1. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Important Changes Introduction Information wanted 1.0 Important Changes I added a pointer to the alpha test ppp software for linux mentioned in the newsgroup. 1.1 Introduction I took the Information in Ed Vielmetti's FAQ files, my personal experience, and lots of stuff from comp.protocols.ppp, and built a new document. Later, lots of people contributed at one or the other place. This document will be reposted fortnightly, as soon as it is fairly stable, and weekly till then. Changed sections should be marked in the Table of Contents with a ! or + for something got added or - for something got deleted. 1.2 Information Wanted If you have experience with anything mentioned here, or know of newer versions, or of versions of software for other hardware/OS, or ... send me mail. I'll include it and possibly mention your name, if you don't express otherwise. Ignatios Souvatzis 2. WHAT IS PPP? Introduction PPP features which may or may not be present PPP glossary PPP-relevant RFC's 2.1 Introduction PPP is the Internet Standard for transmission of IP packets over serial lines. PPP supports async and sync lines. For a general discussion of PPP, and of the PPP vs. SLIP question, look at the paper ftp.uu.net:vendor/MorningStar/papers/sug91-cheapIP.ps.Z (paper) and sug91-cheapIP.shar.Z (overhead projector slides) 2.2 PPP features which may or may not be present Above and beyond compatibility with basic PPP framing, note whether the software implements the following features. Not all features are needed or even desired in every product. Please note also that not every free or commercial product description in this document has a complete list of all features includes. demand-dial Bring up a PPP interface and dial the phone when packets are queued for delivery; bring the interface down after some period of inactivity. redial (For lack of a better term) Bring up a PPP interface whenever it goes down, to keep a line up. (sometimes called camping) camping (on a line) see redial scripting Negotiate through a series of prompts or intermediate connections to bring up a PPP link, much like the sequence of events used to bring up a UUCP link. parallel Configure several PPP lines to the same destination and do load sharing between them. (Not standardized, usually only seen in SLIP implementations, noted there as "parallel-slip".) filtering Select which packets to send down a link or whether to bring up a "demand-dial" link based on IP or TCP packet type or TOS, e.g. don't dial the phone for ICMP ping packets. header compression TCP header compression according to RFC1144. Marginally useful on high speed lines, essential for low speed lines. server Accept incoming PPP connections, which might well also include doing the right things with routing. tunneling Build a virtual network over a PPP link across a TCP stream through an existing IP network. extra escaping Byte-stuffing characters outside the negotiated asyncmap, configurable in advance but not negotiable. 2.3 PPP glossary Every new technology breeds its own set of acronyms. PPP is no different. Here is a glossary of sorts. ack Acknowledgement. AO Active open [state diagram] (no lonter part of the FSM as of RFC1331) C Close [state diagram] CHAP Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (RFC1334) D Lower layer down [state diagram] DES Data Encryption Standard DNA Digital Network Architecture IETF Internet Engineering Task Force. IP Internet Protocol IPCP IP Control Protocol. IPX Internetwork Packet Exchange (Novell's networking stack) FCS Frame Check Sequence [X.25] FSA Finite State Automaton FSM Finite State Maschine LCP Link Control Protocol. LQR Link Quality Report. MD4 MD4 digital signature algorithm MD5 MD5 digital signature algorithm MRU Maximum Receive Unit MTU Maximum Transmission Unit nak Negative Acknowledgement NCP Network Control Protocol. NRZ Non-Return to Zero bit encoding. (SYNC ppp default because of availability) NRZI Non-Return to Zero Inverted bit encoding. (SYNC ppp preferred alternative to NRZ) OSI Open Systems Interconnect PAP Password Authentication Protocol (RFC1334) PDU Protocol Data Unit (i.e., packet) PO Passive open [no longer part of state diagram] PPP Point to Point Protocol (RFC1331, 1332, 1333, 1334, 1362, 1376, 1377, 1378) RCA Receive Configure-Ack [state diagram] RCJ Receive Code-Reject [state diagram] RCN Receive Configure-Nak or -Reject [state diagram] RCR+ Receive good Configure-Request [state diagram] RER Receive Echo-Request [no longer part of state diagram] RFC Request for Comments (internet standard) RTA Receive Terminate-Ack [state diagram] RTR Receive Terminate-Request [state diagram] RUC Receive unknown code [state diagram] sca Send Configure-Ack [state diagram] scj Send Code-Reject [state diagram] scn Send Configure-Nak or -Reject [state diagram] scr Send Configure-Request [state diagram] ser Send Echo-Reply [no longer part of state diagram] sta Send Terminate-Ack [state diagram] str Send Terminate-Request [state diagram] ST-II Stream Protocol TO+ Timeout with counter > 0 [state diagram] TO- Timeout with counter expired [state diagram] VJ Van Jacobson (RFC1144 header compression algorithm) XNS Xerox Network Services 2.4 PPP relevant RFCs Here's a list with descriptions. Note some of these are obsolete. You might also want to search for recent RFCs or internet drafts in an up-to-date RFC archive. 1378 PPP AppleTalk Control Protocol (ATCP). Parker, B. 1992 November; 16 p. (Format: TXT=28496 bytes) 1377 PPP OSI Network Layer Control Protocol (OSINLCP). Katz, D. 1992 November; 10 p. (Format: TXT=22109 bytes) 1376 PPP DECnet Phase IV Control Protocol (DNCP). Senum, S.J. 1992 November; 6 p. (Format: TXT=12448 bytes) 1362 Allen, M. Novell IPX Over Various WAN Media (IPXWAN). 1992 September; 18 p. (Format: TXT=30220 bytes) 1334 PPP authentication protocols. Lloyd, B.; Simpson, W.A. 1992 October; 16 p. (Format: TXT=33248 bytes) 1333 PPP link quality monitoring. Simpson, W.A. 1992 May; 15 p. (Format: TXT=29965 bytes) 1332 PPP Internet Protocol Control Protocol (IPCP). McGregor, G. 1992 May; 12 p. (Format: TXT=17613 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC1172) 1331 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) for the transmission of multi-protocol datagrams over point-to-point links. Simpson, W.A. 1992 May; 66 p. (Format: TXT=129892 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC1171, RFC1172) 1220 Point-to-Point Protocol extensions for bridging. Baker, F.,ed. 1991 April; 18 p. (Format: TXT=38165 bytes) 1172 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) initial configuration options. Perkins, D.; Hobby, R. 1990 July; 38 p. (Format: TXT=76132 bytes) (Obsoleted by RFC1331, RFC1332) 1171 Point-to-Point Protocol for the transmission of multi-protocol datagrams over Point-to-Point links. Perkins, D. 1990 July; 48 p. (Format: TXT=92321 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC1134; Obsoleted by RFC1331) 1134 Point-to-Point Protocol: A proposal for multi-protocol transmission of datagrams over Point-to-Point links. Perkins, D. 1989 November; 38 p. (Format: TXT=87352 bytes) (Obsoleted by RFC1171) 1144 Compressing TCP/IP headers for low-speed serial links. Jacobson, V. 1990 February; 43 p. (Format: TXT=120959 PS=534729 bytes) In comp.protocols.ppp (Message-ID: ) bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield) wrote : All of 1134, 1171, and 1172 (and 1055, for that matter :-) have been obsoleted. They're interesting only if you want to debug a connection with an ancient PPP implementation, and you're wondering why (e.g.) it asked you for IPCP option 2 with a length of only 4, and Compression-Type 0x0037. (There's a lot of that still running around - be careful out there.) 