PPP, or Point-to-Point Protocol, is a recognized `official' internet protocol. It is a protocol used to exchange IP frames (and others) over a serial link. The current RFC for PPP is 1661. There are many related ones.
Contrary to what some people think, it does not mean "Peer to Peer Processing"; although you may do peer-peer communications using TCP/IP over a PPP link.
In general, no. A `classical' PPP implementation requires that you make changes to the routes and network devices supported by the operating system. This may mean that you will have to rebuild the kernel for the remote computer.
This is not a job for a general user. If you can convince your administration people that PPP is a `good thing' then you stand a chance of getting it implemented. If you can't, then you probably can't use PPP.
However, if you are using a system which is supported by the people
who are marketing the "TIA" (The Internet Adapter) package, then there
is hope. I do not have much information on this package, however,
from what I have found, they plan to support PPP in "the next
version". (My information may be old. Contact them directly.
Information on TIA is available at ftp.marketplace.com
in the
/pub/tia
directory.)
If your system is not supported by TIA and you can't convince the
admin group to support PPP then you should use the `term
'
package. Some service providers will object to you running
`term
'. They have many different reasons, however the most
common is `security concerns'.
There is a version of TIA for Linux.
In addition to TIA, Danny Gasparovski wrote a program called
slirp
which will perform functions similar to TIA. The
program is currently available with the source code from the ftp site
blitzen.canberra.edu.au:/pub/slirp
. You should obtain the
code if you wish additional information about this program. From the
initial examination, it is seems to be an excellent contender to the
commercial TIA program.
It is in two parts. The first part is in the kernel. In the kernels from 1.1.13, the driver is part of the network system drivers.
The second part is the `daemon' process, pppd
. This is a
required process. The source to it is in the file
ppp-2.2.0.tar.gz
located on sunsite.unc.edu
in the
/pub/Linux/system/Network/serial
directory.
Version 2.2 and above are designed to be used only with the 1.2 and later kernels. Please don't use this version with the 1.1 series kernels as they are out of date for either the tty driver or the networking software.
Read The Fine Material available.
Start by reading the README
file and then the
README.linux
file. The documentation sources are listed
below.
There are several sources of information for the PPP protocol as implemented under Linux.
README
file in the source package.README.linux
file in the source package.Net-2-HOWTO
document.pppd
man page.The HOWTO file is stored in the usual place for the Linux HOWTOs.
That is currently on sunsite.unc.edu
in the directory
/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
.
The Network Administration Guide is available in the
/pub/Linux/docs/LPD/network-guide
directory on sunsite. It is
also published by O'Riellly and Associates. So, if you want a really
professional document, then buy a copy from your local bookstore.
The `man
' pages are included in the source package. You will
probably have to move them to the normal man directory,
/usr/man/man8
before the man
command may find them.
Alternately, you may use nroff
and more
to view them
directly.
The PPP faq document describes the PPP protocol itself and the various
implementations. You will find the FAQ for the usenet news group,
comp.protocols.PPP
, archived on rtfm.mit.edu
in the
/usenet
directory. It is in eight parts at the present
time.
There are a few scripts which are included with the source package for pppd. It will cover the normal types of access where you are requested to enter a UNIX login and password.
Specific `scripts' for specific systems are not included. If you have problems with a specific connection then you should contact the help desk for your site, the local news group at the site, or the general usenet groups for Linux. Unfortunately, time does not permit me to answer questions for help on supplying a script for your specific system.
The primary usenet group for the PPP implementations is
comp.protocols.PPP
or comp.os.linux.setup
. Use this
group for general questions such as "How do I use pppd?" or "Why
doesn't this work?".
Questions such as "Why wont pppd compile?" are generally linux related and belong on the comp.os.linux.networking group.
Please don't use comp.os.linux.help; even if your site should still carry this obsolete news group.
This is one of the most sickening questions. I realize that this is a plea for help. However, it is practically useless to post this message with no other information. I, and most others, will only ignore it.
Please see the question regarding errors which normally occur at the modem's disconnection. They are not the cause of a problem, only a symptom. Posting a message with only those errors is also meaningless.
What is needed is the output of the system log (syslog) when you run
the pppd
program with the option `debug
'. In
addition, if you are using chat then please use the `-v
'
option to run the sequence with verbose output.
Please include the output from the kernel's startup. This shows the various kernel hardware information such as your UART type, PPP version, etc.
Please include all information that you can relating to the problem. However your system configuration, disk drive configuration, terminal type, mouse location and button status, etc. are irrelevant. What is important is the system to which your are trying to contact, the PPP (or terminal server) that they are using, the modem types and speed that you are using, etc.
Take care and go through the output. Remove the references to the telephone number, your account name, and the password. They are not important to analyzing the problem and would pose a security risk to you if you published them to usenet. Also discard the lines which neither come from the kernel nor pppd.
Do NOT run the pppd program with the option `kdebug
31
' and post that!
If the problem warrants examining the data stream, then you will be contacted by email and asked to mail the trace. Usenet already costs too much for too many people.
Information is written to various levels. The debug information is
written to the debug level. The informational messages are written to
the info level. The errors are written to the error level. Please
include all levels the the `local2
' group which come from
the pppd
process.
In addition, please do not delete the time stamp information. It is important.
The assignment of the local IP address is a function of the options given to pppd and the IPCP protocol. You should use the `magic' IP address of 0.0.0.0 if you must specify the local IP address. Most people simply leave the local IP address out of the option list.
The other option which is closely tied to this is called `noipdefault'. The noipdefault option instructs the pppd process to not attempt to guess the local IP address from your hostname and the IP addresses in the /etc/hosts file. Most people use this option when the IP address is dynamically assigned. However, this option does not mean `use dynamic IP addresses'. The use of dynamic IP addresses is automatic when the local IP address is not given.
Use the /etc/ppp/ip-up hook. The local IP address is the fourth parameter. This will be executed when pppd knows the IP address for the local system. The fifth parameter is the remote IP address if you should wish to know this value as well.
If you are curious about the value assigned then you may use the
ifconfig
program to display the current settings. It will
show you the current values for both the local IP address and the IP
address assigned to the remote under the P-t-P heading.
Yes. The local address is not significant to the local
system. You must have a unique remote
IP address. The
routing is performed based upon the remote IP address and not the
local IP address.
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