Subject: NCP interdependence

From: Omar Hoda <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 11:38:42 -0400

Hi All,

Is there anything in PPP stating that one NCP cannot be dependant
on another?

I apprecaite that all NCPs have independant state machines,
however, which part of the RFC would I violating if I linked
two NCPs, for example, mandating that one runs before the
other.

The linkage I was thinking about:
   1. IPCP negotiates and moves to the Open state (and learns
       an IP address during the negotiation)
   2. Then XYZCP starts using this IP address in its negotiation.

I couldn't find any info. regarding this in the PPP RFC.  It sounds
wrong to me, but I couldn't find anything to disallow linkage
between NCPs.  If you know of any NCPs with such dependencies
please let me know.  Any text that sheads light on this issue would
be great too.

TIA,

Omar..

---

From: James Carlson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 11:54:52 -0400 (EDT)

> Is there anything in PPP stating that one NCP cannot be dependant

No.  That's outside the standard.

> two NCPs, for example, mandating that one runs before the

There is some precedent for this -- implementations of ECP require
that ECP be in Opened state before running any other NCPs, for
security reasons.  That doesn't mean it's a good thing, but there is
an example to point to.

>    2. Then XYZCP starts using this IP address in its negotiation.

This particular case doesn't look like it's a good thing; I suspect
that you might be thinking of doing something via an NCP that would be
better done by an IP-based protocol.

Can you be more specific about the application of XYZCP?

-- 
James Carlson, Internet Engineering       <[email-masked]>
SUN Microsystems / 1 Network Drive         71.234W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757   42.497N   Fax +1 781 442 1677
"PPP Design and Debugging" --- http://people.ne.mediaone.net/carlson/ppp