This article is following the article about PPTP and how it works and you will be able to see just what the L2TP is all about as well.
Again, first the geeky way of saying things followed by a simpler and more interesting manner to most right after it.
The L2TP works in such manner that it sends its data over UDP or User Datagram Protocol. Much like PPTP it also works with PPP (Point-To-Point Protocol) as it carries PPP sessions within the L2TP tunnel that are then protected using IPsec.
Now passing on to a more non technical stuff.
The L2TP or Layer 2 Transfer Protocol by itself has no encryption nor a way to preserve ones privacy built within itself. That is why you will usually see option to configure L2TP/IPsec. Combination of L2TP tunneling and the privacy and encryption that IPsec has to offer L2TP has become the best choice on the net to use for the VPN connections.
IPsec is used to encrypt each IP package that you transmit to the VPN server and to decode the one that the VPN server has sent to you, but it also makes sure that there were no tampering with the packages that you are exchanging with the server.
L2TP is supported on next systems:
- Windows 95 *
- Windows 98 *
- Windows NT *
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- various Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, SuSE, etc.)
- iOS
- Mac Os X
- Android
* – Only available on these systems with special L2TP/IPSec client (which Microsoft has removed from their website).
Conclusion
The L2TP connection is much newer than the PPTP connection offering you 256bit encryption and it encapsulates the transmitted data twice, making it very safe for you. Since it is newer, it also has one deficit, it is very stable, but only if your device supports NAT. You should however not worry a lot about it since most devices today do.
If you worry about your privacy, this is the option you should go for (even though in most cases – like visiting some social websites) the PPTP is still a good choice. Since it is encapsulating the data twice, it is also slower than the PPTP protocol, so if you are after a very fast connection and have noticed the connection over L2TP being slower on your PC, try PPTP instead.
Share your experiences with L2TP, which one do you prefer – L2TP or PPTP?
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L2PT protocol offers fabulous online security plus IPsec. It uses two means authentication procedure requiring computer-level authentication wherever digital certificates and alternative relevant info for initiating the IPSec session. Then, user-level authentication is additionally required requiring surgical procedure protocol for L2TP tunnel.