Can I build GRE, L2TP or PPTP tunnels over IPsec?
Yes. Normally this is not necessary, but it is useful in a few special cases. For example, if you must route non-IP packets such as IPX, you will need to use a tunneling protocol that can route these packets. IPsec can be layered around it for extra security. Another example: you can provide failover protection for high availability (HA) environments by combining IPsec with other tools. Ken Bantoft describes one such setup in Using FreeS/WAN with Linux-HA, GRE, OSPF and BGP for enterprise grade VPN solutions. GRE over IPsec is covered as part of that document. Here are links to other GRE resources. Jacco de Leuw has created this page on L2TP over IPsec with instructions for FreeS/WAN and several other brands of IPsec software. Please let us know of other useful links via the mailing lists.