2. Topology

The following diagram depicts a typical L2TP scenario. The goal is to tunnel PPP frames between the Remote System or LAC Client and an LNS located at a Home LAN.

                                                    [Home LAN]
            [LAC Client]----------+                     |
                              ____|_____                +--[Host]
                             |          |               |
               [LAC]---------| Internet |-----[LNS]-----+
                 |           |__________|               |
            _____|_____                                 :
           |           |
           |  PSTN     |
 [Remote]--|  Cloud    |
 [System]  |           |                            [Home LAN]
           |___________|                                |
                 |          ______________              +---[Host]
                 |         |              |             |
               [LAC]-------| Frame Relay  |---[LNS]-----+
                           | or ATM Cloud |             |
                           |______________|             :

The Remote System initiates a PPP connection across the PSTN Cloud to an LAC. The LAC then tunnels the PPP connection across the Internet, Frame Relay, or ATM Cloud to an LNS whereby access to a Home LAN is obtained. The Remote System is provided addresses from the HOME LAN via PPP NCP negotiation.

Authentication, Authorization and Accounting may be provided by the Home LAN's Management Domain as if the user were connected to a Network Access Server directly.

A LAC Client (a Host which runs L2TP natively) may also participate in tunneling to the Home LAN without use of a separate LAC. In this case, the Host containing the LAC Client software already has a connection to the public Internet. A "virtual" PPP connection is then created and the local L2TP LAC Client software creates a tunnel to the LNS. As in the above case, Addressing, Authentication, Authorization and Accounting will be provided by the Home LAN's Management Domain.

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