PPPoE

Updated: April 24, 2026

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Explains the underlying concepts of PPPoE, including operational principles and benefits within network infrastructures.

A Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) is a network protocol that

connects multiple users over an Ethernet local area network to a remote site through common customer premises equipment,
is commonly used in broadband aggregation such as by digital subscriber line (DSL), and
provides authentication with the CHAP or PAP protocol.

In the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN overlay network, CCisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN devices can run the PPPoE client. The PPPoE server component is not supported. It is recommended that you configure quality of service (QoS) and shaping rate on a PPPoE Dialer interface. Queuing based QoS policies on both Dialer interface and PPPoE-enabled physical interface at the same time, is not supported.

PPPoE-enabled physical interfaces are supported on ATM PVCs and Ethernet interfaces. A dialer interface must be used for cloning virtual access. Multiple PPPoE client sessions can be configured on an Ethernet interface, but each session must use a separate dialer interface and a separate dialer pool.

The Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN implementation of PPPoE does not support the Compression Control Protocol (CCP) options, as defined in RFC 1962.

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