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- This document describes some of the common problems which users may
- encounter with their first use of PPP. It is a condensation of the
- development mail list problems and their corresponding solutions. Of
- course, your problem may not be listed. If you have a problem, then I
- usually frequent the usenet news groups, but I would prefer that you
- ask it on the mail list.
-
- Instructions for joining the mail list are in the README.linux file.
-
- --------
-
- Q: I can't seem to leave that bloody mail list!
-
- A: This question is one of the most frequent problems. I realize that
- you would tend to get frustrated, but posting this type of message to
- the list will only make more enemies than friends.
-
- The instructions on how to quit are included if you ask the mail list
- -request address for 'help'. The major problem that most people find
- is that they send the leave request from one account and expect that
- the system will match their user name and quit them from a different
- account.
-
- This does not work. You must use exactly the same account, host name,
- and domain name. If you sent your subscription request from one host,
- such as plato, and you have now switched to a different host, cicero,
- then you must send the leave request from plato. The mail list
- software matches the From: name. It could care less about
- Reply-To:. It could care less about Sender:. It only matches the
- From: address.
-
- If this does not work, then the only human being in the world who can
- do anything about manually removing your address is
- arl@joker.cs.hut.fi. There is no one on the mail list who will be able
- to remove you. Repeated requests to the list will only get people mad
- at you. Send your requests to Arl.
-
- ------------
-
- Q: I can reach the remote server, but I can not get anywhere else.
-
- A: Did you forget the 'defaultroute' parameter? This parameter adds a
- default route into your routing system so that frames to all other IP
- addresses will be sent to the PPP device.
-
- -------------
-
- Q: I have a default route and I still can't get anywhere else! Now what?
-
- A: The problem then is not with the local Linux system. It most likely
- is routing problem on the remote end. (The remote end is also called
- the 'peer' system.)
-
- The remote computers need a route back to you just as you need a route
- to them. This may be accomplished by one of four methods. Each has
- advantages and limitations. You need to do one and only one of these.
-
- 1. Use a host route. At each host on the remote system, add a host
- route to your Linux IP address with the gateway being the terminal
- server that you use for your local access. This will work if you have
- a small number of host systems and a simple network without bridges,
- routers, gateways, etc.
-
- 2. Use a network route. Subdivide the remote IP addresses so that your
- local Linux IP address and the remote terminal server address and the
- remote terminal server's ethernet address is on the same IP
- domain. This will work if you have the IP addresses to spare. It will
- work very well if you have a Class-B IP domain and can afford to put
- the all of the remote addresses on the same IP domain. Then add a
- network route on each of the gateways and routers so that any address
- of the remote network is sent to the terminal server. Most
- configurations have many hosts but few routers. (We have over 300 host
- systems with only 3 routers.)
-
- 3. Use gated on all of the gateways and on the terminal server. This
- will cause the terminal server to broadcast to the gateways that it
- can accept the frames for your IP address. Since the hosts will have a
- default route to one of the gateways, the gateways will generate the
- ICMP re-direct frame and the specific host will automatically add its
- host route.
-
- 4. Use proxy ARP on the terminal server. This will only work if your
- Linux IP address matches the one of the IP domains of the network
- cards.
-
- There is no clear solution. You must choose one of these.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: I keep getting the message to the effect that the magic number is
- always NAKed. The system will not connect.
-
- A: There is a one in over four billion chance that the two systems
- have chosen the same magic number. If you get a continual failure
- about the magic number, the chances that this is a fluke will
- geometrically reduce.
-
- The most common reason for this failure is one of two conditions:
-
- 1. The modem has disconnected immediately upon making the connection
- and logging you on to the remote. Most modems are configured to echo
- the data sent to them and you are seeing the local echo from the
- modem.
-
- 2. The remote ppp software is not running when you think it is. Is the
- remote system configured to run PPP? Is the ppp process in the
- expected location? Is the privileges suitable so that you may run it?
-
- This would indicate that the shell is doing the local echo of the data.
-
- In either case, the Linux system is sending data to the remote which
- is being fed immediately back into the serial receiver. This is not an
- acceptable condition. You have what is called a "loop".
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: I am trying to connect to a Netblazer and it terminates with a
- message "Could not determine local IP address".
-
- A: The Netblazer does not have your IP address. You do not have your
- IP address. You must have been given a piece of paper with your IP
- address written upon it. Use the local IP address and the remote IP
- address as a parameter to the pppd process.
-
- Use the pppd option format of:
-
- local_ip:remote_ip
-
- (That is the local IP address, a colon, and the remote IP address.)
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: I am trying to connect to a Netblazer and it terminates with a
- message "Could not determine remote IP address".
-
- A: See above.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: I can not ping my local IP address
-
- A: You are not able to do this because you don't have a route to the
- address. This is the normal operating environment. Don't try to ping
- the local IP address.
-
- If you wish to ping your own system then use the loopback address of
- 127.0.0.1.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: Can I use the same local IP address for all of the lines of my PPP
- server?
-
- A: 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.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: I am using a Xyplex terminal server and pppd complains about
- receiving a protocol reject for protocol fffb. What is this?
-
- A: The Xyplex terminal server is confused about Van Jacobson header
- compression. Use the pppd option "-vj" to disable the header
- compression.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: The connection fails with errors "ioctl(TIOCGETD): I/O error" or
- "ioctl(PPPIOCSINPSIG): I/O error". What now?
-
- A: Look at the boot messages when you boot the kernel. If it says
- "PPP version 0.1.2" then you have an old version of the ppp.c driver.
-
- If it says "PPP version 0.2.7" then you have the current driver,
- however, it was not built with the same set of defines for the ioctl
- numbers. Ensure that you have only one file called "ppp.h". It should
- be located in the kernel's include/linux directory. Once you have done
- this, rebuild the kernel and the pppd process.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: Sometimes the messages "ioctl(PPPIOCGDEBUG): I/O error",
- "ioctl(TIOCSETD): I/O error" and "ioctl(TIOCNXCL): I/O error"
- occur. Why?
-
- A: The remote system has disconnected the telephone. The tty drivers
- will re-establish the proper tty dicipline and these errors are the
- result of the pppd process trying to do the same thing. These are to
- be expected.
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: I am trying to use the merit network. Why does this not connect?
-
- A: Some users of the merit network have indicated that it needs PAP.
- Did you try PAP authentication?
-
- --------------------
-
- Q: My netstat says something other than the following. It may report
- the ppp device as "unknown" and show a strange hardware address. Is
- this important?
-
- ppp0 Link encap Point-Point Protocol
- inet addr 192.76.32.2 P-t-P 129.67.1.165 Mask 255.255.255.0
-
- A: No. The information is for display purposes only. If you are using
- a recient 1.1 kernel then update the nettools package with the current
- one on sunacm.swan.ac.uk in the directory /pub/Linux/networking/nettools.
-
- --------------------
-
- End.
-
-