What is PPPoE? -PPPOE Definition .

The PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet) protocol provides extensive user management, network management and accounting benefits to ISPs and network administrators. Currently PPPoE is used mainly by ISPs to control client connections for xDSL and cable modems as well as plain Ethernet networks. PPPoE is an extension of the standard Point to Point Protocol (PPP). The difference between them is expressed in transport method: PPPoE employs Ethernet instead of serial modem connection.

Generally speaking, PPPoE is used to hand out IP addresses to clients based on the username (and workstation, if desired) authentication as opposed to workstation only authentication, when static IP addresses or DHCP are used. It is adviced not to use static IP addresses or DHCP on the same interfaces as PPPoE for obvious security reasons.

The PPPoE client and server work over any Ethernet level interface on the router - wireless 802.11 (Aironet, Cisco, WaveLan, Prism, Atheros), 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet, RadioLan and EoIP (Ethernet over IP tunnel).
Feature list

    * PPPoE server and client support;
    * Multilink PPP (MLPPP);
    * MLPPP over single link (ability to transmit full-sized frames);
    * BCP (Bridge Control Protocol) support - allows to send raw Ethernet frames over PPP links;
    * MPPE 40bit and MPPE 128bit RSA encryption;
    * pap, chap, mschap v1/v2 authentication;
    * RADIUS support for client authentication and accounting.


Note that when RADIUS server is authenticating a user with CHAP, MS-CHAPv1 or MS-CHAPv2, the RADIUS protocol does not use shared secret, it is used only in authentication reply. So if you have a wrong shared secret, RADIUS server will accept the request. You can use /radius monitor command to see bad-replies parameter. This value should increase whenever a client tries to connect.

Supported connections:

    * MikroTik RouterOS PPPoE client to any PPPoE server (access concentrator)
    * MikroTik RouterOS server (access concentrator) to multiple PPPoE clients (clients are avaliable for almost all operating systems and most routers)

Specifications

    * Packages required: ppp
    * License required: Level1 (limited to 1 interface) , Level3 (limited to 200 interfaces) , Level4 (limited to 200 interfaces) , Level5 (limited to 500 interfaces) , Level6 (unlimited)
    * Submenu level: /interface pppoe-server, /interface pppoe-client
    * Standards and Technologies: PPPoE (RFC 2516)
    * Hardware usage: PPPoE server may require additional RAM (uses approx. 9KiB (plus extra 10KiB for packet queue, if data rate limitation is used) for each connection) and CPU power. Maximum of 65535 connections is supported.