PPP

Last updated -[Thu Oct 30 09:24:38 1997 by cxh]-
Some of the info on this page is a little out of date . . .

Places to go

  • Celeste's modem and PPP guides.
  • Dennis Friedel's Solaris2.4 x86 ppp guide.
  • UCB Home-IP documentation.
  • MorningStar had a good ppp product for SunOS that cost $600-$700. Morningstar was bought by AscendProgress Systems is now handling the MorningStar software.
  • Back to cxh's public sysadmin page.
  • Kerberos and Home IP.
  • modems (Ptolemy Cluster only).
  • Obsolete links

    These links were broken as of 2/10/97, but I'm leaving them in so that I can track them down if need be
  • Dave Brillhart's ppp guide
  • Michael Mcknight's ppp outgoing guide.
  • Contents

  • Incoming Sol2 Setup
  • Outgoing Sol2 Setup
  • Mac Problems

  • Incoming Sol2 Setup

    The Sun Answerbook on System administration has a chapter on administering PPP. To run answerbook, you must be running a Display PostScript X11 Server, such as /usr/openwin/bin/Xsun
    1. pkginfo | grep ppp should return foucault.eecs 22# pkginfo | grep ppp system SUNWapppr PPP/IP Asynchronous PPP daemon configuration files system SUNWapppu PPP/IP Asynchronous PPP daemon and PPP login service system SUNWpppk PPP/IP and IPdialup Device Drivers
    2. Edit /etc/asppp.cf, see examples on bennett and foucault.
    3. Be sure to add the machine to /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow, see examples on bennett and foucault
    4. Start up the ppp server with /etc/init.d/asppp start Use ps -auxgww | grep ppp to verify that aspppd is running.
    5. Try to connect from the remote host. Look in /var/adm/log/asppp.log for error messages.
    6. Initially, you may have to type in the following commands by hand: arp -s wanderer 8:0:20:18:19:e pub On foucault /etc/init.d/arppub is a script that can be used to publish the arp address. If you copy this script to the local /etc/init.d, then do (cd /etc/rc3.d; ln -s ../init.d/arppub S51arppub)

    Outgoing Sol2 Setup

    Here we discuss some of the details about setup of PPP for dial out. Users who have home machines would be interested in this.

    User commands to start and stop outgoing connections

  • /usr/local/etc/go.homeip script to dial campus:
    #! /bin/sh
    echo "-->Stopping ISDN first"
    /usr/local/etc/stop.isdn
    echo "-->Now starting PPP"
    exec /usr/local/etc/attach.ppp inr-3 30
    
  • /usr/local/etc/stop.homeip script to hang up connection to campus:
    #! /bin/sh
    exec /usr/local/etc/detach.ppp inr-3
    
  • These scripts call attach.ppp and detach.ppp where are links to the same binary, /usr/local/etc/attach.

    Sol2 Outgoing PPP Administration files

  • /etc/asppp.cf PPP configuration file
  • /etc/log/asppp.log Log file
  • /usr/local/etc/attach Actual suid binary that connects and disconnects
  • /usr/local/src/attach Source code for attach.
  • /etc/uucp/Systems File that contains remote system names, phone numbers and passwords (readable only by uucp. Become root to edit)
  • /etc/uucp/Devices File that determines which dialer is used.
  • /etc/uucp/Dialers File that contains modem configuration information, such as whether to dial pulse or dial touchtone.
  • Note that if you are on the RDI, you may want to change the speed of the dialout connection.

    File contents

    If you are in the Ptolemy Cluster, or on a otherwise priviledged machine, you can look at a sample /etc/asppp.cf or a /etc/uucp directory. Otherwise, you will just have to use the descriptions below.

    For a US Robotics modem connected to port B, /etc/uucp/Devices looks like

    TCP,et - - Any TCP -
    ACU cua/b - Any hayes
    Direct cua/b - Any direct
    ACUEC cua/b - 9600 usrv34
    ACUEC cua/b - 19200 usrv34
    ACUEC cua/b - 38400 usrv34
    

    /etc/asppp.cf looks like:

    ifconfig ipdptp0 plumb void inr-3 down netmask 255.255.255.0
    path
    	interface		ipdptp0
    	peer_system_name	ppp-homeip # Name of the ref /etc/uucp/Systems
    	inactivity_timeout	1800 	# 30 minute timeout (in seconds)
    	debug_level 9			# see /etc/log/asppp.log
    
    
    Where inr-3 is the name of the router on campus and void is a entry in your local hosts table that looks like:
    void	0.0.0.0
    

    To connect to campus, /etc/uucp/Systems would contain a line like:

    ppp-homeip Any ACUEC 38400 15106425131 "" P_ZERO "" \r\n\c sername: yourmachine\n ssword: thepasswd\n ===> ppp\n
    
    You should substitute in yourmachine and thepasswd. This file should not be world readable.

