This How To Note shows an example of using a dynamic routing protocol over an L2TP
tunnel.
Running dynamic routing protocols over a secure Internet connection can be a complex
issue, with the possibility of intermittent connections causing routing problems.
OSPF (or BGP) are more connection-oriented than RIP and therefore are more susceptible
to problems caused by intermittent loss of connection between 'neighbours'. A neighbour
that may bounce up and down can cause havoc to the correct propagation of OSPF routing
information for a network.
The following example scenario is for setting up RIP over an L2TP tunnel. RIP is simpler and
has less overhead and control, so it provides a more robust setup as a dynamic routing
protocol over an L2TP tunnel.
Which products does it apply to?
This Note applies to the following Allied Telesis routers, running software version 2.6.1 or
later:
zAR400 series
zAR700 series
C613-16037-00 REV C
www.alliedtelesis.com
An example scenario for RIP over L2TP
rip-l2tp.eps
Related How To Notes
You may also find the following How To Notes useful:
zHow To Configure Remote L2TP Tunnels
zHow To Configure Allied Telesis and Cisco Routers To Interoperate Over L2TP
How To Notes are available from www.alliedtelesis.com/resources/literature/howto.aspx.
An example scenario for RIP over L2TP
Our example uses two office sites that are connected via a WAN connection over the
Internet using an L2TP tunnel for security.
The setup (shown below) shows the 'Central office' and 'Remote office' routers connected,
in this case, back to back via their Ethernet interfaces (this would likely be the remote WAN
connection across the Internet, with perhaps static IP assignment from the ISPs).
RIP propogates
VLAN OSPF
routes over
L2TP tunnel
to remote router
Central office router
POWER
192.168.1.1
PPP0 over
L2TP tunnel
192.168.2.1
POWER
Remote office router
OSPF used on
local VLAN
networks
ETH0
X PC
HUB
Eth0 IP=10.10.10.1
WAN
Eth0 IP=10.10.10.2
X PC
ETH0
HUB
OSPF used on
local VLAN
networks
VLAN 2 IP=222.222.2.1
VLAN 1 IP=222.222.1.1
VLAN 1 IP=200.200.1.1
VLAN 2 IP=200.200.2.1
Page 2 | AlliedWare™ OS How To Note: Dynamic Routing over L2TP
An example scenario for RIP over L2TP
Network Operation
There is a single static route configured to bring up the L2TP tunnel and a secure point-topoint connection (PPP0) is established over the L2TP tunnel between the 'Central' and
'Remote' office routers. This allows secure communication between the offices across the
Internet.
Each local office site is using OSPF as their routing protocol, as it offers some advanced
routing features and is scalable and flexible. The 'local' VLAN networks in our example at
each office site use OSPF.
RIP is used across the secure Internet connection between offices to provide a more robust
network, as discussed previously. So RIP is used on the point-to-point interface (PPP0) over
the L2TP tunnel. OSPF is configured to import and export routing information with RIP.
This allows RIP to propagate the dynamically learnt OSPF 'local' VLAN network information
to the other office router.
Routing Information
The routing table in each router shows locally learnt routes and the routes learnt from the
remote router via RIP across the L2TP tunnel. The example output below is from the show ip route command on the 'Central office' router.
You can see that the 'local' VLAN networks (222.222.1.0 and 222.222.2.0) have been learnt
via OSPF. The 'Remote office' OSPF VLAN networks (200.200.1.0 and 200.200.2.0) have
been learnt via RIP. These were exported from OSPF on the 'Remote' router and propagated
by RIP over the secure point-to-point connection (PPPO) using the L2TP tunnel.
IP Routes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Destination Mask NextHop Interface Age
Type Policy Protocol Metrics Preference
Page 3 | AlliedWare™ OS How To Note: Dynamic Routing over L2TP
An example scenario for RIP over L2TP
Routing Considerations
A routing issue to consider in this set up is the fact that RIP is relatively slow to react to
route changes as it only updates, by default, every 30 seconds.
To improve the responsiveness of RIP you can alter the default timers for updating, flushing
and so on. You do need to keep in mind that if you lose some packets (quite possible across
a lossy Internet connection) some of your routes may flap too much. So the RIP timers need
to be adjusted to provide an optimal compromise between responsiveness and robustness.
In this particular example, the various RIP timers are set at half default value.
set ip riptimer update=15 invalid=90 holddown=60 flush=150
Consideration would need to be given to each specific set up to get an optimal balance when
adjusting these timers.
Page 4 | AlliedWare™ OS How To Note: Dynamic Routing over L2TP