System Administration Guide: Network Services
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Specifying Information for Communicating With the Dial-in Server

To communicate with a dial-in server, you need to gather information about the server. Then edit a few files. Most significantly, you must configure the communications requirements of all dial-in servers that the dial-out machine needs to call. You can specify options about a dial-in server, such as an ISP phone number, in the /etc/ppp/options.ttyname file. However, the optimum place to configure peer information is in /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name files.

/etc/ppp/peers/peer-name File


Note - The /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name file is not needed on the dial-out machine for Solaris PPP 4.0 to work correctly.


Use the /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name file to provide information for communicating with a particular peer. /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name allows ordinary users to invoke preselected privileged options that users are not allowed to set.

For example, a nonprivileged user cannot override the noauth option if noauth is specified in the /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name file. Suppose the user wants to set up a link to peerB, which does not provide authentication credentials. As superuser, you can create a /etc/ppp/peers/peerB file that includes the noauth option. noauth indicates that the local machine does not authenticate calls from peerB.

The pppd daemon reads /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name when pppd encounters the following option:

call  peer-name

You can create a /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name file for each target peer with which the dial-out machine needs to communicate. This practice is particularly convenient for permitting ordinary users to invoke special dial-out links without needing root privileges.

Typical options that you specify in /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name include the following:

  • user user-name

    Supply user-name to the dial-in server, as the login name of the dial-out machine, when authenticating with PAP or CHAP.

  • remotename peer-name

    Use peer-name as the name of the dial-in machine. remotename is used in conjunction with PAP or CHAP authentication when scanning the /etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets files.

  • connect "chat chat_script..."

    Open communication to the dial-in server by using the instructions in the chat script.

  • noauth

    Do not authenticate the peer peer-name when initiating communications.

  • noipdefault

    Set the initial IP address that is used in negotiating with the peer to 0.0.0.0. Use noipdefault when setting up a link to most ISPs to help facilitate IPCP negotiation between the peers.

  • defaultroute

    Install a default IPv4 route when IP is established on the link.

See the pppd(1M) man page for more options that might apply to a specific target peer.

/etc/ppp/peers/myisp.tmpl Template File

The /etc/ppp/peers/myisp.tmpl file contains helpful comments about the /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name file. The template concludes with common options that you might use for an /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name file:

connect "/usr/bin/chat -f /etc/ppp/myisp-chat" 
user myname             
remotename myisp        
noauth                 
noipdefault             
defaultroute            
updetach                
noccp                   

Option

Definition

connect "/usr/bin/chat -f /etc/ppp/myisp-chat"

Call the peer by using the chat script /etc/ppp/myisp-chat.

user myname

Use this account name for the local machine. myname is the name for this machine in the peer's /etc/ppp/pap-secrets file.

remotename myisp

Recognize myisp as the name of the peer in the local machine's /etc/ppp/pap-secrets file.

noauth

Do not require calling peers to provide authentication credentials.

noipdefault

Do not use a default IP address for the local machine.

defaultroute

Use the default route that is assigned to the local machine.

updetach

Log errors in the PPP log files, rather than on the standard output.

noccp

Do not use CCP compression.

To use /etc/ppp/peers/myisp.tmpl at your site, rename /etc/ppp/peers/myisp.tmpl to /etc/ppp/peers/.peer-name. Replace peer-name with the name of the peer to be called. Then modify the file contents as needed by your site.

Where to Find Examples of the /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name Files

To find examples of the /etc/ppp/peers/peer-name files, refer to the following:

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