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The Answer Guy

By James T. Dennis, tag@lists.linuxgazette.net
Starshine Technical Services, http://www.starshine.org/

getting ppp-2.3.3 to work

From tng on 29 Apr 1998

Wasn't exactly sure where to send comments, questions....

Anyway I finally decided to migrate to linux kernel 2.1.94 mainly because of the .94 indicates that they are almost ready for the next stable release...

Now is indeed the time for a broader audience to do more testing of the new kernels. However it is still a beta, and it should be used on non-critical systems, personal workstations, testbeds, home servers etc.

Obviously for some purposes you need the new features of 2.1.x for some production work --- but you have to understand the risks you're taking in the process.

The problem I have is ppp 2.3.3. I downloaded is read the README compiled the required parts and installed flawlessly...Now I CANNOT conect to my ISP.. They are running a linux network with redhat 5 for web hosting and slakeware controling the raid and passwords. I'm running slackware. (redhat would crash every couple days wipeing out my harddisk...got tired of rebuilding my system...got real good at backups )

Try at least the 2.1.98. I did read about a variety of problems with PPP and in the serial drivers in some of the 2.1.94 time frame.

It's also a good idea to double check your IRQ settings and view the results of 'setserial' and/or the system's autodetection of your serial settings. I also saw traffic that suggested that some cases where 2.1.x was more sensitive to some situations that 2.0 would ignore.

Also try the most recent stable kernel (2.0.33 or .34) with this new pppd.

the ppp-2.2 I was using I had to use the +ua <file> switch where file contained the username and password for upap auth. after upgrading this swich was no longer available so I simply added it to my /etc/ppp/pap-secrets file:

username    *    password

localhost    *    username:password
*            *    username:password

I've never used PAP/CHAP authentication with Linux. So I don't know if these are right. I would double check the PPP-HOWTO and I might even contact the author/maintainer of the 2.3.3 package to ask for a pointer. If you do so, please consider copying the maintainer for the PPP-HOWTO so that the docs can be updated as necessary (this may help reduce the number of time the pppd maintainer has to answer this question --- and it may be for a quick answer to the people who don't bother to look for a newer version of the HOWTO.

My ISP hangs up on me. I changed the order of the fields every which way I could thing of but nothing worked. I would like to get my linux box back on the net because of better transfer times and a more stable environment. (linux connected at 33.6 and windoz connects and 24.# with the same serial settings modem init etc.) Please help...I hate to downgrade after houres of work upgrading.

As with all PPP configurations I'd suggest using minicom to connect to the ISP manually, quit out of minicom without disconnecting (something that C-Kermit won't do). Then you should be able to start pppd on that line so that it won't attempt authentication.

If that works than you know that the serial line, modems, and ISP's settings are all right --- and you can focus on the chat script and the authentication options (which are often the hard and confusing parts of PPP configuration, since they don't happen interactively).

Also, consider setting the kdebug option, running the tests and including excerpts from the resulting log files in your messages to me, to the L.U.S.T. list (Linux User's Support Team is a tech support mailing list, reasonably low traffic and high S/N ratio), to the newsgroups (comp.os.linux.networking or c.o.l.setup might be most useful).

(don't forget to blot out any password and user ID info)

Copyright © 1998, James T. Dennis
Published in Linux Gazette Issue 29 June 1998

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