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<H2><A NAME="s2">2. General information</A></H2>



<H2><A NAME="ss2.1">2.1 What is PPP?</A></H2>

<P>PPP, or Point-to-Point Protocol, is a recognized
\official\ Internet protocol. It is a protocol used to exchange
IP frames (and others) over a serial link. The current base RFC for
PPP is 1661. There are many related ones.</P>
<P>Contrary to what some people think, it does not mean
\Peer to Peer Processing\; although you may do peer-peer
communications using TCP/IP over a PPP link.</P>


<H2><A NAME="ss2.2">2.2 My university (company) does not support PPP. Can I use PPP?</A></H2>

<P>In general, no. A \classical\ PPP implementation
requires that you make changes to the routes and network devices
supported by the operating system. This may mean that you will
have to rebuild the kernel for the remote computer.</P>
<P>This is not a job for a general user. If you can
convince your administration people that PPP is a \good thing\
then you stand a chance of getting it implemented. If you can't,
then you probably can't use PPP.</P>
<P>However, if you are using a system which is supported
by the people who are marketing the \TIA\ (The Internet
Adapter) package, then there is hope. I do not have much information
on this package, however, from what I have found, they plan to
support PPP in \the next version\. (My information may
be old. Contact them directly. Information on TIA is available
at <EM>ftp.marketplace.com</EM> in the <EM>/pub/tia</EM>
directory.)</P>
<P>If your system is not supported by TIA, and you choose not to use
slirp, and you can\t convince the admin group to support PPP then
you should use the \<EM>term</EM>\ package. Some service
providers will object to you running \<EM>term</EM>\. They
have many different reasons, however the most common is \security
concerns\.</P>
<P>There is a version of TIA for Linux.</P>
<P>In addition to TIA, Danny Gasparovski wrote a program
called <EM>slirp</EM> which will perform functions
similar to TIA. The program is currently available with the source
code from the ftp site <EM>blitzen.canberra.edu.au:/pub/slirp</EM>.
You should obtain the code if you wish additional information
about this program. From the initial examination, it is seems
to be an excellent contender to the commercial TIA program.</P>

<H2><A NAME="ss2.3">2.3 Where is PPP?</A></H2>

<P>It is in two parts. The first part is in the kernel.
In the kernels from 1.1.13, the driver is part of the network
system drivers.</P>
<P>The second part is the \daemon\ process, <EM>pppd</EM>.
This is a <B>required</B> process. The source to it is in the
file <EM>ppp-2.2.0e.tar.gz</EM> located on
<EM>sunsite.unc.edu</EM> in the <EM>/pub/Linux/system/Network/serial</EM>
directory.</P>
<P>Version 2.2 and above are designed to be used only
with the 1.2 and later kernels. Please don't use this version
with the 1.1 series kernels as they are out of date for either
the tty driver or the networking software.</P>

<H2><A NAME="ss2.4">2.4 I just obtained PPP. What do I do with it?</A></H2>

<P><B>R</B>ead <B>T</B>he <B>F</B>ine <B>M</B>aterial available.</P>
<P>Start by reading the <EM>README</EM>
file and then the <EM>README.linux</EM> file.
The documentation sources are listed below.</P>


<H2><A NAME="ss2.5">2.5 Where are additional sources of information for PPP?</A></H2>

