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Setting up a Linux machine as a dial-up client of the MUSC PPP server

This document describes a method for configuring RedHat Linux versions 5.2 and 6.x with PPP client services.

Hardware Requirements

Linux does not support WinModem hardware. These are modems designed specifically for systems running Microsoft Windows, and are not complete modems. Some of the functionality of the modem is actually performed in software by the Windows operating system. If you're not sure what kind of modem is installed in your system, you should check first before proceeding.

Configuration

If you are using RedHat Linux, then login as root, run control-panel, and click on the network icon to bring up the "Network Configurator" panel. In the "Names" panel, set the domain (musc.edu) and the nameservers (128.23.1.4 and 128.23.203.10).

Then, in the Interfaces panel, "Add" a new interface, with "PPP" as the Interface Type. Enter the phone number (577-7276) in the "Create PPP Interface" panel, then click on "Customize." The stuff you need to customize is under the "Communication" panel, as follows.

Remove any existing Expect/Send strings. You need to define 3 pairs of Expect/Send strings in the following order (make sure you substitute your userid and password in the first and second Send strings):
 

Expect   rname:   Send   your-mna-userid-goes-here
Expect   ssword:  Send   the-password-for-your-mna-account
Expect   :  Send   7

Click the "Done" button and you should be back at the "Network Configurator" panel. Click on "Activate" and you should hear your modem dialing, etc. If it successfully negotiates a connection to the server, then when you issue the "netstat -i" command at a shell prompt, you'll see your PPP interface listed, and one of its flags will be "U" (up). To shut down your connection, just click on "Deactivate."

If it doesn't work, try putting "kdebug 1" in the "PPP Options" field (under "Hardware"), which will cause stuff to be logged to a file as the ppp daemon attempts to negotiate a connection. You can then look at this file to see what's going wrong. See "man pppd" for more information on debugging.