3. HOW TO (CONFIGURATION RECIPES) complain about missing or incorrect information in the FAQ list connect a single host to a network without needing a new subnet. configure free ppp for sun to interoperate with MacPPP 1.0 get SCO TCP 1.2 to connect to Ethernet LANs by a PPP link use PPP through a X.25 PAD use SunLINK PPP 1.0 to a CISCO through a sync line 3.0 complain about missing or incorrect information in the FAQ list E-mail to ignatios@theory.cs.uni-bonn.de (Ignatios Souvatzis) and add information I'll need to think about it. That is: In case of incorrect information, send me the correct information and the source of it. In case of missing information, send me the information which is missing and the source of it. 3.1 connect a single host to a network without needing a new subnet. If you have only one single machine on the other side, the easiest way is to give it a IP address belonging to the local ethernet/IP subnet, and to tell the ppp gateway machine to advertise (proxy arp) its own ethernet address as the other machines'. Works like a charm here. Of course, for a large group or complicated network on the other side, you would get more management problems. On the gateway do: arp -s othermachinesipaddress myownethernetaddress permanent public ifconfig pppNUMBER myipaddress othermachinesipaddress [other params] up on remote machine: ifconfig pppNUMBER gatewaysipaddress [other params] up route add default gatewaysipaddress 1 pppNUMBER might be spelled as dpNUMBER for dialup IP. Of course, if you use routeing daemons, you could also propagate the route via routed / gated etc. to other machines, but it's more painful because every machine has to do it (and might choose not to do it), and every machine doing IP on a Ethernet HAS to talk arp. On intermittently connected demand-dialed links, you may need to edit /etc/gateways to define the destination of the PPP or SLIP connection as a "passive" link. Otherwise, routed will remove routes from the kernel's routing table that use that link, because it won't hear RIPs coming from hosts or routers across the wire. Since it doesn't hear anything from hosts or routers on the far side of the wire, routed assumes that the link is dead forever. ignatios@cs.uni-bonn.de (Ignatios Souvatzis) 3.2 configure KA9Q PPP and it's Unix counterpart Newsgroups: comp.protocols.ppp From: kim@MorningStar.Com (Kim Toms) Subject: Re: PPP for DOS? (good info for FAQ) Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 06:26:28 GMT I have been able to use the ka9q software on my PC to call my Suns at work. This is available from merit.edu:/pub/ppp/ka9q.zip. I had to tell our Sun product [that would be Morning Star PPP, see below. I.S.] "nolqm" in order to prevent it from hanging up because of an lqm failure, but other than that, I have had no trouble. Below, I include the configuration I use on my pc. I unpacked the ka9q distribution into \ka9q. All the configuration files are located there. I have also been able to use the NCSA telnet packet driver, however, I could not use ftp with that, so I gave it up some months ago. Here's what I use on the PC: In a file called "doit2.bat": net -d \ka9q dialup.net In a file called "dialup.net": ip address 137.175.2.42 attach asy 0x3f8 4 ppp pp0 1024 256 9600 dialer pp0 dialup.ppp ppp pp0 trace 2 ppp pp0 quick ppp pp0 lcp open ppp pp0 ipcp open route add default pp0 ip ttl 32 tcp mss 1460 tcp window 2920 domain addserver 137.175.2.11 domain suffix MorningStar.Com domain cache clean on start echo start discard start telnet start ftp start finger start ttylink In a file called "dialup.ppp": control down wait 1000 control up wait 1000 wait 2000 send "at\r" wait 3000 "OK" send "atdt4515016\r" wait 60000 "login: " send "\r" wait 5000 "word:" wait 1000 send "\r" 3.2.2 CONFIGURE KA9Q PPP (WITH NEW DIALER) AND IT'S UNIX COUNTERPART Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 17:18:02 +0100 From: Swa.Frantzen@cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Swa Frantzen) To: ignatios@cs.uni-bonn.de (Ignatios Souvatzis) Subject: Re: comp.protocols.ppp frequently wanted information I'm using ka9q for slip dialup. (ppp will follow soon) Being a novice to it, I relied heavily on the ppp documentation the frequently wanted information posting provides. One thing has changed (somewhere) in the way the dailer command works. The syntax has changed and the file(s) it uses have changed to. I got my ka9q from simtel20 (actually a mirror: oak.oakland.edu) -> the file with the source was name s920603.zip, the executable e920603.zip. All the documentation I could find was at least a year older ! After sniffing through the sources, this is what I came up with: In a file called "dialup.net": ... dialer ... eg: dial pp0 1000 dial.up dial.dwn In a file called "dialup.dwn"; control down In a file called "dialup.up"; control up wait 100 send "at\r" wait 3000 "OK" send "atdt\r" wait 90000 "ogin:" send "\r" wait 5000 "word:" wait 100 send "\r" This will cause call on demand -> If the link is idle (for some time), the thing will hang up If you need the link the link will be established I put in a bigger wait for the login prompt as it takes a rather long time to synchonise using V32 and V32bis modems. Since I had to go through the sources to find it out, I figure others will be intersted in it too. 3.2.3 CONFIGURE JNOS I have jnos1.08 up and running. [that is, 'version 911229 (WG7J v1.08)']. For a sample configuration and demonstration of operation, get the configuration and executable you can ftp from idefix.cs.uni-bonn.de, user ftp, directory /pub. ignatios@cs.uni-bonn.de (Ignatios Souvatzis) 3.3 configure NCSA with the merit ppp packet driver and its unix counterpart I had at least partial success using the parameters, to the public ppp for SUNOS (dp-2.3, but I suspect any of dp-2.1 or dp-2.2* or pppd-1.01beta or ppp-1.1 would have the same behaviour) -ac -pc vjmode draft. The latter would be called in ppp-1.1 (and up) 'vjmode rfc1331'. ignatios@cs.uni-bonn.de (Ignatios Souvatzis) 3.4 work BOOTP over protocols