Manual:Interface/L2TP
Applies to RouterOS: v3, v4, v5+
Summary
Standards: RFC 2661
L2TP is a secure tunnel protocol for transporting IP traffic using PPP. L2TP encapsulates PPP in virtual lines that run over IP, Frame Relay and other protocols (that are not currently supported by MikroTik RouterOS). L2TP incorporates PPP and MPPE (Microsoft Point to Point Encryption) to make encrypted links. The purpose of this protocol is to allow the Layer 2 and PPP endpoints to reside on different devices interconnected by a packet-switched network. With L2TP, a user has a Layer 2 connection to an access concentrator - LAC (e.g., modem bank, ADSL DSLAM, etc.), and the concentrator then tunnels individual PPP frames to the Network Access Server - NAS. This allows the actual processing of PPP packets to be separated from the termination of the Layer 2 circuit. From the user's perspective, there is no functional difference between having the L2 circuit terminate in a NAS directly or using L2TP.
It may also be useful to use L2TP just as any other tunneling protocol with or without encryption. The L2TP standard says that the most secure way to encrypt data is using L2TP over IPsec (Note that it is default mode for Microsoft L2TP client) as all L2TP control and data packets for a particular tunnel appear as homogeneous UDP/IP data packets to the IPsec system.
Multilink PPP (MP) is supported in order to provide MRRU (the ability to transmit full-sized 1500 and larger packets) and bridging over PPP links (using Bridge Control Protocol (BCP) that allows to send raw Ethernet frames over PPP links). This way it is possible to setup bridging without EoIP. The bridge should either have an administratively set MAC address or an Ethernet-like interface in it, as PPP links do not have MAC addresses.
L2TP includes PPP authentication and accounting for each L2TP connection. Full authentication and accounting of each connection may be done through a RADIUS client or locally.
MPPE 40bit RC4 and MPPE 128bit RC4 encryption are supported.
L2TP traffic uses UDP protocol for both control and data packets. UDP port 1701 is used only for link establishment, further traffic is using any available UDP port (which may or may not be 1701). This means that L2TP can be used with most firewalls and routers (even with NAT) by enabling UDP traffic to be routed through the firewall or router.
L2TP Client
Sub-menu: /interface l2tp-client
Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| add-default-route (yes | no; Default: no) | Whether to add L2TP remote address as a default route. |
| allow (mschap2 | mschap1 | chap | pap; Default: mschap2, mschap1, chap, pap) | Allowed authentication methods. |
| connect-to (IP; Default: ) | Remote address of L2TP server |
| dial-on-demand (yes | no; Default: no) | |
| disabled (yes | no; Default: yes) | Whether interface is disabled or not. By default it is disabled |
| max-mru (integer; Default: 1460) | Maximum Receive Unit. Max packet size that PPTP interface will be able to receive without packet fragmentation. |
| max-mtu (integer; Default: 1460) | Maximum Transmission Unit. Max packet size that PPTP interface will be able to send without packet fragmentation. |
| mrru (disabled | integer; Default: disabled) | Maximum packet size that can be received on the link. If a packet is bigger than tunnel MTU, it will be split into multiple packets, allowing full size IP or Ethernet packets to be sent over the tunnel. Read more >> |
| name (string; Default: ) | Descriptive name of the interface. |
| password (string; Default: "") | Password used for authentication. |
| profile (name; Default: default-encryption) | Used PPP profile. |
| user (string; Default: ) | User name used for authentication. |
Quick example
This example demonstrates how to set up L2TP client with username "l2tp-hm", password "123" and server 10.1.101.100
[admin@dzeltenais_burkaans] /interface l2tp-client>add name=l2tp-hm user=l2tp-hm password=123 \
\... connect-to=10.1.101.100 disabled=no
[admin@dzeltenais_burkaans] /interface l2tp-client> print detail
Flags: X - disabled, R - running
0 name="l2tp-hm" max-mtu=1460 max-mru=1460 mrru=disabled
connect-to=10.1.101.100 user="l2tp-hm" password="123"
profile=default-encryption add-default-route=no dial-on-demand=no
allow=pap,chap,mschap1,mschap2
L2TP Server
Sub-menu: /interface l2tp-server
This sub-menu shows interfaces for each connected L2TP clients.
An interface is created for each tunnel established to the given server. There are two types of interfaces in L2TP server's configuration
- Static interfaces are added administratively if there is a need to reference the particular interface name (in firewall rules or elsewhere) created for the particular user.
- Dynamic interfaces are added to this list automatically whenever a user is connected and its username does not match any existing static entry (or in case the entry is active already, as there can not be two separate tunnel interfaces referenced by the same name).
Dynamic interfaces appear when a user connects and disappear once the user disconnects, so it is impossible to reference the tunnel created for that use in router configuration (for example, in firewall), so if you need a persistent rules for that user, create a static entry for him/her. Otherwise it is safe to use dynamic configuration.
Note: in both cases PPP users must be configured properly - static entries do not replace PPP configuration.
Server configuration
Sub-menu: /interface l2tp-server server
Properties:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| authentication (pap | chap | mschap1 | mschap2; Default: mschap1,mschap2) | Authentication methods that server will accept. |
| default-profile (name; Default: default-encryption) | |
| enabled (yes | no; Default: no) | Defines whether PPTP server is enabled or not. |
| max-mru (integer; Default: 1460) | Maximum Receive Unit. Max packet size that PPTP interface will be able to receive without packet fragmentation. |
| max-mtu (integer; Default: 1460) | Maximum Transmission Unit. Max packet size that PPTP interface will be able to send without packet fragmentation. |
| mrru (disabled | integer; Default: disabled) | Maximum packet size that can be received on the link. If a packet is bigger than tunnel MTU, it will be split into multiple packets, allowing full size IP or Ethernet packets to be sent over the tunnel. Read more >> |
To enable L2TP server:
[admin@MikroTik] interface l2tp-server server> set enabled=yes
[admin@MikroTik] interface l2tp-server server> print
enabled: yes
max-mtu: 1460
max-mru: 1460
mrru: disabled
authentication: pap,chap,mschap1,mschap2
default-profile: default-encryption
[admin@MikroTik] interface l2tp-server server>
Monitoring
Monitor command can be used to monitor status of the tunnel on both client and server.