    Debugging outgoing connections

    Run tail -f /etc/log/asppp.log while running /usr/local/etc/go.homeip

    Mac Problems

    If you are having problems from the Macintosh, you should be sure to check out the troubleshooting guide that is available with the home ip kit documentation

    Problems connecting at all

    When I have problems here's what I try:

    1. Test the hardware by using kermit or Microphone to dial into campus. Note that you may need to type ate1 to turn on echoing in the kermit window (Unix kermit man page). Also, if you are using a GeoPort modem on a Mac Centris660av, you may need to set the output sound rate to 24khz via the Sound Control panel.
    2. Make sure that you can log in as yourself via the modem
    3. From within kermit or microphone, try to log in via the modem and start ppp. The way to do this depends on whether you are dialing in and using a campus home-ip number or a private modem

      For campus home-ip, type ppp at the annex prompt, then type your machine name and then your PPP password. If all goes well, you will get a bunch of random garbage characters. This test verifies that you have an active ppp account.

      If you have a private modem, type in the account name for your machine's ppp account, followed by the password.

      Then run the PPP control panel, check the Terminal Window box. and then mouse on open. The terminal window will come up, and you can type commands directly to the modem in it. Try to log in and start PPP by hand as above. You may want to type ate1 to turn on echo.

    (from http://cobweb.berkeley.edu/BIK_Current_Issues.nclk#EECS)

    2.The EECS high-speed modem service:

    Q: I encounter a "PPP wait timeout while waiting for 'name'" error message when I try to establish a connection by dialing into the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) high-speed (28.8 Kbps) modem service at (510) 642-7654. Why is this happening, and what can I do to connect successfully using this service?

    A: The terminal server(s) that sit behind the modems at this phone number wait for an initial carriage return in order to detect the modem connection speed, and the dial-up connection scripts in BIK release 1.5 are transmitting this carriage return too early.

    To fix this problem, add a \d (a backslash, followed by the letter "d") to the first line of the connection script. This will add a one-second delay prior to sending the first carriage return in the script.

    You can view and edit the connection script by clicking the "Config..." button in the first panel of the Config PPP control panel, then clicking the "Connect Script..." button (or with some earlier versions of the BIK, the "Scripting..." button) in the next panel.

    This solution has been added to the BIK Troubleshooting Guide, both in the specific description of the "waiting for 'name'" problem in section 4.6 of the Guide, and in the Guide's "Discussion Section D: About connection scripts".

    Credit for suggesting the fix goes to EECS student Marissa Porciuncula. Others who let us us know about this problem and confirmed the efficacy of the fix included EECS students George Chien and Rob Blasi, and EECS staff member Pepe Kaksonen. We're also grateful to Rob McNicholas of EECS, who promptly arranged for us to access the EECS modem banks so we could look at this problem.

    Problems transfering data

    You can use MacTCP Watcher, available on Cornucopia, to ping Unix hosts and try out DNS.

    Problems between solaris and MacPPP

    Can't ping

    When I did and ifconfig -a on foucault, the 'to' address was either 0.0.0.0 or 255.255.255.255. Editing /etc/asppp.conf and turning debug_level 8 on resulted in /var/adm/log/asppp.conf containing the following message: 14:43:11 000092 ipdptp0 RECEIVE PPP ASYNC 21 Octets NB (A) IP_NCP \ Config-Req ID=02 LEN=16 VJCOMP MAXSID=15 Sid-comp-OK IPADDR=0.0.0.0 Note the 0.0.0.0.

    I had to tell MacPPP what addresses to use by going into the MacPPP control panel and looking under Config and then IPCP Options. Here I entered the local and remote addresses.

    DNS does not work

    Make sure that you can ping the remote host from mho. Make sure that mho can see the remote host's arp address, use arp -a
    cxh at eecs