[NCLUG] ppp troubles with RH 8.0 (KRUD 2003-01)

[S. Luke Jones]

Kevin Fenzi wrote:
> ping should work. 
> 
> Try: 
> 
> ping -n 
[...]
> I use "host" for dns testing... 
> 
> host nclug.org
> 
> should resove nclug.org. 
> See 'man host'

> alias ppp-compress-21 bsd_comp
> alias ppp-compress-24 ppp_deflate
> alias ppp-compress-26 ppp_deflate
> 
> Thats the bsd-comp module. Do you have that module? 

There's a /usr/src/linux-2.4/./drivers/net/bsd_comp.c, so
I think maybe I might, unless I don't. Beats me.

> Possible. You can test this by connecting and doing: 
> 
> service ipchains stop

So I did that (and something else I mention below)
and together they work. But it means I don't have
a firewall, so someone has probably figured out that
I'm online and has sendmail working (more than I
ever accomplished :-) and is using it to spam you.

> The redhat tool can specify a "trusted" interface, and non trusted
> ones. You can make eth0 trusted, then restruct everything else to just
> DHCP. 

What's the simplest (one click would be fine) way
to say (with ip(chains|tables)) that I trust the
ppp0 interface with DHCP and with replies to my SSH,
HTTP, and POP traffic, and nothing else, *and* that
I trust my local LAN to originate SSH and HTTP and
SMB/NMB traffic, and nothing else. In other words, I
don't want to say that eth0 is a trusted device, and
I certainly don't want to say that ppp0 is trusted.

> Hope that helps

It did, thanks, although it wasn't sufficient. The ifup-ppp0
script has a bunch of impenetrable logic related to setting
my default route, and I didn't understand a lick of it, much
less the description of same in man pppd, but what I was able
to figure out is that if I set "defaultroute" in my 
/etc/ppp/options file, then, with my firewall off, I can
connect up and indeed, I'm using it to type this mail.

I wonder (but don't much care, now that it "works") why the
default route wasn't getting set properly on ppp establishment.
It's setting up the /etc/resolv.conf stuff correctly. You'd
think that defaultroute would be about that obvious. But maybe
the man pppd page explains this, if only I'd read it.