1. Introduction

   Modern access technologies are faced with several conflicting goals.
   It is desirable to connect multiple hosts at a remote site through
   the same customer premise access device.  It is also a goal to
   provide access control and billing functionality in a manner similar
   to dial-up services using PPP.  In many access technologies, the most
   cost effective method to attach multiple hosts to the customer
   premise access device, is via Ethernet.  In addition, it is desirable
   to keep the cost of this device as low as possible while requiring
   little or no configuration.

   PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) provides the ability to connect a network
   of hosts over a simple bridging access device to a remote Access
   Concentrator.  With this model, each host utilizes it's own PPP stack
   and the user is presented with a familiar user interface.  Access
   control, billing and type of service can be done on a per-user,
   rather than a per-site, basis.

   To provide a point-to-point connection over Ethernet, each PPP
   session must learn the Ethernet address of the remote peer, as well
   as establish a unique session identifier.  PPPoE includes a discovery
   protocol that provides this.