Point-To-Point Protocol: Services Provided by PPP

Prepared By: Ms.
Mehwish Raza
POINT-TO-POINT PROTOCOL
 Although HDLC is a general protocol that can be used for both point-to-point and
multipoint configurations, one of the most common protocols for point-to-point access is
the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP).
 Today, millions of Internet users who need to connect their home computers to the server
of an Internet service provider use PPP.
Services Provided by PPP

PPP provides several services:
1. PPP defines the format of the frame to be exchanged between devices.
2. PPP defines how two devices can negotiate the establishment of the link and the exchange
of data.
3. PPP defines how network layer data are encapsulated in the data link frame.
4. PPP defines how two devices can authenticate each other.
Framing
PPP is a byte-oriented protocol.
 Flag. A PPP frame starts and ends with a I-byte flag with the bit pattern 01111110.
Although this pattern is the same as that used in HDLC, there is a big difference.
PPP is a byte-oriented protocol; HDLC is a bit-oriented protocol. The flag is treated
as a byte.
 Address. The address field in this protocol is a constant value and set to 11111111
(broadcast address). During negotiation (discussed later), the two parties may agree
to omit this byte.
 Control. This field is set to the constant value 11000000 (imitating unnumbered
frames in HDLC).
 PPP does not provide any flow control.

Prepared By: Ms.Mehwish Raza
 Error control is also limited to error detection. This means that this field is not needed
at all, and again, the two parties can agree, during negotiation, to omit this byte.
 Protocol. The protocol field defines what is being carried in the data field: either
user data or other information.
 FCS. The frame check sequence (FCS) is simply a 2-byte or 4-byte standard CRC
Byte Stuffing
The similarity between PPP and HDLC ends at the frame format. PPP, as we discussed before, is
a byte-oriented protocol totally different from HDLC. As a byte-oriented protocol, the flag in
PPP is a byte and needs to be escaped whenever it appears in the data section of the frame. The
escape byte is 01111101, which means that every time the flag like pattern appears in the data,
this extra byte is stuffed to tell the receiver that the next byte is not a flag.
Transition Phases
 Dead. In the dead phase the link is not being used. There is no active carrier (at the
physical layer) and the line is quiet.
 Establish. When one of the nodes starts the communication, the connection goes into
this phase. In this phase, options are negotiated between the two parties. If the negotiation is
successful, the system goes to the authentication phase (if authentication is required) or
directly to the networking phase. The link control protocol packets are used for this purpose.
Several packets may be exchanged here.
 Authenticate. The authentication phase is optional; the two nodes may decide, during the
establishment phase, not to skip this phase. However, if they decide to proceed with
authentication, they send several authentication packets. If the result is successful, the
connection goes to the networking phase; otherwise, it goes to the termination phase.
 Network. In the network phase, negotiation for the network layer protocols takes place.
PPP specifies that two nodes establish a network layer agreement before data at the
network layer can be exchanged. The reason is that PPP supports multiple protocols at
the network layer. If a node is running multiple protocols simultaneously at the network
layer, the receiving node needs to know which protocol will receive the data.
 Open. In the open phase, data transfer takes place. When a connection reaches this phase,
the exchange of data packets can be started. The connection remains in this phase until
one of the endpoints wants to terminate the connection.
 Terminate. In the termination phase the connection is terminated. Several packets are
exchanged between the two ends for house cleaning and closing the link.
Link Control Protocol
 The Link Control Protocol (LCP) is responsible for establishing, maintaining,

configuring, and terminating links.
 It also provides negotiation mechanisms to set options between the two endpoints. Both
endpoints of the link must reach an agreement about the options before the link can be
established.
 All LCP packets are carried in the payload field of the PPP frame with the protocol field
set to C021 in hexadecimal.
Authentication Protocols
 Authentication means validating the identity of a user who needs to access a set of
resources
 PPP has created two protocols for authentication: Password Authentication Protocol and
Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol.
PAP Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) is a simple authentication procedure with a

two-step process:
1. The user who wants to access a system sends authentication identification (usually the user
name) and a password.
2. The system checks the validity of the identification and password and either accepts or
denies connection.
CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) is a three-way hand-

shaking authentication protocol that provides greater security than PAP. In this method, the
password is kept secret; it is never sent online.
1. The system sends the user a challenge packet containing a challenge value, usually a few
bytes.
2. The user applies a predefined function that takes the challenge value and the user's own
password and creates a result. The user sends the result in the response packet to the system.
3. The system does the same. It applies the same function to the password of the user (known
to the system) and the challenge value to create a result. If the result created is the same as
the result sent in the response packet, access is granted; otherwise, it is denied.
CHAP is more secure than PAP, especially if the system continuously changes the challenge
value. Even if the intruder learns the challenge value and the result, the password is still
secret.
CHAP packets are encapsulated in the PPP frame with the protocol value C223 in
hexadecimal. There are four CHAP packets: challenge, response, success, and failure.
The first packet is used by the system to send the challenge value. The second is used by the
user to return the result of the calculation. The third is used by the system to allow access to
the system. The fourth is used by the system to deny access to the system.
Network Control Protocols

PPP is a multiple-network layer protocol. It can carry a network layer data packet from
protocols defined by the Internet, OSI, Xerox, DECnet, AppleTalk, Novel, and so on. IPCP
One NCP protocol is the Internet Protocol Control Protocol (IPCP). This protocol
configures the link used to carry IP packets in the Internet. IPCP is especially of interest
to us. The format of an IPCP packet is shown. Note that the value of the protocol field in
hexadecimal is 8021.

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Prepared By: Ms.

Services Provided by PPP

 PPP does not provide any flow control.

Link Control Protocol

 The Link Control Protocol (LCP) is responsible for establishing, maintaining,

PAP Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) is a simple authentication procedure with a

CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) is a three-way hand-

Network Control Protocols

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