Layer Two Forwarding

What Does Layer Two Forwarding Mean?

Layer Two Forwarding (L2F) is a Cisco tunneling protocol that uses virtual dial-up networks for secure data packet transport. L2F functionality is similar to the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), which was developed by the Microsoft-led PPTP Forum.

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L2F is part of the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) standard (RFC 2661).

Techopedia Explains Layer Two Forwarding

L2F creates point-to-point (PPP) network and user connections and allows high-level protocols to create tunnels via the link layer, including High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) or SLIP frames. These tunnels separate server and termination points to facilitate network access.

In 1999, Microsoft and Cisco merged their respective L2F protocol versions and created L2TP, which is the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) tunneling standard.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…