Difference Between HDLC and PPP
Difference Between HDLC and PPP
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The major difference between HDLC and PPP is that HDLC is the bit oriented protocol,
while PPP is the character-oriented protocol. The HDLC and PPP are the crucial data link
layer protocols used in WAN (wide area network) where the HDLC can also be
implemented with PPP for the efficient results.
HDLC describes the encapsulation technique employed on the data in the synchronous
serial data link. On the other hand, the PPP protocol deals with the encapsulation of the
data transported in the point-to-point links and it could be synchronous or asynchronous.
Comparison Chart
Basis for
comparison HDLC PPP
Compatibility with Can not be operated with non- Interoperable with non-Cisco
other protocols Cisco devices. devices also.
Definition of HDLC
HDLC (High-level Data Link Control) is a WAN protocol intended to perform the
encapsulation of the data in the data link layer. The encapsulation of the data means to
change the format of the of the data. SDLC is the predecessor of the HDLC which stands for
the Synchronous Data Link Control protocol. Both SDLC and HDLC protocol are
developed by IBM and submitted to the ANSI and ISO for the acceptance as the
international standards.
The HDLC protocol follows the bit-oriented concept and uses bit stuffing for achieving data
transparency. Here bit oriented approach signifies that the single bit is used to present the
control information. The frame structure of HDLC contains the address, control, data,
checksum and flag fields. The default encapsulation protocol in the Cisco devices is the
HDLC. The Cisco proprietary HDLC only works when the devices in both of the ends of the
link are of cisco. Standard HDLC can have different devices in the ends.
Definition of PPP
PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) is also a WAN protocol, but there are several
enhancements made in the PPP protocol after HDLC. Priorly, the PPP protocol is not
proprietary, which means that it can be used with two different type of devices without
committing changes over the format of the data. All of the links collaboratively treated as
single, independent IP network which is having its own frame format, hardware addressing
method, and data link protocol. A point-to-point connection is obtained without assigning
multiple IP addresses to the tangible wires, and it just needs the IP network number.
To clearly identify the start and end of the frame, the framing method is used on the
asynchronous data. It is also beneficial in the detection of the errors.
A link control protocol is used for enabling the network lines, testing them,
terminate them when no longer used. This link control protocol is basically helpful in
handling the synchronous and asynchronous circuits, and byte and bit-oriented
encodings.
It can select the NCP (Network Control Protocol) for each supported network
layer.
3/5
The PPP frame contains two flag fields, a protocol filed to determine the type of packet
residing in the payload, and a payload field which can variate. However, the rest of the
fields are the same as the HDLC protocol.
Conclusion
4/5
Between HDLC and PPP, the PPP protocol performs better than HDLC because there is no
compulsion of using the Cisco devices in both the ends, which means these are
interoperable. PPP also supports multiple protocols and support authentication.
5/5