Table of Contents
We assume here that you can only get connected to internet through a serial modem connection and that you want to share that connection with other (internal) computers in your home or office. What follows describe the configuration of this dial-up modem router. Your external interface (to the internet) will be ppp0, your internal interface (to your internal network) is supposed to be done through an ethernet network card (eth0).
What follows has been tested with Bering v1.0-rc1 on a Pentium 133 machine and a US Robotics external modem connected to com1 (ttyS0).
The PPP-Howto is a useful reference for this section.
Comments on this section should be addressed to its maintainer:
Jacques Nilo <jnilo at users.sourceforge.net>. Thanks to Lee
who provided useful additions to this section.
Boot a Bering floppy image. Once the LEAF menu appears get access to
the linux shell by (q)uitting the menu. Edit the syslinux.cfg
file and replace the pump entry by ppp in the LRP= list of packages to be
loaded at boot. Check the Bering installation
guide to learn how to do that.
Your syslinux.cfg file could look like (adjust
to your tastes):
display syslinux.dpy timeout 0 default linux initrd=initrd.lrp init=/linuxrc rw root=/dev/ram0 boot=/dev/fd0u1680:msdos PKGPATH=/dev/fd0u1680 LRP=root,etc,local,modules,iptables,ppp,keyboard,shorwall,ulogd,dnscache,weblet
The last two lines ("default linux ... dnscache,weblet")
must be typed as a single one in syslinux.cfg
In order to have a modem dialup connection working, you need to have ppp support enabled through the appropriate kernel modules (note: since v1.0-rc2, serial support is compiled in the kernel). You also need to declare the driver module of the network card assigned to your internal network. In the following example, this card is supposed to be a standard ne 2000 PCI card.
To configure your modules, go to the LEAF Packages configuration
menu and choose modules. Enter 1) to edit the /etc/modules
file and enter the following information:
# 8390 based ethernet cards 8390 ne2k-pci # Modules needed for PPP connection slhc ppp_generic ppp_async ppp_deflate # Masquerading 'helper' modules ip_conntrack_ftp ip_conntrack_irc ip_nat_ftp ip_nat_irc
The sample file above might be different in your own case: you might need another network module or some extra functionnalities. Adjust to your needs !
Backup the modules.lrp package.
Connection with your ISP will be handled by PPP. The PPP How-to document will give you very detailed information about this protocol and how to set-up the numerous parameters.
Through the LEAF packages configuration menu get access to ppp configuration. The following menu will show-up
ppp configuration files
1) ISP pppd options
2) ISP login script
3) System wide pppd options
4) chap secret
5) pap secret
6) pppd daemon script
q) quit
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selection:
Entry 1) allows you to adjust the parameter of your ppp connection
through the /etc/ppp/peers/provider file. The most
important argument is the ttySx parameter which
defines the serial port to which your modem is connected.
Look at your /var/log/syslog file after
booting Bering. It will give you the list of the serial ports recognized
by your linux kernel.
A working /etc/ppp/peers/provider file for a
Compuserve connection could look like:
# ISP pppd options file # What follows is OK for Compuserve # noauth debug # log transaction to /var/log/messages /dev/ttyS0 # (ttyS0=com1, ttyS1=com2, ...) 115200 # baud rate modem crtscts # use hardware flow control asyncmap 0 defaultroute # ppp becomes default route to the internet noipdefault lock # don't let other processes besides PPP use the device connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/provider"
If you plan to dial into a Windows RAS server or a server that uses PAP or CHAP authentication, you need to add a line to this file. Just above the "connect" command, on a line of its own, add:
name your_ISP_login connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/provider"
You need this because ppp has to masquerade the firewall as you when using PAP or CHAP authentication.
Entry 2) allows you to adjust the communication script which will
handle the connection with your ISP. This script is stored in the
/etc/chatscripts/provider
A working script for a Compuserve connection could look like:
# ISP login script # What follows is OK for Compuserve # Adjust to your taste ABORT "BUSY" ABORT "NO CARRIER" ABORT "VOICE" ABORT "NO DIALTONE" ABORT "NO ANSWER" "" ATZ # ISP telephone number: 124567890 OK ATDT1234567890# CONNECT '' Name: CIS # With compuserve your_login_account=12345,6789 ID: your_login_account/go:pppconnect Password: your_password PPP
If you are not using Compuserve you should also delete all of the lines below the <CONNECT ''> line. A few - very few - ISPs require the final "PPP" line these days.
Edit Entry 3) - /etc/ppp/options "System-wide pppd options" if you want the system to demand dial and to drop the line if idle for a preset time. To do this, change "persist" to "demand" and add another line below "demand" that says "idle 600", where 600 is the number of seconds the system should wait before dropping hanging up if there is no network traffic.
Edit either the PAP (Entry 4) or CHAP (Entry 5) option to set up how your system authenticates. For PAP authentication, choose the PAP option and add a line giving your ISP login and password. Your ISP login must be the same antry as the one provided after the name entry in your ISP pppd options file. If you want to authenticate using CHAP, add the same entry to the CHAP item instead.
# pppd: pap-secrets # Secrets for authentication using PAP # client server secret IP addresses your_ISP_login * your_password
The "*" can be replaced with the IP address or name of the server you are dialling into if you know it. Usually, an asterisk is sufficient.
If you do not know if your ISP is using PAP or CHAP authenfication just provide the information on both pap-secrets and chap-secrets files. They have exactly the same structure.
Backup the ppp.lrp package.
Trough the LEAF configuration menu type 1 to access to the network
configuration menu and 1 again to edit your /etc/network/interfaces
file. Enter the following information:
auto lo ppp0 eth0
iface lo inet loopback
iface ppp0 inet ppp
provider provider
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.254
masklen 24
broadcast 192.168.1.255
The "auto" statement declares all the interfaces that will
be automatically set up at boot time. This job will be carried out by the
"ifup -a" statement in the /etc/init.d/networking
script.
The syntax of "iface" statements is explained in the Bering's installation guide.
Backup the etc.lrp package.
Through the LEAF packages configuration menu, choose shorwall and check the two following files:
A/ The interfaces file (entry 3) defines your
interfaces. Here connection to the net goes through ppp0 and the
connection to the internal network through eth0. So we must set:
(...) #ZONE INTERFACE BROADCAST OPTIONS net ppp0 - loc eth0 detect routestopped #LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES BEFORE THIS ONE -- DO NOT REMOVE
Do not forget the "-" under the BROADCAST heading for the net/ppp0 entry.
B/ The masq file (entry 7). With a dial-up
modem setup it should look like:
(...) #INTERFACE SUBNET ppp0 eth0 #LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES ABOVE THIS LINE -- DO NOT REMOVE
Backup the shorwall.lrp package.
If you want to make your connection persistent, i.e. redial automatically your ISP when your line drops down, do the following:
Be sure the ppp.lrp package is loaded. Exit the LEAF Bering menu and at the shell prompt type:
cd /etc/ppp mv no_ppp_on_boot ppp_on_boot
Go back to the option 1) of the ppp configuration file menu to edit
the /etc/ppp/peers/provider file and add the
following options after the "baud rate" entry:
(...) 115200 # baud rate persist holdoff 10 (...)
backup the ppp.lrp package.
Your modem connection should be established automatically. Type
plog to check the login sequence with your ISP. If
there is no output check /var/log/syslog to get a
clue on potential problems.
If you want to be sure that your modem and/or script parameters are OK before backing up ppp.lrp, you can launch the connection manually just by typing pon. Use the plog command to see how the connection is going and poff to close down your ppp connection.