Keith,
I'm pretty much a linux newbie as well, although my day job is programming IBM's AS/400, which does have a unix shell of sorts, and SuSE have just released a distribution for this box, which is based on the powerpc chip. Anyway, having spent some late nights trying to crack the dial on demand problem (essential if i'm to persuade the rest of my family to stop using Microsoft - and I'm fed up troubleshooting Windows for them), I have arrived at a set up which works, at least for my stand alone machine. Some of these steps may be unnecessary, but they don't seem to have any bad effect. If anyone knows any better, please reply.
If you move onto setting up your linux box to serve the internet to other computers, with named, IP masquerading, etc, I can't really be of help 'cos I've never done this - can anyone else help? Particularly, will the resolv.conf timeout hack still work if running named?
Anyway, The wvdial.dod script is shipped with SuSE 7.2 and is found in /etc/rc.d/. This script does not need amendment - some of the stuff in there like local/remote ip are basically dummy values which will be reset by your ISP. All you need to do is start the script with /etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod start. This can be done automatically at boot time if you set the relevant parameter in rc.config, which can be done through YaST2 - see below.
I don't have a linux box in front of me at the moment, so I will post a list of the exact names of the settings to change tomorrow - but you should be able to work out which ones I'm talking about from the following, you'll just have to search for them.
You will need your ISP's DNS addresses - if you don't know them, have a look in /etc/resolv.conf while your internet connection is up and write down the nameserver lines.
Go into YaST2, Network, Modems and check that all your settings are correct - particularly make sure the ISP account is set as the default, and password is entered and set to be remembered.
In order to test the basic functionality, in a terminal session as root:
/etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod start
ping <any old URL>
If the modem doesn't dial, check the output you got on the terminal from the wvdial.dod start - does it mention ppp0? I think this is needed. If it says ppp1 or any other number instead, another ppp instance has already got ppp0. Could be Kinternet if that's running, as it seems to come up automatically with KDE. Kill it, then do /etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod restart.
If you've got ppp0 this time, try the Ping again and your modem should dial. Ping will probably timeout, but we'll sort that out later.
When you've set wvdial.dod to be started at boot time, I suppose it will get the ppp0 interface, as it will be started before Kinternet, but I haven't tested this 'cos I'm using Gnome, not KDE. If Kinternet still causes a conflict, you will need to look into preventing its startup.
Still in YaST2, go to misc, then rc.config, and find in the tree on the left:
Somewhere in Network, switch off the setting which allows dynamic changes to be made to resolv.conf. switch on the dynamic ip patch.
Somewhere in Startup, network, there is the setting to start wvdial.dod on boot up - set it to yes.
Exit YaST, saving these changes.
Using your favourite editor, edit /etc/resolv.conf - if the nameserver lines you noted down earlier aren't there, add them, then add a line: options timeout:10 attempts:10.
timeout is the time in seconds before the system retries the dns lookup. attempts is the number of times the dns lookup will be attempted before the system gives up completely. You may want to adjust these values, depending on how long it takes to connect to your ISP's network in your particular case.
Test in a console session with ping, making sure wvdial.dod is up but your modem is offline.
/etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod restart
should do it
or /etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod hangup, if the modem is already active.
Don't worry if the first few packets are lost, the important thing is that the ping does not give up.
Regards,
Darrell
-----Original Message-----
From: kbb0927@cs.com [mailto:kbb0927@cs.com]
Sent: 16 August 2001 00:40
To: Darrell.Kavanagh@newellandbudge.com
Subject: RE: RE: [SLE] Dial on Demand
Yes Darrell,
What do I need to customize in the script? I use kppp and kinternet and have
not setup any ppp scripts, do I need to? What other services programs need
to be run in the background? WIll my windoze clients invoke the dod to run?
I don't know what to put for remote/local IP - is remote my ISP? I changed both
to my gateway IP and clicked on konqueror, clicked on a bookmark and nothing
happened. Then it said it couldn't find the www.whateverhost.com. wvdial.dod
was started, but the modem never dialed. I know I am missing something some-
where.
Thanks and regards,
Keith B.
Sorry for being such a dense newbie.
"Kavanagh, Darrell" <Darrell.Kavanagh@newellandbudge.com> wrote:
>There is a setting in YaST or YaST2 (in YaST2 click Misc, then rc.config and
>it's down the bottom somewhere in the startup section) where you can choose
>to start wvdial.dod at boot time. This has the effect of starting PPP in
>demand mode, so when a request for an external domain is detected, the modem
>dials. For testing purposes, you can run
>
>/etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod start
>/etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod stop
>
>which start and stop the background PPP process, and
>
>/etc/rc.d/wvdial.dod hangup
>
>which hangs up the modem without stopping PPP. Note the default idle=180
>setting in wvdial.dod which hangs up after 3 minutes of inactivity on the
>line - this can be adjusted to your requirements. If you have problems,
>especially with the first request (the one which triggers the dial) failing,
>post again and I can describe in detail the tweaks I have made to my own
>setup.
>
>Good Luck.
>
>Darrell
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: kbb0927@cs.com [mailto:kbb0927@cs.com]
>Sent: 14 August 2001 17:24
>To: suse-linux-e@suse.com
>Subject: Re: [SLE] Dial on Demand
>
>
>Thanks, found the file in /etc/rc.d. Now question is
>how to invoke or call it when a machine on the net or
>the gateway itself wants to go to the net.
>
>Regards,
>
>Keith B.
>
>Jaakko Tamminen <jtamminen@satabaana.net> wrote:
>
>>Hello
>>
>>Keith, You can use "locate <file>" too....
>>
>>Jaska.
>>
>>
>>Viestissä Tiistai 14. Elokuuta 2001 10:54, Kavanagh, Darrell kirjoitti:
>>> Keith,
>>>
>>> /etc/rc.d/ is where it is.
>>>
>>> Darrell
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: kbb0927@cs.com [mailto:kbb0927@cs.com]
>>> Sent: 13 August 2001 18:24
>>> To: Darrell.Kavanagh@newellandbudge.com
>>> Subject: RE: [SLE] Dial on Demand
>>>
>>>
>>> [snip]
>>>
>>> Darrell,
>>>
>>> I am using SuSE 7.2 Personal. Where can I find that wvdial.dod script?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Keith B.
>>>
>>>
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