The Advantages and Disadvantages of PPTP

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PPTP, or point to point tunneling protocol, is one of the protocols available for use within a virtual private network (VPN). The advantages and disadvantages of PPTP depend on the needs of the client.

When a VPN is created, a private "tunnel" through the internet is created so that the client's computers can communicate without the need for hard-wired point to point connections. Once the links are established through tunneling, a protocol takes over to manage transmission and security. One of the first protocols used for VPNs was PPTP.

PPTP works by dividing all the information to be transmitted into 2 types of messages - control messages and data messages. This makes the use of PPTP simpler to manage and control connections because PPTP can send this message not just over IP protocols, but over NETBEUI and IPX/SPX protocols.

Another advantage of PPTP is that it is widely available and easy to setup. It requires very little bandwidth to operate, so more users can take advantage of a connection without slowing down transmission. PPTP also supports a variety of forms of different security measures such as authentication, encryption and packet filtering.

A significant advantage of PPTP for smaller companies is that is much more affordable and requires less special hardware than other protocols, and n fact comes free with most operating systems. So it may be the least expensive option for a company that doesn't want to invest a large amount of money in setting up their VPN.

In addition to these advantages there are disadvantages to PPTP. The first is the way in which it handles messages. It doesn't encrypt the control message traffic for a transmission session.

This means that the connection is vulnerable to attack or hijacking, as is the information being transmitted. In fact, the major disadvantages with PPTP relate to security - it remains one of the weakest in security of all of the current VPN protocols. There are other protocols available such as L2P or IpSec, but they are not as user-friendly or cost-efficient as PPTP.