L2TPv3
Encyclopedia
Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol Version 3 is an IETF standard related to L2TP that can be used as an alternative protocol to Multiprotocol Label Switching
(MPLS) for encapsulation
of multiprotocol
Layer 2 communications traffic over IP
networks. Like L2TP, L2TPv3 provides a ‘pseudo-wire
’ service, but scaled to fit carrier requirements.
L2TPv3 can be regarded as being to MPLS what IP is to ATM
: a simplified version of the same concept, with much of the goodness achieved with a fraction of the effort, at the cost of losing some technical features considered less important in the market. In the case of L2TPv3, the features lost are teletraffic engineering
features considered important in MPLS. The protocol
overhead
of L2TPv3 is also significantly bigger than MPLS. However, there is no reason why these features could not be re-engineered in or on top of L2TPv3 in later products.
Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. The labels identify virtual links between...
(MPLS) for encapsulation
Encapsulation (networking)
In computer networking, encapsulation is a method of designing modular communication protocols in which logically separate functions in the network are abstracted from their underlying structures by inclusion or information hiding within higher level objects....
of multiprotocol
Multiprotocol Encapsulation
Multiprotocol Encapsulation, or MPE for short, is a Data link layer protocol definedby DVB which has been published as part of ETSI EN 301 192...
Layer 2 communications traffic over IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
networks. Like L2TP, L2TPv3 provides a ‘pseudo-wire
Pseudo-wire
In computer networking and telecommunications, a pseudowire is an emulation of a point-to-point connection over a packet-switching network ....
’ service, but scaled to fit carrier requirements.
L2TPv3 can be regarded as being to MPLS what IP is to ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
: a simplified version of the same concept, with much of the goodness achieved with a fraction of the effort, at the cost of losing some technical features considered less important in the market. In the case of L2TPv3, the features lost are teletraffic engineering
Teletraffic engineering
Telecommunications traffic engineering, teletraffic engineering, or traffic engineering is the application of traffic engineering theory to telecommunications...
features considered important in MPLS. The protocol
Communications protocol
A communications protocol is a system of digital message formats and rules for exchanging those messages in or between computing systems and in telecommunications...
overhead
Overhead
Overhead may be:* Overhead , the ongoing operating costs of running a business* Engineering overhead, ancillary design features required by a component of a device...
of L2TPv3 is also significantly bigger than MPLS. However, there is no reason why these features could not be re-engineered in or on top of L2TPv3 in later products.