<P>(Where\s the documentation? Is there a HOWTO?, etc.)</P>
<P>There are several sources of information for the
PPP protocol as implemented under Linux.
<UL>
<LI>The <EM>README</EM> file in the source package.</LI>
<LI>The <EM>README.linux</EM> file in the source package.</LI>
<LI>The <EM>Net-2-HOWTO</EM> document.</LI>
<LI>The <EM>PPP-HOWTO</EM> document.</LI>
<LI>The Network Administration Guide.</LI>
<LI>The <EM>pppd</EM> man page.</LI>
<LI>The FAQ document for the comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup.</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<P>The HOWTO and this FAQ are stored in the usual place
for the Linux HOWTOs. That is currently on <EM>sunsite.unc.edu</EM>
in the directory <EM>/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO</EM>.</P>
<P>The Network Administration Guide is available in
the <EM>/pub/Linux/docs/LPD/network-guide </EM>directory
on sunsite. It is also published by O\Riellly and Associates.
So, if you want a really professional document, then buy a copy
from your local bookstore.</P>
<P>The \<EM>man</EM>\ pages are
included in the source package. You will probably have to move
them to the normal man directory, <EM>/usr/man/man8</EM>
before the <EM>man</EM> command may find them.
Alternately, you may use <EM>nroff</EM> and
<EM>more</EM> to view them directly.</P>
<P>The FAQ for comp.protocols.ppp describes the PPP
protocol itself and the various implementations. You will find
the FAQ for the usenet news group, <EM>comp.protocols.ppp</EM>,
archived on <EM>rtfm.mit.edu</EM> in the <EM>/usenet</EM>
directory. It is in eight parts at the present time.</P>

<H2><A NAME="ss2.6">2.6 Would someone please send me scripts for PPP so that I may see how they are written?</A></H2>

<P>There are a few scripts which are included with the
source package for pppd. It will cover the normal types of access
where you are requested to enter a UNIX login and password.</P>
<P>Specific \scripts\ for specific systems are not included.
If you have problems with a specific connection then you should
contact the help desk for your site, the local news group at the
site, or the general usenet groups for Linux. Unfortunately, time
does not permit me to answer questions for help on supplying a
script for your specific system.</P>


<H2><A NAME="ss2.7">2.7 Where should I post questions about PPP?</A></H2>

<P>The primary usenet group for the PPP implementations
is <EM>comp.protocols.ppp</EM> or <EM>comp.os.linux.setup</EM>.
Use this group for general questions such as \How do I use
pppd?\ or \Why doesn't this work?\.</P>
<P>Questions such as \Why wont pppd compile?\
are generally linux related and belong on the comp.os.linux.networking
group.</P>
<P>Please don't use comp.os.linux.help even if your site should still
carry this obsolete news group.</P>


<H2><A NAME="ss2.8">2.8 The PPP software doesn't work. HELP!!!</A></H2>

<P>This is one of the most sickening questions. I realize
that this is a plea for help. However, it is practically useless
to post this message <B>with no other information</B>. I, and
most others, will only ignore it.</P>
<P>Please see the question regarding errors which normally
occur at the modem\s disconnection. They are not the cause of
a problem, only a symptom. Posting a message with only those errors
is also meaningless.</P>
<P>What is needed is the output of the system log (syslog)
when you run the <EM>pppd</EM> program with
the option \debug\. In addition,
if you are using chat then please use the \<EM>-v</EM>\
option to run the sequence with verbose output.</P>
<P>Please include the output from the kernel\s startup.
This shows the various kernel hardware information such as your
UART type, PPP version, etc.</P>
<P>Please include all information that you can relating
to the problem. However your system configuration, disk drive
configuration, terminal type, mouse location and button status,
etc. are irrelevant. What is important is the system to which
your are trying to contact, the PPP (or terminal server) that
they are using, the modem types and speed that you are using,
etc.</P>
<P>Take care and go through the output. Remove the references
to the telephone number, your account name, and the password.
They are not important to analyzing the problem and would pose
a security risk to you if you published them to usenet. Also discard
the lines which neither come from the kernel nor pppd.</P>
<P>Do <B>NOT</B> run the pppd program with the option \kdebug 31\
and post that!</P>
<P>If the problem warrants examining the data stream,
then you will be contacted by email and asked to mail the trace.
Usenet already costs too much for too many people.</P>
<P>Information is written to various levels. The debug
information is written to the debug level. The informational messages
are written to the info level. The errors are written to the error
level. Please include all levels the \local2\
group which come from the <EM>pppd</EM> process.</P>
<P>In addition, please do not delete the time stamp
information. It is important.</P>


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