RFC 2701 (rfc2701) - Page 1 of 9

Nortel Networks Multi-link Multi-node PPP Bundle Discovery Protocol

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Network Working Group                                         G. Malkin
Request for Comments: 2701                              Nortel Networks
Category: Informational                                  September 1999


                            Nortel Networks
          Multi-link Multi-node PPP Bundle Discovery Protocol

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document specifies a standard way for Multi-link PPP to operate
   across multiple nodes.  Both the mechanism by which the Bundle Head
   is discovered and the PPP fragment encapsulation are specified.

Acknowledgements

   I would like to thank Joe Frazier for filling in some of the details
   and reviewing this document.

1.  Introduction

   Multi-link PPP [MP] allows a dial-in user to open multiple PPP
   connections to a given host.  In general, this is done on an on-
   demand basis.  That is, a secondary link, or multiple secondary
   links, are established when the data load on the primary link, and
   any previously established secondary links, nears capacity.  As the
   load decreases, the secondary link(s) may be disconnected.

   Many dial-in hosts which support multi-link PPP dial the same phone
   number for all links.  This implies that there exists a rotary at the
   Point Of Presence (POP) which routes incoming calls to a bank of
   modems.  These may be physically independent modems connected to
   Remote Access Server (RAS) and a rotary of analog phone lines, or a
   RAS with internal modems connected to analog lines or a T1/E1 or
   T3/E3 channel.  In any case, a given RAS can only handle just so many
   simultaneous connections.  A typical POP may need to support hundreds
   of connections, but no RAS today can handle that many.  This creates
   a problem when a user's primary PPP connection is established to one



Malkin                       Informational
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