Why Use PPP Authentication?

Providing authentication on a PPP link is optional. Moreover, though authentication does verify that a peer is to be trusted, PPP authentication does not provide confidentiality of data. For confidentiality, use encryption software, such as IPsec, PGP, SSL, Kerberos, and the Solaris Secure Shell.

Solaris PPP 4.0 does not implement the PPP Encryption Control Protocol (ECP), which is described in RFC 1968.

Consider implementing PPP authentication in the following situations:

• Your company accepts incoming calls from users over the public, switched telephone network.

• Your corporate security policy requires remote users to provide authentication credentials when accessing your network through a corporate firewall or when engaging in secure transactions.

• You want to authenticate callers against a standard UNIX password database, such as /etc/passwd, NIS, LDAP, or PAM. Use PAP authentication for this scenario.

• Your company's dial-in servers also provide the network's Internet connection. Use PAP authentication for this scenario.

• The serial line is less secure than the password database on the machine or networks at either end of the link. Use CHAP authentication for this scenario.