Re: [TCLUG:1071] Ok, pretend I'm a 4 yr old setting up ppp

[Carl Patten <cpatte@trimodalinc.com>]

Schlough, Mark wrote:
> 
> I went into network-configuation (from control-panel) and clicked on
> interfaces, add, ppp.  Then I enter my phone number, PPP username and PPP
> password.
> 
> - Then I click on "customize"
> - In the Hardware section, I check the box "Allow any user to activate"
> - I click on "communication"  and I check "debug connection"

Good!  In a separate xterm, do this:  tail -f /var/log/messages   
You can watch the debugging info scroll as the modem connects.  I'm
betting you already know this, but am mentioning it because it's still a
neat trick.

> - I click on "networking"  and I see the "set default route.." and "restart
> when connection fails" are checked
> I don't change anything in PAP,  I'm not using PAP
> 
> Is there anything I should do about the "Routing" button from the "Network
> Configuration" main screen?

If you want to use this server as a gateway you must check the box for
IP Forwarding Enabled.

> 
> When I go to the "Interfaces Section" and I click on the ppp0 device and
> activate it, the modem dials up and connects.  "ifconfig" gives three
> devices lo0, eth0, and ppp0.

This is good, it means there's nothing wrong with your login scripting.

> 
> After connecting, I can't ping anything except the ip addresses that are
> shown in the ppp0 listing from doing an ifconfig.
> 
> Any ideas?

If you can ping both the local PPP and remote PPP addresses then your
routing is properly set up.

If you are pinging by name and it's not working, check your Domain Name
Server entries and make sure they are correct for your ISP.  Try doing
an nslookup and see if it returns anything.  If not, you can correct it
through the netcfg tool or by editing /etc/resolv.conf directly.  (Same
thing.)

Also, double-check the modem init string.  Some modems (example: US
Robotics Sportster) don't do PPP at all well without the proper init.  I
generally steal the one from the C:\WINDOWS\INF modem config file on a
Windows 95 box.

HTH.

--
Carl Patten
Systems Administrator
Trimodal Inc.
(Still a slow day... something must be wrong...)