PPP Link Control Protocol (LCP)
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Of all the different PPP suite protocols, the single most important
protocol is the PPPLink Control Protocol(LCP). LCP is the “boss” of
PPP; it is responsible for its overall successful operation, and for
“supervising” (in a way) the actions of other protocols.
PPP is about links, and LCP is about controlling those links. As I
discussed in the PPP fundamentals section, the operation of a PPP
link can be thought of as proceeding through various “life stages” just
as a biological organism does. There are three main stages of “link
life” and LCP plays a key role in each one:
o Link Configuration:The process of setting up and negotiating
the parameters of a link.
o Link Maintenance:The process of managing an opened link.
o Link Termination:The process of closing an existing link
when it is no longer needed (or when the underlying physical
layer connection closes).
Each of these functions corresponds to one of the“life phases”of a
PPP link. Link configuration is performed during the initialLink
Establishmentphase of a link; link maintenance occurs while the link
is open, and of course, link termination happens in theLink
Terminationphase.Figure 26represents a summary of the LCP link,
showing the different message exchanges performed by LCP during
these different life phases of a PPP connection.