Linux Step By Steps

NETWORKING-DSL with PPPoE

Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:53:54 -0500
From: David McKeever <d_mac54@swbell.net>  

My system is a 'stand-alone' , meaning that I'm not a  FTP  or mail server; I surf and get my mail off the internet when I'm not playing chess online or playing around with Linux.  My computer uses a 400 Celeron CPU, and I have both Windows 98 and Caldera Open Linux 2.3 (with KDE) as my operating systems. I'm assuming that the reader already has their home wird for telephone and the DSL installer provided a pots (plain old telephone service) splitter or filter; if the help you are looking for is more oriented to the hardware aspect of DSL try 'ADSL How To' at http://www.sushisoft.com/adsl/ .This SxS may not work with your system and might present a security risk.

I had problems getting connected on my Southwest Bell DSL, the main problems being getting the right numbers in the right places, and most of all of getting a script that would allow me to log in to my ISP.  I've heard the claim that you are connected all the time with DSL, but that isn't always true.  There is a login protocol called PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet) that logs in and authenticates similar to a dial in ISP.  I have managed to find a web site that offers a program using PPPoE , and within 5 minutes after of downloading it I was on the Internet.  I'm not sure after finding this program that the first 4 or 5 steps are necessary; if someone jumps to step 6 and it works (or doesn't) please let me know.  In these steps I ommitted mentiong saving changes, opening and closing dialogue boxes, xterm windows and other steps that seemed obvious to me.  I should also say that the rp-PPPoE software offers and installs a firewall (actually 2: 1 is for FTP or mail servers) and which the program creator strongly recommends installing.
 
1. Make sure that your Network card is installed correctly, has been detected and identified by your Linux system, and the appropriate modules are loaded and enabled. If you just installed your card, go to COAS > Kernel  and you wil be probed (not painfully!).  On mine the Kingston EtherRx 10/100 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter provided by SWBell was recognized and the 'tulip' driver was loaded and enabled at boot time.

2. I went to COAS > Network > Ethernet Interfaces and configured the dialogue box like this (from Arnie Sherman's SxS):

Network Device: eth0
PNP Configuration: Disabled
Interface address: 10.0.0.2 (it changed to 10.0.0.0 after I got it working)
Network mask: 255.255.255.0  (it changed to 255.255.0.0)
Broadcast address: 10.0.255.255
Default route: Disabled
Default gateway: Shaded out when disabled
Init at boot time: Enabled

3. I went to COAS > Network>  TCP/IP > Resolver and added the two numbers that were provided by SWBell.  There are so many numbers involved that it can confuse; these numbers seem to come in pairs; primary and secondary (the Domain Name Server translates name addresses into numbers and vice versa).

4. Re-Boot

5. I went to Internet > Network Utilities and pinged 10.0.0.0 and somtimes it worked and somtimes it didn't (trying a lot of different numbers).  The main thing was to make sure the NIC (Network Interface Card) was working, and I was sure it was because I could use the 'ifconfig eth0 up' command (as su and without quotes) and this would indicate that I had the card working (also using the 'netstat -nr' and 'ifconfig'). But still no connection, even when it was pinging something somewhere (my own machine most likely), so I used my dial up ISP which I still have running and browsed around until I found:

6.  http://www.roaringpenguin.com/pppoe.html Here I downloaded the rp-ppoe-1.8.tar.gz file  which I recall can be download as an RPM, and issued the following commands from a terminal window:

tar zxvf rp-pppoe-1.8.tar.gz
cd rp-pppoe-1.8
./go

and an interacive dialogue up requiring some of the same information I indicate above, then

adsl-start (as su)...and I was on.

This program is well documented; someone having problems could open the read me's and troubleshooting guides.   The info indicates that the latest ppp is necessary, and of course the pppd (d for daemon) must be running.  More information is available from these SxS's or http://www.caricksolutions.com for links and more info on PPPoE.