Jerry Keene wrote:
> Ed:
>
> Thanks for the suggestion on solving my "bringing up the ppp
> interface" problem when using diald.
>
> Yes, I can ping the RedHat 5.1 box (Ormond) by name even with
> the PPP interface down, and I do have Ormond listed properly in
> the Hosts file. Otherwise my ISP connections seem to rely
> entirely on actual IP addresses rather than names.
>
> My interface problem seems more fundamental than subtle. For
> example, I've tried disabling Diald and also disabling automatic
> startup of PPP at boot.
>
> I've then attempted to bring up the PPP interface using command
> line with various commands like "pppd /dev/cua1 connect
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-ppp". Obviously my syntax is
> wrong since I can't get a working PPP interface using the
> command line?
The official RedHat commands to bring a ppp connection
up and down without diald are:
/sbin/ifup ppp0
/sbin/ifdown ppp0
assuming you are running RedHat 5.1 or 5.2.
I say official because that is what the RedHat docs say,
and what linuxconf and netcfg support. There are other
ways to implement this of course. I hope something
gets standardized, but for now, this is what I choose to
stick with.
It is possible to have several ppp setups for several ISPs
at the same time. You would start the second one using
/sbin/ifup ppp1
/sbin/ifdown ppp1
and so on.
Tip: if diald is enabled at bootup, do not enable any ppp at bootup -
it will cause problems. Choose none or one at bootup: ppp or diald.
>
>
> This seems like a classic example of a relative newbie being too
> protected from things like an interface by a user friendly setup
> (which Redhat is good at) that hides underlying functions.
>
> Can someone give me a basic primer in bringing up the PPP
> interface from a command line after its disabled from loading at
> boot under RedHat 5.1?
See above for the commands you type once it is set up.
The scripts you, linuxconf or netcfg create on RedHat are
in two directories.
Two files are in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
for each "ppp connection" and for ethernet, plip
and slip connections too.
chat-ppp0
ifcfg-ppp0
And two files are in /etc/ppp
which support all ppp connections.
options
pap-secrets
I have attached working examples of these four files, since
they are very small. Only passwords, login names and
phone numbers are changed. On different systems,
these scripts are different, and kept in different
directories. But this example is consistent with
RedHat 5.1 and 5.2 for use with linuxconf and
netcfg.
My own preference is to try to use the nearby 'official'
gui setup tools and then scrutinize what text files they
tweak. I feel that gui tools are necessary if Linux is going
to become really popular, so I support them. If they don't work,
I complain and file bug reports to try to be constructive.
On the other hand, I don't want to depend on the GUI
setup tools, so I use time stamps to see what files were
changed by the gui tools, and try to understand their
syntax and how they interrelate.
Another approach is to ignore the GUI tools entirely,
and set up config files a different way - perhaps as
close to Solaris or AIX as possible,- but I don't see that
as constructive or helpful to Linux progress. Or, you can
stick with the straight PPP docs, or invent something
different. But I like to support netcfg and linuxconf, since
they are useful on other linuxes, not just RedHat, and they
seem to be progressing rapidly. I hope something congeals
as a standard - and these seem to be on top for now, so
I support them.
I have set up ppp and diald under Slackware and Debian also.
IMHO the RedHat scheme is cleaner, and you have
the option of using the GUI or not.
Redhat seems to be quite consistent about keeping all
config files in /etc. Here is a script to see what files
were changed or created in /etc by a GUI config session
I just ran:
find /etc -mtime -1 -type f -print | xargs ls -lat | less
The files that just changed will appear at the top.
If I ran the gui session in the last few minutes, I can
check for files with date stamps in the last few minutes.
Other configuration files that affect operation of ppp:
/etc/hosts put name and IP here for each
local
machine
but do not touch the
127.0.0.1
line or
sendmail and otherthings
will
break.
/etc/sysconfig/network hostname, forwarding, default gateway
/etc/named.conf nameserver parameters
I hope this helps. But don't be affraid to use the GUI
setup tools that work for you. They can help newbies
over the hump.
Another note: the config files for ppp and for diald are
almost completely separate. Only options and pap-secrets
are shared. This is a good thing because it lets PPP setup
tools and diald develop independently. If diald survives
and becomes user-friendly someday, it can be fixed up
to share more of the ppp configurations.
I personally think that the outcome may be diald goes
into disuse, but its better features get integrated into a
smarter PPP system. Plain PPP already has timeout capability.
PS: it's very important to install all the RH 5.1 updates,
for the rpm packages you are using.
There are lots of updates because there were lots of security
holes to fix among other things. Then, before you get on
the internet, there are other doors you need to close to protect
yourself from the internet vandals. Linux is a good server
platform with wonderful networking, and the vandals will
use your machine for their purposes if you take no action.
For starters:
. install the tcp_wrappers rpm
. put just ALL:ALL in /etc/hosts.deny
. put just ALL:LOCAL in /etc/hosts/allow
. comment out everything you don't use from /etc/inetd.conf
. never use telnet, rlogin, rcp, rsh over the internet
. use ssh, slogin instead
. have a backup scheme and use it
. run tripwire - it's on RH CD number 3
There is much more to Internet security - this is just a start.
Cheers,
--
Jan Carlson
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Mailed with Netscape 4.5 on Red Hat Linux 5.2
'ABORT' 'BUSY'
'ABORT' 'ERROR'
'ABORT' 'NO CARRIER'
'ABORT' 'NO DIALTONE'
'ABORT' 'Invalid Login'
'ABORT' 'Login incorrect'
'' 'ATZ'
'OK' 'ATM0DT999-8888'
'CONNECT' ''
DEVICE="ppp0"
ONBOOT="no"
USERCTL="yes"
MODEMPORT="/dev/ttyS2"
LINESPEED="115200"
PERSIST="yes"
DEFABORT="yes"
DEBUG="yes"
INITSTRING="ATZ"
DEFROUTE="yes"
HARDFLOWCTL="yes"
ESCAPECHARS="no"
PPPOPTIONS="noipx"
PAPNAME="jlogin"
REMIP=""
NETMASK=""
IPADDR=""
MRU="1500"
MTU="572"
DISCONNECTTIMEOUT="5"
RETRYTIMEOUT="5"
BOOTPROTO="none"
lock
# Secrets for authentication using PAP
# client server secret IP addresses
jlogin ppp0 gummypass
# # Added by linuxconf
jjlogin1 ppp1 ikypoopass
# # Added by linuxconf
loginjj ppp3 pass9999
