Link Control Protocol (LCP)

Link Control Protocol

Link Control Protocol (LCP) is responsible for establishing, maintaining, configuring, and terminating links. It also provides negotiation mechanisms to set options between two endpoints. All LCP packets are carried in PPP frames’ payload or data field. The value of the protocol field for the LCP packet is C021₁₀.

How LCP works?

LCP operates at the data-link layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model for networking. It is considered a data-link layer protocol. During the establishment of a PPP communication session, LCP establishes the link. It configures PPP options and tests the quality of the line connection between the PPP client and the PPP server. LCP automatically handles encapsulation format options and varies packet sizes over PPP communication links.

Link Configuration: The process of setting up and negotiating the parameters of a link.

Link Maintenance: The process of managing an opened link.

Link Termination: The closing of an existing link when it is no longer needed.