Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the Feature Information Table at the end of this document.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Before enabling MLP via RADIUS VSA preauth:ppp-multilink=1, you should perform the following tasks:

• Enable the network access server (NAS) to recognize and use VSAs as defined by RADIUS IETF attribute 26 by using the radius-server vsa send command.

For more information about using VSAs, refer to the section “Configuring Router to Use Vendor-Specific RADIUS Attributes” section of the Configuring RADIUS feature module.

• Enable preauthentication.

For information about configuring preauthentication, refer to the section “Configuring AAA Preauthentication ” section of the Configuring RADIUS feature module.

The Multilink PPP via RADIUS for Preauthentication User feature is enabled by configuring the ppp multilink command on an interface, but then this command enables MLP negotiation for all connections and users on that interface; that is, you cannot selectively enable or disable MLP negotiation for specific connections and users on an interface.

Note	To enable this feature, the ppp multilink command should not be configured on the interface; this command disables MLP by default. If the ppp multilinkcommand is already configured on the interface, the attribute “preauth:ppp-multilink=1” will not override this command.

• How MLP via RADIUS Works
  
• New Vendor-Specific Attributes
  
• Verifying MLP Negotiation via RADIUS in Preauthentication
  

• LAC for MLP Configuration Example
  
• LAC RADIUS Profile for Preauthentication Example
  
• LNS for MLP Configuration Example
  
• LNS RADIUS Profile Example
  

AAA --authentication, authorization, and accounting. Suite of network security services that provide the primary framework through which access control can be set up on your Cisco router or access server.

attribute --RADIUS Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) attributes are the original set of 255 standard attributes that are used to communicate AAA information between a client and a server. Because IETF attributes are standard, the attribute data is predefined and well known; thus all clients and servers that exchange AAA information via IETF attributes must agree on attribute data such as the exact meaning of the attributes and the general bounds of the values for each attribute.

L2F --Layer 2 Forwarding. Protocol that supports the creation of secure virtual private dial-up networks over the Internet.

L2TP --Layer 2 Tunnel Protocol. A Layer 2 tunneling protocol that enables an ISP or other access service to create a virtual tunnel to link customer remote sites or remote users with corporate home networks. In particular, a network access server (NAS) at the ISP point of presence (POP) exchanges PPP messages with the remote users and communicates by L2F or L2TP requests and responses with the customer tunnel server to set up tunnels.

LAC --L2TP access concentrator. A network access server (NAS) to which the client directly connects and through which PPP frames are tunneled to the L2TP network server (LNS). The LAC need only implement the media over which L2TP is to operate to pass traffic to one or more LNSs. The LAC may tunnel any protocol carried within PPP. The LAC initiates incoming calls and receives outgoing calls. A LAC is analogous to an L2F network access server.

LNS --L2TP network server. A termination point for L2TP tunnels, and an access point where PPP frames are processed and passed to higher-layer protocols. An LNS can operate on any platform that terminates PPP. The LNS handles the server side of the L2TP protocol. L2TP relies only on the single medium over which L2TP tunnels arrive. The LNS initiates outgoing calls and receives incoming calls. An LNS is analogous to a home gateway in L2F technology.

MLP--Multilink PPP. MLP allows packets to be fragmented and the fragments to be sent at the same time over multiple point-to-point links to the same remote address. The multiple links come up in response to a defined dialer load threshold. The load can be calculated on inbound traffic, outbound traffic, or on either, as needed for the traffic between the specific sites. MLP provides bandwidth on demand and reduces transmission latency across WAN links.

MLP is designed to work over synchronous and asynchronous serial and BRI and PRI types of single or multiple interfaces that have been configured to support both dial-on-demand rotary groups and PPP encapsulation.

RADIUS --Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service. RADIUS is a distributed client/server system that secures networks against unauthorized access. In the Cisco implementation, RADIUS clients run on Cisco routers and send authentication requests to a central RADIUS server that contains all user authentication and network service access information.

VSA --Vendor-Specific Attribute. VSAs derived from one IETF attribute--vendor-specific (attribute 26). Attribute 26 allows a vendor to create and implement an additional 255 attributes. That is, a vendor can create an attribute that does not match the data of any IETF attribute and encapsulate it behind attribute 26: essentially, Vendor-Specific = “protocol:attribute=value.”