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Point to Point Links

Terms

P2P — Point-to-Point

A link where the only devices on the network are directly attached to each other.

Ping Pong Attack

A device off-link sends a ping to an address between two routers.

This happens with v4 and v6.

Neither router knows about or has the address, so they forward it back and forth.

Point-to-Point v4

Number with ‘IP Unnumbered’ or use a /31.

Point-to-Point v6

Use a /127.

Config

  • Layer 3 structures should go on ports, not SVIs.
  • Use ECMP, not link aggregation.

Layer 3

Config that lives on the port can sense and respond to a link failure in 8 msec.

For an SVI to go down, it must be the only port, and it must sense the interface down, this takes 150+ msec.

References

RFC 3021 - Using 31-Bit Prefixes on IPv4 Point-to-Point Links

RFC 6164 - Using 127-Bit IPv6 Prefixes on Inter-Router Links

IPv6 Security Myths and Legends

Enterprise Campus Design - Multilayer Architectures and Design Principles - Cisco Live 2023

Last Modified • Sunday, June 14, 2026. 5:02 pm UTC+00:00 • Commit: 3aedc3f