Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is a network protocol that enables the secure transfer of data from a remote client to a private enterprise server by creating a virtual private network (VPN) across TCP/IP-based data networks. PPTP supports on-demand, multi-protocol, virtual private networking over public networks such as the Internet.
The networking technology of PPTP is an extension of the remote access Point-to-Point protocol defined in the document by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) titled “The Point-to-Point Protocol for the Transmission of Multi-Protocol Datagrams over Point-to-Point Links,” referred to as RFC 1171. PPTP is a network protocol that encapsulates PPP packets into IP datagrams for transmission over the Internet or other public TCP/IP-based networks. PPTP can also be used in private LAN-to-LAN networking.
The PPTP extension of PPP is explained in the document titled “Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol ,” PPTP draft-ietf - ppext - pptp - 00.txt. A draft of this document was submitted to the IETF in June, 1996 by the companies of the PPTP Forum, which include Microsoft Corporation, Ascend Communications, 3Com/Primary Access, ECI Telematics, and US Robotics.
Note Internet draft documents should be considered as a “works in progress.” See www.ietf.org for copies of Internet drafts and RFCs mentioned in this document. For more information about PPTP, visit our Web site at http:\\www.microsoft.com\ntserver. See the topic “Network Communications” under “All About...”
This document is for network administrators, support personnel, and developers who need to understand how PPTP can be used to provide low-cost remote access solutions and includes the following topics:
· PPTP and secure, virtual private networking (VPN)
· architecture of PPTP
· PPTP security features