[ale] Setting up linux PPP Server

[Ben Coleman]

On Thu, 18 Oct 2001 16:38:45 -0400, Christopher Fowler wrote:

>Do I
>totally have to remove mgetty from the setup and do something totally
>different?

No, mgetty can be set up to automatically start PPP when it recognizes
an LCP configure request (the start of a PPP session).  As a matter of
fact, I use this on my own system instead of setting up a pppuser
account (it doesn't require setting pppd to suid root).

To do this, mgetty must have been compiled with -DAUTO_PPP.  If your
mgetty hasn't been compiled with this option, you'll have to recompile.
 Then you'll need to add an entry for /AutoPPP/ in mgetty's
login.config file (the sample that mgetty installs includes a
commented-out entry for this).  Mine looks like 

/AutoPPP/ -     a_ppp   /usr/sbin/pppd call remote

The 'call' option tells pppd to look for additional options (after
processing /etc/ppp/options) in /etc/ppp/peers/remote.  In my case, I
also have pppd set up for ADSL (PPPOE) and dial-on-demand PPP (in case
the ADSL line goes out), so I have an empty /etc/ppp/options, and use
separate options files for each pppd use.  My /etc/ppp/peers/remote
looks like:

lock
modem
#debug
netmask 255.255.255.252
passive
auth
ms-dns 172.17.113.3
ms-dns 172.17.113.6
mru 1412
mtu 1412
172.17.114.1:172.17.114.2
ipparam remote

The ipparam options adds an extra argument 'remote' when pppd calls
/etc/ppp/ip-up and /etc/ppp/ip-down.  I test for this argument in those
scripts in order to add ipchains rules when the dial-up connects, and
remove them when it terminates.

You'll also need to add entries into /etc/ppp/pap-secrets and/or
/etc/ppp/chap-secrets (I have pap-secrets linked to chap-secrets so the
dial-up can use either one), which, from my experience, should include
the ip address for the user.  E.g. mine looks something like:

pppuser             morannon        "<password>"      172.17.114.2

which sets up a 'pppuser' entry, which is assigned 172.17.114.2  when
it dials up.  The second argument should be set to the machine name the
modem is located on (the local machine).


Ben
-- 
Ben Coleman oloryn at benshome.net      | The attempt to legislatively
http://oloryn.home.mindspring.com/   | micromanage equality results, at
Amateur Radio NJ8J                   | best, in equal misery for all.



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