PPP.SYS(5) BSD Programmer's Manual PPP.SYS(5)
NAME
ppp.sys - PPP remote host description file
DESCRIPTION
The systems known by ppp(8) and their attributes are stored in an ASCII
file which is structured somewhat like the termcap(5) file. Each line in
the file provides a description for a single system. Fields are separat-
ed by a colon (``:''). Lines ending in a \ character with an immediately
following newline are continued on the next line.
The first entry is the name(s) of the host system. If there is more than
one name for a system, the names are separated by vertical bars. After
the name of the system comes the fields of the description. A field name
followed by an `=' sign indicates a string value follows. A field name
followed by a `#' sign indicates a following numeric value.
A number of capabilities is devoted to the description of the log-in se-
quence which consists of up to ten steps (numbered starting from 0). At
each step ppp(8) will first send the n-th string and then will wait for
the n-th expected string to be sent from the remote side during some con-
figurable period of time (the default is 15 seconds). If the expected
string was not received before the timer expired the n-th auxilary send
string will be sent (if specified) and waiting for the expected responce
will be repeated. The second failure to get the expected string will re-
sult in terminating the login sequence and dropping the connection. If
the expected string was successfully received the login automaton moves
on to the next step. If no expected string is specified for the n-th
step the automaton will either go ahead immediately or (if the timeout
period is specified) will delay for the duration of the timeout period.
CAPABILITIES
Capabilities are either strings (str), numbers (num), or boolean flags
(bool). A string capability is specified by capability=value; for exam-
ple, ``dv=/dev/com1''. A numeric capability is specified by
capability#value; for example, ``id#99''. A boolean capability is speci-
fied by simply listing the capability.
at (str) Auto call unit type.
br (num) The baud rate used in establishing a connection to the re-
mote host. This is a decimal number. If the baud rate is not
specified the line speed will remain unchanged.
cm (str) Map of the special characters which should be avoided in
case if the equipment uses some of them for flow control or link
control or inserts the characters for time fill. The map can be
specified as a 32-bit hexadecimal or octal number (if it starts
from 0x or 0 respectively) in which case the least significant
bit corresponds to the null character and the most significant
bit - to the character with code 037 (US). Alternatively, it can
be specified as the string of letters corresponding the control
characters, for example ``@QS'' will represent mask with bits 0,
17 and 19 set. The default all-zero mask will allow transmission
of all control characters.
cu (str) Call unit if making a phone call. Default is the same as
the `dv' field.
di (bool) Dial-in (answering mode) allowed.
do (bool) Dial-out (originating mode) allowed.
du (bool) This host is on a dial-up line.
dv (str) UNIX device(s) to open to establish a connection. If this
file refers to a terminal line, ppp(8) attempts to perform an ex-
clusive open on the device to insure only one user at a time has
access to the port.
e0-e9 (str) String to wait for on the n-th step of log-in sequence.
f0-f9 (str) Auxilary string to send on the n-th step of log-in sequence
in case if the correspoding expected string was not received.
id (num) The idle timer period in seconds. If the value is equal
zero the idle timer will be disabled.
if (str) The space-separated list of arguments to call ifconfig(8)
with before initiating the connection. The interface name should
not be included in the list.
in (num) The interface number for the system. Interface names for
the asynchronous PPP links are composed from the prefix ``ppp''
and the decimal number of the interface, for example ``ppp7''. It
is recommended to specify the interface numbers explicitly be-
cause "migrating" network addresses can confuse some routing
software. If interface number is not specified the fisrt inter-
face which is down will be allocated.
mc (num) The number of PPP protocol option negotiation attempts be-
fore giving up. The default value is 10; setting this parameter
to zero will remove limit on the number of attempts.
mr (num) The maximal packet size the local side is willing to re-
ceive. This option can be useful on packet-switching links to
prevent link-level packet fragmentation or in case of problems
with hardware flow control. The default value is 1500 (bytes).
mt (num) The number of attempts to terminate the connection grace-
fully before hanging up. The default value is 3.
pf (str) The comma-separated list of PPP option flags (pfc, acfc,
tcpc, ftel; a flag can be preceded with - to negate its effect).
See detailed discussion of the flags in pppconfig(8). On the
asynchronous links all the listed flags are set by default.
pn (str) Telephone number(s) for this host.
s0-s9 (str) String to send on the n-th step of log-in sequence.
t0-t9 (num) Timeout (in seconds) for the receiving the expected string
on the n-th step of log-in sequence. The default timeout is 15
seconds.
tc (str) Indicates that the list of capabilities is continued in the
named description. This is used primarily to share common capa-
bility information.
to (num) PPP configure/terminate retry timeout (in 1/10 seconds).
The default timeout is 3 sec.
Here is a short example showing the use of the capability continuation
feature:
DIALOUT:at=hayes:br#9600:du:dv=/dev/com1:
uuda:\
:pn=6428782:in#0:do:di:\
:e0=login:s1=sesame^M:e1=assword:s2=open^M:\
:if=inet 199.17.115.32:\
:tc=DIALOUT:
FILES
/etc/ppp.sys The ppp remote host description (system) file resides in
/etc.
SEE ALSO
ppp(8), pppconfig(8), ifconfig(8), ppp(4)
HISTORY
The ppp.sys file format appeared in BSDI.
BSD/386 March 27, 1993 3