SUMM: Can't connect to my alpha at more than 9600 bps and misc PPP problems

From: Guy Dallaire <dallaire_at_total.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 10:45:44 -0500

Thanks to all who replied, in particular to George Livsey who supported me A
LOT with this problem.

Here are my original posts and addendum(s):

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1) We're planing to use ppp-2.2 on Digital UNIX 3.2D-1. But in a while,
we'll be upgrading to 4.0a.

   Does this package work with 4.0a, and if not, which version of PPP is
available/needed ?

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Answers: Yes it works, but DEC presumably ported the thing in Digital UNIX
4.0. It's included in the base package so you don't have to download it from
the net. I heard that they made some minor modifications to the software.

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2)

I know, it's not the fist time that people ask that kind of questions. But I
searched the archives and tried EVERYTHING there and my modem problem is
still not fixed. Are there any good summaries/documents about setting up a
high speed modem with a Digital UNIX box ?

I'm trying to get my modem (GVC14400) to work on my machine(s) (Slpha
Servers 400's and 2100's) and can't get a connection higher than 9600 bps,
no matter how I try !

What I want is a PPP connection at 14400 (And maybe 28800 later). For this,
I have to first log into my system (via getty at 14400) and then issue the
/usr/local/etc/pppd command once logged into my account.

Everything is working fine up to 9600 bps but I can't figure how to set it
up to something higher than this.

Is it possible with my machines/modem ?

My modem can connect at 14400 now, but I get no login prompt....Nothing !

I tried various setting in /etc/gettydefs (I tried 19200, 57600, 14400) like

M38400# B38400 HUPCL CS8 #B38400 SANE IXANY TAB3 HUPCL #login: #M38400

I placed a blank line between each entry.

I set up my modem with something like:

AT&FE0S0=1Q1

I then placed a line like this in /etc/inittab

ppp:23:respawn:/usr/sbin/getty tty01 M38400 vt100

What /etc/gettydefs entry should I use ? Does the baud rate specify the
speed of the CONNECTION, or the speed between the computer and the RS-232
interface ?

Should I use XON/XOFF or hardware flow control ?

Should I force the modem to connect at the desired speed ?

Is it supposed to work, or am I just waisting my time on this ?

ADDENDUM:

We are now able to connect at 14400 bps. We have to issue a <cr> after the
connection to get to the login: prompt but that's a minor problem.

Our problem now is that PPP is not working anymore at that speed. It worked
fine at 9600.

It's still probably a MODEM related problem but we tried everything we could
possibly imagine (and our imagination is quite fertile!) and we just can't
fix it.

Also, when I connected at 9600, the only machine I could PING successfully
(and work with directly) was my PPP server, I could not ping any other
machine on the network. Why ? (I don't run DNS, my server is 142.1.2.3, most
of my other servers and clients are on network 142.1.x.y, my netmask is set
to 255.255.0.0 with a cisco router at 142.1.1.1 that is my gateway to
network 142.1 (configured with routed by 'netsetup').

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Answers:

As you can see, we could connect at 14400 bps. To do this you have to use an
entry of 19200 or 38400 in /etc/gettydefs (like the one mentionned in my post)

14000 is NOT a valid speed. This entry specifies the speed between the
computer and the RS-232 interface. Digital UNIX 3.2 supports up to 38400 bps
(see the termios(4) man page). I heard that DU 4.0 supports up to 115200 bps.

It is VERY IMPORTANT TO PUT A BLANK LINE between each definitions in
/etc/gettydefs because there is presumably a BUG in getty.

The modem should be configured to use HARDWARE HANDSHAKING and should not
echo commands and replies as it fools getty.

Also, when you issue commands to your modem, be sure to disable the getty
process that is accessing your port by commenting the entry in inittab.

For the routing problem (can't see further than our PPP servers) it was
fixed by putting "ROUTER=yes" in /etc/rc.config. I was certain that I did
this, but we had so many problems getting ppp to work that we probably
removed it and forgot to put it back.

FYI, Here is our /etc/ppp/options file (Thanks to George)

9600
/dev/tty01
142.1.2.3:
asyncmap 200a0000
escape 7e,7f,fe,ff,93
lcp-echo-interval 120
lcp-echo-failure 5
-mn
crtscts
modem
passive
proxyarp
defaultroute
mtu 296
mru 296

As you can see, we had to fall back at 9600 bps in order to use ppp. You
then have to have getty use the 9600 entry in /etc/gettydefs.

We can use a higher speed to connect to our server with getty, but when we
start PPP after being logged, the whole things messes up. I'm sure it is a
modem configuration problem but I can't figure how to set it up. Maybe the
problem is with the modem on the client side, I just don't know.

If anyone has configured a GVC 14400 fax/modem under DU 3.2D to use a speed
higher than 9600, please send me your INIT STRING.

                                        Hope this helps !

Guy Dallaire
dallaire_at_total.net

"God only knows if god exists"
Received on Mon Dec 02 1996 - 17:15:08 NZDT

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