such as SLIP or PPP Newsgroups: comp.protocols.ppp From: johnson@tigger.jvnc.net (Steven L. Johnson) Subject: Re: Tech?: BOOTP over SLIP or PPP Date: Wed, 2 Dec 1992 03:14:37 GMT [Somebody on the net] writes: Does anybody know if there is a description of how to work BOOTP over protocols such as SLIP or PPP. It seems this should work but the problem is that there is a field in the BOOTP header that contains the physical layer type, and these numbers are defined as the hardware types for ARP. Since SLIP and PPP do not use ARP, they do not have numbers.I haven't looked very far, and would appreciate a pointer to any previous work or concensus. I've used a type 0 but only with a cisco terminal server. I don't know if this causes problems on other implementations. The second problem is that the BOOTP header also contains a field for the physical layer address (i.e. Ethernet address). PPP and SLIP do not have an physical layer addresses. What does the BOOTP server have to base it's IP address suggestion on? It's my understanding that PPP can itself negotiate the IP address and that this is the preferred method. If the IP address is included in the bootp request then the remaining configuration is done based on that IP address and not the hardware address. With SLIP there isn't this option, so the IP address must be assigned by knowing the physical port on which the request was received. Again, I used an address of 0 (with a address length of 0, I think) and this didn't seem to cause a problem. On a terminal server that contained only a minimal implementation of bootp, it was necessary to send two requests. The first request was satisfied by the terminal server and configured only the IP address. A subsequent request (that contained the IP address provided by the first request) was forwarded by the terminal server to a bootp server on the ethernet and provided the rest of the configuration from a standard bootptab. -Steve 3.5 configure free ppp for sun to interoperate with MacPPP 1.0 From: guy@world.std.com (Guy K Hillyer) Comments-by: Ignatios Souvatzis, marked with [comments... I.S.] Subject: Success with MacPPP Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 02:02:08 GMT After many travails, I finally got MacPPP to work for me. This is the story of how I got it to work. This account is purely anecdotal. I don't claim to know what is the best configuration, just what worked for me. I submit this for the benefit of other poor suckers who might otherwise spend days getting a Mac/Sun PPP link to work, like I did. I'm a happy camper now, and thanks to Larry Blunk @ merit.edu for making his implementation freely available. Now all I need is a T1 line to my house and I'll be all set. [I'm not sure MacPPP works on T1 lines, I'm pretty sure the Perkins et al. PPP doesn't work over T1 lines. I.S.] After working with the beta release for a while, I picked up the latest and greatest MacPPP at merit.edu. The file is named /pub/ppp/macppp1.0.sit.hqx. I don't think there's any big difference between that and the beta version, but the docs did have two or three new sentences that helped to clarify matters. The ppp I'm using on the UNIX side is the one identified as `Perkins/Clements/Fox/Christy PPP for SunOS' in the comp.protocols.ppp FAQ. During the course of debugging my connection, I installed the package identified in that document as dp-2.2, but it behaved in exactly the same way as the other one did with regard to the problems I was having, so I only tried it briefly. It has some more advanced capabilities so I may switch to it in the future, but for now I'm just glad to have a working configuration. Mac configuration: One mistake I made was ignoring the point made in the MacPPP docs about configuring MacTCP for server addressing. I thought that "server addressing" implied that the mac would get its IP address from some kind of server on my network, using RARP or something like that. I thought that didn't make sense in my situation, so I configured MacTCP for manual addressing. In fact, I now believe that "server addressing" means that TCP gets the address from the IP layer. I'm not an ISO networking model savant, so this [must be wrong... the IP layer gets its address from the PPP layer, which can do an address negotiation.] notion should be taken with a grain of salt. I also set MacTCP to have a "class C" network address. I think this only matters for broadcast packets, because it sets the netmask. Again, I'm treading on thin ice here. I set the IP addresses in the MacPPP control panel's IPCP configuration window. This probably isn't necessary, but I wanted to make sure that I got a particular address. If you set the addresses on the Mac side, you'll want to specify the addresses and disable IP address negotiation on the UNIX side ("-ip" option to ppp). I first got things working with VJ header compression disabled on both sides. You may want to try it this way if you have any trouble. This is set in the IPCP window. If you disable VJ header compression on the Mac side, you'll want to disable it on the UNIX side as well ("-vj" option to ppp). [You probably need only to set it to 'draft'. The configuration negotiation should do the rest. The only reason you need a 'vjmode' option is that the format of the configuration option has changed and the older ones don't understand the format of the aug91draft or rfc1331 ones (which should be the same) I.S.] Once I got things working I turned on VJ header compression. It only worked for me if I selected "draft" mode on the UNIX side ("vjmode draft" option to ppp). Sun configuration: I configure the ppp interface like this: ifconfig ppp0 netmask 0xffffff00 do wn Then I start ppp like this: ppp -p vjmode draft -ip : [which is also about the configuration of dp-2.x, on the login line. You have to specify PPP_OPTIONS=vjmode,draft in the configuration file for the network interface used by the mac. For ppp-1.1/2.tar.Z, use 'vjmode rfc1331' I.S.] The "-p" means passive, so the Sun waits for the Mac to start the handshaking. My experience was that without -p, there was a very brief window during which the Mac could enter the negotiation, and if it missed window, then all was lost. "vjmode draft" means to use the new version of negotiation specified in the August 1991 Draft RFC for IPCP. This is apparently the only version MacPPP knows how to deal with. If you've disabled VJ header compression on the Mac, you should give "-vj" instead. "-ip" disables IP address negotiation. It probably would work fine without this; I just haven't tried it that way. 3.6 get SCO TCP 1.2 to connect to Ethernet LANs by a PPP link From: bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield) Subject: Re: PPP on SCO between different networks In article uaa1006@dircon.co.uk (Peter Miles) writes: I need to set up a UNIX system which is on an ethernet LAN (with its own IP address), so it can call up a PPP link to another network, and use a different IP address on the remote network. There's a bug in SCO TCP 1.2 (but not in 1.1.3) that prevents this scenario with SCO's PPP, and with any other PPP or SLIP software you might try to use on your SCO system. You can get the fix from ftp.morningstar.com:pub/tools/SCO-route-fix, or through SCO's normal support channels. 