At 08:38 AM 2/28/2002, you wrote: >On Thu, 28 Feb 2002, Bill Cunningham wrote: > > > In what layer is PPP in the TCP/IP suite? > >It's _everywhere_. > >What started out as a roughly HDLC-equivalent framing encap for IP >with a checksum, intended for point-to-point links, has become deeply >embedded in network stacks for e.g. mobile operators, tied in with >AAA... anything PPP over L2TP (over UDP) over IP... > >As the protocol that can tunnel everything (not just IP) over >everything, PPP forms the new waists in the overblown multi-tiered >hourglasses. PPP is the ubiquitous encapsulation that mpls or AAL5 >always wanted to be. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. >L. > >is waiting for someone to notice that ubiquitous PPP means that >multicast is doomed. Oh, and PPPoE dooms broadcast, too. It is ugly, isn't it. But in a world where it is much easier to authenticate and account for a circuit instead of a bunch of random datagrams, are you surprised? I must admit, we all laughed when Karl Fox indicated that he had implemented PPP over TELNET back in 1993 or so. We thought it a hilarious joke. I guess my blood should have run cold back then. And to think that, the reason for PPP was a response to the limitations of SLIP and, oh by the way, we can use it to encapsulate IP over T1 lines between dissimilar routers. Brian Lloyd brian@lloyd.com +1.530.676.1113 - voice +1.360.838.9669 - fax