needed.
ATM cell-relay mode—The control word supports sequence number processing only. When you configure a cell-relay mode Layer 2 circuit, the sequence number information is carried by default and no additional configuration is needed.

The JUNOS software implementation of sequence number processing for ATM cell-relay mode and AAL5 mode is not the same as that described in Sec. 3.1.2 of the IETF draft Encapsulation Methods for Transport of Layer 2 Frames Over IP and MPLS Networks. The differences are as follows:

A packet with a sequence number of 0 is considered as out of sequence.
A packet that does not have the next incremental sequence number is considered out of sequence.
When out-of-sequence packets arrive, the sequence number in the Layer 2 circuit control word increments by one and becomes the expected sequence number for the neighbor.

The following sections discuss how to configure the control word for Layer 2 circuits:

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