1 Introduction
The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard protocol that allows the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) [RFC1661] to be tunneled through an IP network. PPTP does not specify any changes to the PPP protocol, but instead describes a new vehicle for carrying PPP. PPTP uses an enhanced GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) [RFC1701] and [RFC1702] mechanism to provide a flow-and-congestion-controlled encapsulated datagram service for carrying PPP packets. For an introduction to PPTP, see [RFC2637] section 1.
The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) Profile [MS-PTPT] specifies the profile of PPTP [RFC2637]. In this document, the terms PPTP Access Concentrator (PAC) and server, and the terms PPTP Network Server (PNS) and client are used interchangeably. This document specifies the use of voluntary tunneling where the PPTP tunnel endpoints and the PPP endpoints reside on PAC (as the server) and PNS (as the remote client).
Sections 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 2, and 3 of this specification are normative. All other sections and examples in this specification are informative.