Point-to-Point Protocol

  • Article

The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is an industry standard method of utilizing point-to-point links to transport multi-protocol datagrams. PPP is documented in RFC 1661. The Routing and Remote Access service stores PPP settings in the Windows 2000 registry under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RASMan\PPP.

PPP performs the following functions:

  • Provides multi-protocol data-link layer encapsulation
    PPP creates frames that contain separate IP datagrams, IPX datagrams, or NetBEUI frames.

  • Establishes, maintains, and ends the logical link
    The PPP protocol uses the Link Control Protocol (LCP) to establish and configure the parameters of the data-link connection. Part of the LCP negotiation is authenticating the credentials of the remote access client.

  • Provides protocol configuration
    After the data-link connection has been negotiated, network layer protocols such as IP, IPX, and AppleTalk are configured. For example, for TCP/IP, an IP address is allocated to the remote access client by the remote access server. Compression and encryption are also negotiated.