3.7 use PPP through a X.25 PAD From: unrza3@cd4680fs.rrze.uni-erlangen.de (Markus Kuhn) Subject: Re: PPP or SLIP through PAD (X.29/X.25) Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1993 19:30:17 +0200 Organization: Regionales Rechenzentrum Erlangen, Germany Does anybody have experience with "tunneling" PPP and SLIP through the PAD-service (X.29 over X.25)? What I want is to let people dial up their PAD-service and send their PPP/SLIP packets across the X.25 network into the PAD-login of my UNIX-machine. This should be possible, but I guess the PAD-parameter configuration is critical?? Yes, that's of course possible, because that's the way I use PPP. Use the PAD parameters for the following settings: no escape character 1:0 local echo off 2:0 flow/control: RTS/CTS 5:2 (this is perhaps not a standard X.3 parameter) PAD should not react on XON/XOFF signals 12:0 Other important values might be 3:0 4:1 9:0 10:0 13:0 14:0 15:0. You need a PAD that supports CTS/RTS flow control, because I don't know about PPP software that supports XON/XOFF (although this would be possible with the right async map). Markus 3.8 use SunLINK PPP 1.0 to a CISCO through a sync line To connect successfully a Sun running 4.1.x and Sunlink PPP 1.0 to a Cisco, you have to get patch 100941-02. Once it it installed, everything works smoothly, as written in the documentation! My sun is an SS2, running 4.1.2 (sun4c architecture). We have a 'Transfix' digital leased line. That is: synchronous serial line, 64kbps. The problem without the patch is that everything seems to be OK, except that the MTU given by a 'netstat -in' on device ppp0 is set to 0. -- Alain Mellan 4. MISC. PPP QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS Does somebody have a patent on PPP? Is it possible to use PPP as link layer in ISDN? My ppp does infinite configuration negotiation. What's wrong? What is Asychronous HDLC? 4.1 Does somebody have a patent on PPP? From: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.unix.sysv386,comp.protocols.ppp Subject: Re: Public domain PPP for SCO 2.0?? Date: 8 Dec 1992 06:04:52 GMT [Somebody] wrote: Doesn't matter. I just read (in another newsgroup) that DEC has a patent on PPP, and is asking $5000 for a license. That means no public domain PPP, and a rapidly increasing reluctance to support it from OEMs. Stick with SLIP until something better comes along. This is *not* true. DEC has a patent application outstanding for the negotiation of a 48 bit checksum which might be used in one of the option negotiation phases. It is not an essential part of PPP; many implementations currently do not use this little tiny algorithm in the way they work, and they work just fine. There is no indication that the 48 bit FCS will be accepted or standardized on by the IETF - from my reading of the mailing lists traffic that is unlikely at this point. There are free PPPs and there will continue to be free PPPs. You will also more likely buy PPPs as part of hardware you buy. 4.2 Is it possible to use PPP as link layer in ISDN? [Somebody] wrote: Is it possible to use PPP as link layer in ISDN? If yes, what about signalling? Do you need to combine PPP with the I.451 for basic call control? There are (at least) two drafts about IP over ISDN links. (Please don't hesitate to search some up-to-date archive site for newer versions of those documents.) nic.nordu.net:/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-iplpdn-multi-isdn-01.txt Determination of Encapsulation of Multi-protocol Datagrams in Circuit-switched Environments by Keith Sklower, Computer Science Department,University of California, Ber keley recommends "...limiting the choice of encapsulations to those described in RFC 1294 (Frame Relay), RFC 1331 (PPP), and RFC 1356 (X.25)." and proposes out-of-band and in-band methods of determining which encapsulation is used. nic.nordu.net:internet-drafts/draft-ietf-pppext-isdn-01.txt PPP over ISDN by W A Simpson, Network Working Group promotes PPP over HDLC over ISDN B-channels, or PPP over X25 over ISDN D-channel, and allows for PPP over Frame Relay over the D-channel. A method is described to distinguish PPP from other frames by in-band-inspection of the first packet received. This review brought to you by i.s. 4.3 My ppp does infinite configuration negotiation. What's wrong? 4.3.1 [CABLE PROBLEM] Each other month somebody posts a question which essentially is the one above. It could, of course, be some very strange set of configurations options which get the ppp to never terminate the negotiation process (typical situations listed in further down). One other possibility was seen many times on the derivatives of public ppp for suns, namely pppd-1.01beta and dp-2.x. Detailed symptoms (from a posting on the net, I saw similar logfiles some months ago): Typical debugging log output: Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: Starting ppp daemon version 1.0beta patchleve l 1 Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: warning... not a process group leader Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: pgrpid = 1694 Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: popped stream module : ttcompat Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: popped stream module : ldterm Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: Using unit ppp0 Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: hostname = Riga Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: connect: ppp0 /dev/ttya Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: fsm_sconfreq(c021): Sent id 1. Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: Timeout 6194:16b38 in 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:01 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:04 pppd[1694]: Alarm Dec 18 16:11:04 pppd[1694]: fsm_sconfreq(c021): Sent id 2. Dec 18 16:11:04 pppd[1694]: Timeout 6194:16b38 in 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:04 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:04 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:07 pppd[1694]: Alarm Dec 18 16:11:07 pppd[1694]: fsm_sconfreq(c021): Sent id 3. Dec 18 16:11:07 pppd[1694]: Timeout 6194:16b38 in 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:07 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. Dec 18 16:11:07 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. ... [lots of repetitious logging deleted] ... Dec 18 17:02:24 pppd[1694]: Alarm Dec 18 17:02:24 pppd[1694]: fsm_sconfreq(c021): Sent id 254. Dec 18 17:02:24 pppd[1694]: Timeout 6194:16b38 in 3 seconds. Dec 18 17:02:24 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. Dec 18 17:02:24 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 3 seconds. Dec 18 17:02:26 pppd[1694]: Hangup Dec 18 17:02:26 pppd[1694]: Untimeout 6194:16b38. Dec 18 17:02:26 pppd[1694]: Setting itimer for 0 seconds. Dec 18 17:02:26 pppd[1694]: str_restore: pushed module ldterm Dec 18 17:02:26 pppd[1694]: str_restore: pushed module ttcompat Dec 18 17:02:26 pppd[1694]: fcntl(F_SETFL, fdflags): Bad file number The above final is caused by sending a SIGHUP to the pppd process (however three successive SIGKILL's seem to be necessary to really get rid of it). The warning "not a process group leader" appears to be the innocent result of a subtle coding bug, with no later effects, but I haven't tried fixing it (variable "pid" uninitialized). During all this, there seems to be no activity on the serial line, as evident from an Interfaker(tm) breakout patch box. I was desperate enough to lower the speed to 50 bps in order to verify this. At the same time, "netstat -i" does show increasing figures for the ppp0 interface in the "Opkts" column, but in no other column. Solution: in all cases I could solve, it was a case of missing modem control lines in the cables, leading to 'cts' floating to 'false'. The LCP FSM happily sent configuration requests (they went to the serial line driver buffer (and not out)), waited for an answer, got none, timed out, and retried. After lots more of retries, especially on a big machine, the send buffer finally does overflow, and ppp stops with an error message. You just have to connect 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 20 to the modem to repair it, or to wire a reasonably complete null-modem cable. No, there is no software hack, except when you patch the sources yourself. And that would be a bad idea in my opinion. Even a small Sparcstation SLC can overload any modem on a serial line, and you would get lots of unnecessary packet drops because of that. i.s. 4.3.2 [ADDRESS CONFIGURATION ERROR] Each other month somebody posts a question which essentially is the one above. It could, of course, be some very strange set of configurations options which get the ppp to never terminate the negotiation process, but this seems unlikely. This does happen under dp-2.3 [and probably others, i.s.] when both sides of the link have differing opinions as to what the 2 IP addresses should be. If the remote-address offered from the remote side doesn't match the locally configured version then dp-2.3 will send back an REJ packet. The remote side will then resend the original address again and the loop will continue. To see if this is the case check the log for address REJ's. Then decode the two hex addresses and print it out in the normal dot notation. This is the IP address pair of what dp-2.x expected and what it got. Now either reconfigure dp-2.x to expect this address or change the address that the other side is sending. Wolfgang Rupprecht 4.4 What is Asychronous HDLC? It's HDLC with a character-by-character encapsulation, rather than a bit-by-bit encapsulation. The details are discussed in the RFC1331, appendix A. Basically, the flag character, the escape character and (possibly) control characters are escaped by prepending the escape character and XORing them with 0x20, while sync hdlc transparently inserts '0' bits after sequences of 5 '1' bits to be sure to never transmit the flag character in the frame. A short description of the part of ISO 3309:1991 that describes async (ISO calls it start/stop mode) HDLC is available with anonymous ftp from ftp.uni-erlangen.de in pub/doc/ISO/english/async-HDLC. 5. FREE PPP SOFTWARE PACKAGES Free PPP FOR SunOS 4.1.x Free PPP for BSD Free PPP for SVR4 Free PPP for MSDOS Free PPP for AmigaOS Free PPP for NeXT Free PPP for Macintosh Free PPP for Ultrix Free PPP for Linux 5.1 free PPP FOR SunOS 4.1.x 5.1.1A PPP-2.0 Author Paul Mackerras , Brad Parker and contributors FTP archives dcssoft.anu.edu.au:/pub/ppp/ ppp-2.0.tar.Z Self-Description PPP version 2.0 is now available by anonymous FTP from dcssoft.anu.edu.au, in file /pub/ppp/ppp-2.0.tar.Z. The main change from ppp-1.3.1 is that the new release contains a substantially improved version of pppd. New features in pppd include: Vastly improved security and authentication features Conforms to RFCs 1331, 1332, 1334 Reads options from files as well as the command line Does proxy-ARP and default route creation if requested Paul Mackerras 5.1.1B PPP-1.3FIXED Author Brad Parker and contributors FTP archives dcssoft.anu.edu.au:/pub/paulus/ppp-1.3.tar.Z Comments ...actually one of the authors of ppp-1.2 (brad@fcr.com) incorporated changes to ppp-1.2 and released it as ppp-1.3, then both I and Paul Mackerras (cs.anu.edu.au) found two bugs in the ppp-1.3 release, and so now there is ppp-1.3.fixed!!! cam@claircom.com (Cameron Elliott) Features server,client, vj header compression, 5.1.2 DP-2.3 Authors Kirk Smith , peter.galvaby@micromuse.ac.uk and others Features demand-dial, filtering, header compression, server and client, scripting; SunOS loadable modules partially supported Comment basically dp-2.2-beta with typos corrected and non-sun4c kernel architecture supported (tested on sun4c, sun4m and sun3 machines, but has problems on sun3x architectures). It has a configuration file, which tells where the other configuration files are. Loadable modules work as long as you don't unload them. Finally survives even talk(1) without crashing the machine. If you see older versions, especially dp-2.0.tar.Z, toss them immediately! Plans Solaris 2.1 (sunos 5.1) is supported in the dp-3.0 version (see chapter SVR4). Mailing-list dp-list@phoenix.acn.purdue.edu Mailing list maintainer ks@phoenix.acn.purdue.edu FTP archive ftp@phoenix.acn.purdue.edu:pub/ 5.1.3 PERKINS/CLEMENTS/FOX/CHRISTY PPP FOR SUNOS Last version patch level 6 of 1991-10-04 Anonymous FTP [not cited to protect the innocent] Comment should be considered out of date. You need at least a special patch to fix most of a memory leak, and might have other problems. Successor packages are dp-2.3/3.0 and ppp-1.2. 5.2 free PPP for BSD: 5.2.1 PPP-2.0 see above. 5.3 free PPP for SVR4 5.3.1 ...FOR GENERIC SVR4 [det@hawkmoon.mn.org (Derek Terveer) was] "... contacted by the author of the PPP for SVR4 package that I was distributing from my mailserver@hawkmoon.mn.org and asked to stop. This package was an early beta version that wasn't intended for general consumption. ..." 