[admin@dzeltenais_burkaans] /interface l2tp-client> monitor 0
status: "connected"
uptime: 7h24m18s
idle-time: 6h21m4s
encoding: "MPPE128 stateless"
mtu: 1460
mru: 1460
Read-only properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| status () | Current L2TP status. Value other than "connected" indicates that there are some problems estabising tunnel.
|
| uptime (time) | Elapsed time since tunnel was established. |
| idle-time (time) | Elapsed time since last activity on the tunnel. |
| encoding () | Used encryption method |
| mtu (integer) | Negotiated and used MTU |
| mru (integer) | Negotiated and used MRU |
Application Examples
Connecting Remote Client
The following example shows how to connect a computer to a remote office network over L2TP encrypted tunnel giving that computer an IP address from the same network as the remote office has (without need of bridging over EoIP tunnels)
Consider following setup
Office router is connected to internet through ether1. Workstations are connected to ether2. Laptop is connected to the internet and can reach Office router's public IP (in our example it is 192.168.80.1).
First step is to create a user
[admin@RemoteOffice] /ppp secret> add name=Laptop service=l2tp password=123
local-address=10.1.101.1 remote-address=10.1.101.100
[admin@RemoteOffice] /ppp secret> print detail
Flags: X - disabled
0 name="Laptop" service=l2tp caller-id="" password="123" profile=default
local-address=10.1.101.1 remote-address=10.1.101.100 routes==""
[admin@RemoteOffice] /ppp secret>
Notice that L2TP local address is the same as routers address on local interface and remote address is form the same range as local network (10.1.101.0/24).
Next step is to enable L2TP server and L2TP client on the laptop.
[admin@RemoteOffice] /interface l2tp-server server> set enabled=yes
[admin@RemoteOffice] /interface l2tp-server server> print
enabled: yes
max-mtu: 1460
max-mru: 1460
mrru: disabled
authentication: mschap2
default-profile: default-encryption
[admin@RemoteOffice] /interface l2tp-server server>
L2TP client from the laptop should connect to routers public IP which in our example is 192.168.80.1.
Please, consult the respective manual on how to set up a L2TP client with the software You are using.
Note: By default Windows sets up L2TP with IPsec. To disable IpSec registry modifications are required. Read more >>
At this point (when L2TP client is successfully connected) if you will try to ping any workstation form the laptop, ping will time out, because Laptop is unable to get ARPs from workstations. Solution is to set up proxy-arp on local interface
[admin@RemoteOffice] interface ethernet> set Office arp=proxy-arp [admin@RemoteOffice] interface ethernet> print Flags: X - disabled, R - running # NAME MTU MAC-ADDRESS ARP 0 R ether1 1500 00:30:4F:0B:7B:C1 enabled 1 R ether2 1500 00:30:4F:06:62:12 proxy-arp [admin@RemoteOffice] interface ethernet>
After proxy-arp is enabled client can successfully reach all workstations in local network behind the router.
Site-to-Site L2TP
The following is an example of connecting two Intranets using L2TP tunnel over the Internet.
Consider following setup
Office and Home routers are connected to internet through ether1, workstations and laptops are connected to ether2. Both local networks are routed through L2TP client, thus they are not in the same broadcast domain. If both networks should be in the same broadcast domain then you need to use BCP and bridge L2TP tunnel with local interface.
First step is to create a user
[admin@RemoteOffice] /ppp secret> add name=Home service=l2tp password=123
local-address=172.16.1.1 remote-address=172.16.1.2 routes="10.1.101.0/24 172.16.1.1 1"
[admin@RemoteOffice] ppp secret> print detail
Flags: X - disabled
0 name="Home" service=l2tp caller-id="" password="123" profile=default
local-address=172.16.1.1 remote-address=172.16.1.2 routes=="10.1.101.0/24 172.16.1.1 1"
[admin@RemoteOffice] /ppp secret>
Notice that we set up L2TP to add route whenever client connects. If this option is not set, then you will need static routing configuration on the server to route traffic between sites through L2TP tunnel.
Next step is to enable L2TP server on the office router and configure pptp client on the Home router.
[admin@RemoteOffice] /interface l2tp-server server> set enabled=yes
[admin@RemoteOffice] /interface l2tp-server server> print
enabled: yes
max-mtu: 1460
max-mru: 1460
mrru: disabled
authentication: mschap2
default-profile: default-encryption
[admin@RemoteOffice] /interface l2tp-server server>
[admin@Home] /interface l2tp-client> add user=Home password=123 connect-to=192.168.80.1 disabled=no
[admin@Home] /interface l2tp-client> print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running
0 R name="pptp-out1" max-mtu=1460 max-mru=1460 mrru=disabled connect-to=192.168.80.1 user="Home"
password="123" profile=default-encryption add-default-route=no dial-on-demand=no
allow=pap,chap,mschap1,mschap2
[admin@Home] /interface l2tp-client>
Now we need to add route to reach local network behind Home router
[admin@RemoteOffice] /ip route> add dst-address=10.1.202.0/24 gateway=172.16.1.2
After tunnel is established and routes are set, you should be able to ping remote network.
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