The following describes how to set up PPP over ATM (PPPoA). PPPoA is a popular choice
among European DSL providers.
PPPoA support for this device is supplied as a port in FreeBSD because the firmware is
distributed under Alcatel's license agreement and can not be redistributed freely with
the base system of FreeBSD.
To install the software, simply use the Ports Collection.
Install the net/pppoa port and follow the instructions provided with
it.
Like many USB devices, the Alcatel SpeedTouch™
USB needs to download firmware from the host computer to operate properly. It is possible
to automate this process in FreeBSD so that this transfer takes place whenever the device
is plugged into a USB port. The following information can be added to the /etc/usbd.conf file to enable this automatic firmware transfer.
This file must be edited as the root user.
device "Alcatel SpeedTouch USB"
devname "ugen[0-9]+"
vendor 0x06b9
product 0x4061
attach "/usr/local/sbin/modem_run -f /usr/local/libdata/mgmt.o"
To enable the USB daemon, usbd, put the following the line
into /etc/rc.conf:
usbd_enable="YES"
It is also possible to set up ppp to dial up at startup. To
do this add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf. Again, for
this procedure you will need to be logged in as the root
user.
ppp_enable="YES"
ppp_mode="ddial"
ppp_profile="adsl"
For this to work correctly you will need to have used the sample ppp.conf which is supplied with the net/pppoa port.
You can use mpd to connect to a variety of services, in
particular PPTP services. You can find mpd in the Ports
Collection, net/mpd. Many ADSL modems require that a PPTP tunnel is created
between the modem and computer, one such modem is the Alcatel SpeedTouch Home.
First you must install the port, and then you can configure mpd to suit your requirements and provider settings. The port
places a set of sample configuration files which are well documented in PREFIX/etc/mpd/. Note here that
PREFIX means the directory into which your ports are
installed, this defaults to /usr/local/. A complete guide to
configure mpd is available in HTML format once the port has
been installed. It is placed in PREFIX/share/doc/mpd/. Here is a sample
configuration for connecting to an ADSL service with mpd. The
configuration is spread over two files, first the mpd.conf:
default:
load adsl
adsl:
new -i ng0 adsl adsl
set bundle authname username 
set bundle password password 
set bundle disable multilink
set link no pap acfcomp protocomp
set link disable chap
set link accept chap
set link keep-alive 30 10
set ipcp no vjcomp
set ipcp ranges 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0
set iface route default
set iface disable on-demand
set iface enable proxy-arp
set iface idle 0
open
- The username used to authenticate with your ISP.
- The password used to authenticate with your ISP.
The mpd.links file contains information about the link, or
links, you wish to establish. An example mpd.links to accompany
the above example is given beneath:
adsl:
set link type pptp
set pptp mode active
set pptp enable originate outcall
set pptp self 10.0.0.1
set pptp peer 10.0.0.138
- The IP address of your FreeBSD computer which you will be using mpd from.
- The IP address of your ADSL modem. For the Alcatel SpeedTouch Home this address defaults to 10.0.0.138.
It is possible to initialize the connection easily by issuing the following command as
root:
# mpd -b adsl
You can see the status of the connection with the following command:
% ifconfig ng0
ng0: flags=88d1<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,NOARP,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 216.136.204.117 --> 204.152.186.171 netmask 0xffffffff
Using mpd is the recommended way to connect to an ADSL
service with FreeBSD.
It is also possible to use FreeBSD to connect to other PPPoA services using net/pptpclient.
To use net/pptpclient to connect to a DSL service, install the port or
package and edit your /etc/ppp/ppp.conf. You will need to be
root to perform both of these operations. An example section of
ppp.conf is given below. For further information on ppp.conf options consult the ppp manual
page, ppp(8).
adsl:
set log phase chat lcp ipcp ccp tun command
set timeout 0
enable dns
set authname username
set authkey password
set ifaddr 0 0
add default HISADDR
- The username of your account with the DSL provider.
- The password for your account.
Warning: Because you must put your account's password in the ppp.conf file in plain text form you should make sure than nobody
can read the contents of this file. The following series of commands will make sure the
file is only readable by the root account. Refer to the manual
pages for chmod(1) and chown(8) for further
information.
# chown root:wheel /etc/ppp/ppp.conf
# chmod 600 /etc/ppp/ppp.conf
This will open a tunnel for a PPP session to your DSL router. Ethernet DSL modems have
a preconfigured LAN IP address which you connect to. In the case of the Alcatel SpeedTouch Home this address is 10.0.0.138. Your router documentation should tell you which address
your device uses. To open the tunnel and start a PPP session execute the following
command:
# pptp address adsl
Tip: You may wish to add an ampersand (“&”) to the end of the
previous command because pptp will not return your prompt to
you otherwise.
A tun virtual tunnel device will be created for
interaction between the pptp and ppp processes. Once you have been returned to your prompt, or the
pptp process has confirmed a connection you can examine the
tunnel like so:
% ifconfig tun0
tun0: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 216.136.204.21 --> 204.152.186.171 netmask 0xffffff00
Opened by PID 918
If you are unable to connect, check the configuration of your router, which is usually
accessible via telnet or with a web browser. If you still
cannot connect you should examine the output of the pptp command
and the contents of the ppp log file, /var/log/ppp.log for clues.