5.3.2 ...SUNOS 5.X/SOLARIS 2.X dp-3.0 (Solaris 2.x version of dp-2.3) dp-3.0 has been out for quite a while. It works with Solaris 2.1 (for anyone foolish enough to still be running it), 2.2 and 2.3. "...It is much more stable and better behaved than the Solaris 2.3 ppp from Sun...." (Larry Williamson ) 5.4 Free PPP for MSDOS 5.4.1 WG7J NOS (JNOS) PPP ADDITIONS: Johan Reinalda (WG7J) did a lot of additions/improvements to the KA9Q for MSDOS. One of them seems to be that PPP is working, finally. Get version 1.08 and up. Authors Phil Karn (KA9Q), Johan Reinalda (WG7J), with additions from lots of others. PPP code written by Katie Stevens of UC Davis, based on the original implementation by Drew Perkins of CMU. Updated by Bill Simpson and Glenn McGregor of the University of Michigan. Features server, client, scripting, redial, Public FTP sites: wg7j.ece.orst.edu:/public/108/ ucsd.edu:hamradio/packet/tcpip/wg7j/ idefix.cs.uni-bonn.de:/pub/pppnos.exe [Executable] Comment There is a entry in the configuration recipes section. 5.4.2 PPP PACKET DRIVER INTERFACE Ftp archive merit.edu:pub/ppp/ncsappp.zip Comment "I have also been able to use the NCSA telnet packet driver, however, I could not use ftp with that, so I gave it up some months ago." kim@MorningStar.Com (Kim Toms) I had no problems with it. For a solution to an interoperability problem, see above. i.s. Very incomplete features client only 5.5 Free PPP for AmigaOS 5.5.1 AMIGANOS (KA9Q NOS PORT TO AMIGA) Mailing-list-maintainer amiga-slip-request@ccs.carelton.ca FAQ posting comp.sys.amiga.datacomm, every 21 days Author JOHN_H@fs2.mcc.ac.uk (John Heaton) Public ftp archive ftp.demon.co.uk: /pub/amiga/setup/setupv4.lha 419364 bytes (Setup for newcomers; Note that this contains some information which is quite specific for the demon.co.uk site only) /pub/amiga/anos/anos29k.lha 196742 bytes (if you already have an earlier version of setup and just need AmigaNOS 2.9k. Also on wuarchive.wus tl.edu:/mirrors3/ka9q/amiga/anos29k.lha Help File wuarchive.wustl.edu:/sys tems/amiga/incoming/text/AmigaNOS-help-V2.lha or ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/amiga/setup/AmigaNOS-help-V 2.lha Comments AmigaNOS2.9k.lha contains PPP as well as SLIP. Seems to be a rfc1171 like implementation, enhanced with a few rfc1331/2 features (like most other implementations I know of) 5.5.2 PPP.DEVICE FOR SANA2 COMPATIBLE NETWORK PACKAGES (AS225, AMITCP, ENVOY) There is no such beast. Yes, I'm sure. Should I ever hear, read or see such a thing, I'll insert pointers to it immediately into this document. To be precise, I know of two people, who are working on an implementation/port of ppp to the Sana-II interface. You should read about a beta-test volunteer call any month know in the newsgroup comp.protocols.ppp and comp.sys.amiga.datacomm. 5.6 Free PPP for NeXT Public ftp archive merit.edu:pub/ppp/next-ppp0.2.tar.Z Author miron@cs.sfu.ca (Miron S. Cuperman) Comment The author claimed: I heard that it doesn't work with 3.0. I haven't looked at it myself. It's just a straight port of ppp-1.1. It works with NeXTStep 2.1. It is based on the BSD part of ppp-1.1, but with header compression integrated. I'm not currently supporting (or even using) it. But dstrout@sun.REST.TASC.COM (Dave Strout via MacPPP and Eudora) claims that: "I have gotten the next-ppp0.2 to work just fine under NeXTStep 3.0. I have only tried MacPPP running against it, but telnet, eudora, and GopherApp all work fine. FTP does not work at 2400bps, but does at 9600. dave." 5.7 free PPP for Macintosh -MacPPP 1.1 from Merit Network, Inc. author ljb@merit.edu (Larry Blunk) Public ftp archive merit.edu:pub/ppp/macppp... Status macppp1.1.3.hqx seems to be the newest binary release. There are also sources. From the 'Installing MacPPP' document: "...MacPPP 1.1 is a Line Access Protocol (LAP mdev) driver for MacTCP. This version does not support AppleTalk over PPP. MacPPP requires MacTCP 1.1 or higher, Macintosh System 6.0.5 or higher, and a Hayes-compatible modem for dial-in connections. You can also use MacPPP over hardwired asynchrounous connections, ..." Comment There's an entry in the configuration section above and a nice postscript installation document at the ftp site. There is also a text document. Oh yes, there seems to be a 2.0 version around on several ftp servers. Can anybody with a MAC scan the actual readme files and send me updated text for this entry? 5.8 free PPP for Ultrix -ppp-1.2a1 author sundstrom@stkhlm.enet.dec.com (Per Sundstrom) and robert@robur.slu.se (Robert Olsson) Public ftp archive ftp.sunet.se, dir /pub/network/ppp, file ppp-1.2a2.tar.Z Self-description "Since no one else is doing it... Here is straight a port of ppp-1.2 to ultrix. No warranties. The boxes we used were Personal Decstation 20 and DS 3100 with Ultrix 4.3. ppp is tested with Cisco Cs-500 and macppp1.1.3 Follow installation instructions in ultrix directory." Status ... The installation procedure to ppp-1.2a was incorrect. A patch to pseudo_data.c was forgotten resulting in that pppattach() was not called at system boot. There is a updated version in ftp.sunet.se:/pub/network/ppp/ppp-1.2a1 with a updated INST.NOTES and pseudo_data.c.diff. robert@pinus.slu.se (Robert Olsson) in the newsgroup. 5.9 free PPP for Linux ALPHA PPP for Linux Version 0.1.4/0.1.5 linux-ppp-0.1.5.tgz kernel files pppd-0.1.4.tgz pppd source and binary Author Michael Callahan or self-description This version should work with any kernel from pl13 onward, although I've tested it only with pl13p. (Time for me to upgrade!) You should also pick up "chat" here or from Sunsite, which is a useful little scripting tool compiled by Al Longyear. In general, you should pick up the highest-numbered versions of linux-ppp-M.N.P.tgz pppd-M.N.Q.tgz A pppd daemon with version number M.N.Q will work with the kernel driver M.N.P; when an change occurs to the interface between the user-level code and the kernel code I'll always change one of the first two parts of the version number. public ftp site ftp.gang.umass.edu, directory /user/michael 6. UNCOMPLETE LIST OF FTP SITES FOR PPP STUFF, DOCS ETC. try also the ftp sites mentioned above in the 'packages' section. Merit PPP collection at merit.edu:/pub/ppp/ Ohio PPP collection at archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:/pub/ppp (lots of software there is out of date, however; look into the packages section for information on up-to-date versions of the software.) KA9Q NOS collection at ucsd.edu:... 7. COMMERCIAL PPP SOFTWARE PACKAGES 7.1 Amiga Inet A version, which will support SLIP (but, alas, not PPP), is expected to be distributed with AmigaOS 3.1 in spring 93 7.2 MSDOS with and without MSWindows 7.2.1 COMMERCIAL PPP PACKAGES FOR MS-DOS AND MS-WINDOWS This information orignally appeared in the December 7th, 1992 issue of "Open Systems Today", a newspaper published by CMP Publications, (516) 562-5882. Each of these packages costs around $400 not including volume or other discounts. Call the vendor for details. Each of the packages is a complete TCP/IP stack with assorted client programs, ftp, telnet, etc.., that run under MS-DOS and/or MS-Windows. The TCP/IP client programs included in each package vary. Some use the DOS command line (even under MS-Windows) while others have full Windows GUI interfaces. A PPP client (but not server) is included with each of these packages. 7.2.1.1. LAN WorkPlace for DOS 4.1 beta (see also 7.2.2) Novell USA: (801) 429-5588 Summary: This is an MS-DOS TSR (Terminate and Stay Ready) solution so it runs under either MS-DOS or MS-Windows. It includes a program called "DIALUP" that only allows connections at 8 bits, no parity. You can use the public domain "kermit" program instead if you need 7 bits, parity connections. 7.2.1.2. PC/TCP FTP Software USA: (508) 685-4000 Contact: info@ftp.com Summary: PC/TCP is an MS-DOS TSR solution that had PPP long before it was fashionable. Not surprisingly, it was the only non-beta product available for this review. Comment: PC/TCP 2.2 was shipped 24/25 March 1993 (information indirectly through one of their customers.) I copy parts of the feature list: 1. Autoinstall/Autoconfig (graphical interface, easy install) 2. PCTCPNET (mount InterDrives from File Manager) 3. PCNFSD Print Support (multiple print redirection through PCNFSD) 4. Router Discovery - RFC 1256 5. 8K UDP Writes 6. WMSG (Demonstrates IP Multicast) 7. NFS/TCP Support 8. International Character Set Support / Names in InterDrive 9. International Character Set Support / Directory in InterDrive 10. MVSLogin Support for InterDrive 11. TN Mouse and light pen Support 12. VI Compression for both SLIP and PPP 13. WinSockAPI Meets Final Revision 14. Interdrive EMM Caching Support - use EMM for buffers 15. Inet - Serial line additions debug SLIP and PPP connections 16. Kerberos/Ktelnet 17. Kernel/Netbios Interactions imporved support for LANtastic, LAN MAN 7.2.1.3. Distinct TCP/IP 3.0 beta Distinct Inc. USA: (408) 741- 0781 Summmary: This is a Windows DLL solution so it only runs under MS-Windows . Nice scripting features and built-in support (stored configuration strings, basically) for various modems. 7.2.1.4. Super-PPP for Windows 1.0 beta Frontier Technologies Corp USA: (414) 241-4555 Summary: This is a Windows DLL solution that is an optional component of their Super-TCP for Windows product. Super-TCP comes in both TSR and DLL flavors but the Super-PPP product is strictly DLL. Very configurable. Performance notes: If you run PPP under MS-Windows, your performance will suck (it might not work at all!) unless you have 16550A UARTs in your PC. If you have an extra card slot, you can add two 16550A ports with the DSP 550 card from STB Systems, (214) 234-8750. To find out what kind of UARTs are in your PC, use the program "msd.exe" in your MS-Windows 3.1 install directory or retrieve the program /published/open-systems-today/uarttype.zip from ftp.uu.net . Older UARTs are the 8250 or the 16450. These UARTs will work ok under MS-DOS. A fast CPU helps, though. No performance tests were run because three of the four packages above are still in beta. For more information, read the Open Systems Today article and stay tuned to this FAQ. 7.2.2 MSDOS/NOVELL: Novell now offers PPP support (asynchronous) in LAN WorkPlace for DOS version 4.1, and PPP support for synchronous and T1 connections on NetWare v3.11 servers in the MultiProtocol Router WAN Links option. NetWare server support for the routing of IP and IPX protocols over asynchronous dialup lines will be available sometime around mid-1993. This is an excerpt from LWP41.TXT, a document describing LAN WorkPlace for DOS v4.1 (the entire text can be found on sjf-lwp.sjf.novell.com in ~/lwp4dos/lwp41.txt): * SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) and PPP (Point to Point Protocol) support. SLIP and PPP support is provided in the form of a custom ODI driver for LAN WorkPlace: SLIP_PPP.COM. This driver allows the Novell TCP/IP Transport for DOS v4.1 to use asynchronous connections for IP services required by DOS and Windows applications. It supports the following: - SLIP - Compressed SLIP (C-SLIP) using Van Jacobson TCP/IP header compression (as described in RFC-1144). - PPP with support for Van Jacobson TCP/IP header compression option negotiation and PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) as described in RFC-1334. - Support for National Semiconductor's 16550, 16550A, 16450 and 8250 UARTs (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter). Use of a 16550 UART is strongly recommended (and is required for use with Windows at speeds of 9600bps or greater). NOTE: One can use the Microsoft Diagnostics program supplied with Windows v3.1 (MSD.EXE) to determine which type of UART is installed in a PC. - Interface speeds up to 57,600 bps when used with a V.32bis/V.42bis modem and 16550A UART. brian@novell.com (Brian Meek) clarified on my request, that: IP is the only protocol supported directly by the LAN WorkPlace SLIP_PPP driver in this initial release. One can use the IPTUNNEL LAN driver (also included in LAN WorkPlace) to encapsulate IPX in UDP/IP and attach to a NetWare v3.11 server running a similar driver. This "IP Tunneling" mechanism is described in RFC 1234. Direct IPX support for this PPP driver will be added later, but the current tunneling mechanism is presently more widely applicable... since few (if any) PPP implementations are presently available with support for IPX. 7.3 386/486 PC's with SCO Unix: 7.3.1 SCO UNIX ODT2.0 AND LATER FOR 386/486 PC'S CONTAINS PPP. 7.3.2 MORNING STAR PPP RUNS UNDER SCO UNIX AND ODT (SEE 7.4) 7.4 for lots of computers running some Unix derivate: Morning Star PPP Price: $795 (40% discount for .edu) Supported systems: Sun 4, Sun 3, NeXT, DECstation, RS/6000, SCO UNIX, ISC UNIX, and Silicon Graphics (for an actual complete list, look at self-description . Features demand-dial, scripting, filtering, redial, header compression, client, server, tunneling, extra escaping, the ability to work with various keycard access systems that require user interaction during the script Self-description Morning Star claims that their async PPP and SLIP run fine over UNIX systems' native serial ports, with no additional hardware required. For better performance, they recommend that users of PC-based UNIX systems install either a serial interface card based on the NS16550AFN UART, or a multiport "smart" card. They claim to do async PPP and SLIP/CSLIP as fast as the underlying UNIX supports (usually 38400), and to do sync PPP up to T1 (1.544Mb/s) or E1 (Euro-T1, 2.048Mb/s) over their SnapLink. They provide dynamically-loadable modules for SunOS 4.1.* and NeXTStep 2.1 and 3.0, so users needn't even reboot during the installation process. WWW http://www.morningstar.com FTP ftp.morningstar.com ftp.uu.net:/vendors/MorningStar/ E-mail: marketing@morningstar.com 7.5 for SUN computers running SunOS 7.5.2 BRIXTON PPP Supported systems: Sun 4 Features: demand-dial 7.5.3 SUNLINK PPP 1.0 was announced in SunFLASH Vol 49 # 1 (January 1993) Requires SPARC(R) system running Solaris(R) 1.x operating environment and either SunLink HSI/S or SunLink MCP. Features supports only synchronous up to 2MB/s lines, load-sharing, dynamic routing. Only the obsolete RFC1171/2 standard, but should interoperate with newer implementations. Price $1,225 (media, doc, and RTU) [in the USA only] Comment for a necessary patch, look at the configuration section. 7.5.4 SOLARIS 2.3 A frequently asked question in this newsgroup is ``How can I get PPP working on Solaris 2.x?'' If you're willing to wait a few weeks, Sun will do it for you. On Tuesday, SunSoft announced that Solaris 2.3 will contain PPP. The press release says that Solaris 2.3 ``will be generally available in early November.'' eggert@twinsun.com (Paul Eggert) The patch for the mishandling of Async control character mapping (in the LCP and IPCP negotiation) for Solaris 2.3 is patch number 101425 (the current revision level is -01). It should now be available from your favorite Sun patchetorium (e.g. U.S. Answer Center, SunSolve, SunService, etc.) This should allow you to interoperate with PPP that weren't able to deal with this bug such as the Telebit Netblazers. It also allows interoperation with versions of PPP that do not support IP address negotiation. therbert@r2d2.Eng.Sun.COM (Tom Herbert) 7.6 for NeXT 7.6.1 MORNING STAR PPP SEE 7.4 PPP hardware 8. PPP HARDWARE 8.1 Hardware that does async PPP [Started by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti) and heavily edited, to include information from the net, by i.s.] This is a list of hardware that supports async PPP, in the form of a terminal server or terminal server / router combination. - Telebit Netblazer Phone: +1 800 TELEBIT ftp information from ftp.telebit.com SELF-DESCRIPTION Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 23:55:49 -0700 From: cslater@mondavi.sunnyvale.telebit.com (Charlie Slater) The NetBlazer supports 24 async lines. An individual line can be run at 115.2Kbps. A benchmark by LANQUEST showed the NetBlazer could run PPP on 24 async lines at 38.4Kbps. I don't know of any customers who run exclusively PPP on 24 lines, but I know of several that run mixtures of SLIP and PPP on 24 lines. OPINION: From: bjs@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Brian J. Smith) Date: Fri, 27 Nov 92 23:35:18 GMT A NetBlazer works flawlessly for remote site PPP/SLIP links. As a term server it doesn't fit the bill. And a bit costly. - Livingston Portmaster PM-11 ftp information from gator.netcom.com:/pub/livingston/ Livingston Enterprises, Inc: +1 510 426 0770 OPINION: From: skl@wimsey.bc.ca (Samuel Lam) Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1992 07:21:07 GMT They have 10-, 20- and 30-port configurations. List prices ranging from ~US$2.7K to ~US$3.8K. Contact for more information. - Xylogics MicroAnnex XL (8-16 ports - release 7.0 firmware) - Xylogics Annex 3 (8-64 ports - release 7.0 firmware) SELF-DESCRIPTION From: carlson@xylogics.com (James Carlson) Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1993 14:28:40 EDT We don't have a sync PPP version yet, mostly because we don't support sync serial yet. That is scheduled for the R8.1 release. We have had async PPP since our R7.0 release in October 1992 for our Annex 3 and Micro Annex XL platforms. PPP is not supported on the (now obsolete) Annex 2 nor on the Micro Annex ELS. The Annex 3 can be customer-upgraded from 8 to 64 async serial lines, with full modem controls on each line, and two to three i376 processors. (The i376 is an embedded version of the 80386 which does not have an MMU.) The motherboard has one i376 and each serial card (maximum two) has one. Packet routing and user-level functions are handled on the motherboard, while framing and PPP/SLIP link-level processing are done on the serial cards. OPINION From: bjs@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Brian J. Smith) Date: Fri, 27 Nov 92 23:35:18 GMT I have been *VERY* happy with my Xylogics terminal servers I have to Anne x II's and a Annex 3. They were designed for the Unix type person, and tak e 2 mins to get working on the network. Port configuration will take longe r, but normally you only have a few sets of configurations "modem dialin hig h speed" etc. Two thumbs up to this company, now if they didn't cost so much. :) :) - Datability VCP 200/300 ( ??? ) From: bjs@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Brian J. Smith) Date: Fri, 27 Nov 92 23:35:18 GMT I tested one of these, they come in 8-16 port configurations, a TCP or LA T or TCP/LAT version. Very VMS like, I would guess a off spring of DECservers . Cheaper than the Xylogics in Price. Didn't fit my feel due to the VMSish help and commands. - 3com CS/2100 (10 lines max) [Was mentioned in a posting of Peter Galbavy, summarizing suggestions other ppl. made to him about ppp-capable terminal servers. i.s.] 8.2 Hardware that supports sync PPP Newsgroups: comp.protocols.ppp Original-From: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti), but heavily edited by i.s. Note that sync PPP is rather well established and it's not surprising to see lots of vendors using it as their only sync serial line protocol. Various folks do various of the configuration options, anywhere from a full implementation to very bare bones. The price point is arbitrary. These are list prices for the cheapest box that has at least 1 sync PPP port that runs at 56 kb/sec plus one ethernet. Prices approximate, your milage may vary, contact your vendor for details. - Cisco E-mail: sales@cisco.com - Telebit Netblazer Phone: +1 800 TELEBIT E-mail: ...@telebit.com NS2-1ESN + SYN35 two EIA-232 SYNC ports and two V.35 sync ports NB40 + 2 * SYN232 + SYN35 + SYN530 + SYN449 total of 10 sync ports (4 EIA-232, 2 V.35 ports, 2 EIA-530 ports, 2 EIA-422/449) SELF-DESCRIPTION Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 23:55:49 -0700 From: cslater@mondavi.sunnyvale.telebit.com (Charlie Slater) As of this February (93), the NetBlazer/40 supports up to 10 sync ports. All can be run at 128Kbps and several can be run at 2Mbps (I don't have any field or independent test data on how many can be run at 2Mbps, but I think that the answer is at least 2). - Livingston E-Mail: ...@livingston.com IR-4 1 ethernet + 4 56K + 1 RS-232 - Morning Star SNAPlink E-Mail: marketing@morningstar.com SnapLink SCSI-attached serial interface for Unix systems 1 T1 + 2 56K, RS-232 or RS-449 HDLC driver for sun4c ttya and ttyb included with PPP software. Works only with SunOS "haven't been able to extract the information from Sun that we need to make it work under SunOS 4.1.* or Solaris 2.*. The HDLC driver works on NeXTs under NeXTStep 2.[12], but because of NeXTStep's interrupt structure, we can only get it up to 19200 sync. It's also available from ftp.morningstar.com:pub/tools/sun-hdlc.tar.Z. It started as something from one of Torben Nielsen 's grad students, and we're required to pass along any changes we make to it. We hope that if someone gets it working under 4.1.*, they'll be nice enough to pass their changes along too."