Hi All

I have been trying to install ADSL on our office network for the last week. It has not been an easy battle to say the least. Still, I cannot say I haven't made any progress or not learnt anything new. I have already learned so much but as with most things just when everything seems to be working, a new problem pops up.

I came into the office today determined to be able to deliver on my promise of ADSL for monday (after being asked every five minutes for the past week "when is ADSL going to be ready"). Anyway I came in. I physically disconnected the existing computer which has been acting as the gateway for our network. I then changed the 'dhcpd.conf' file so that the computers would know to use the new gateway '192.168.1.1'. Setup the firewall on 192.168.1.1 to enable masquerading. brought up the 'ppp0' interface. Changed the default route to match 'ppp0'. Started one of the work stations on our network. Opened the web-browser and low and behold everything worked. I spent the next half hour or so happily surfing the web when all of a sudden the connection stopped. I tried to restart the connection, but each time it would time out. I then started fiddling around with bringup/shutting down network interfaces, basically doing anything that might enable me to bring up 'ppp0' again. Anyway after a bit of playing around (please don't ask me what I did) I was able to bring 'ppp0' back online again. I should mention that when I say 'playing around' I didn't make any configuration changes. I just tried seeing if turning off/on firewall or 'eth0' would fix the problem.

Anyhow, I was back on line, but after not too long the same thing happened. Now I cannot get the connection to work at all. I don't understand. I can see the boss' face now when he comes in tomorrow and asks me if we are online yet

I really hope someone can help me out with this one.

Here is a section of the message log showing two incidents of successfull connections followed by the unsuccessful attempts:

Jun 15 12:23:15 aragorn pppd[6401]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 12:23:15 aragorn pppd[6401]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 15 12:23:19 aragorn pppd[6401]: not replacing existing default route to eth0 [192.168.1.200]
Jun 15 12:23:19 aragorn pppd[6401]: local IP address 61.149.25.156
Jun 15 12:23:19 aragorn pppd[6401]: remote IP address 61.148.24.1
Jun 15 12:23:19 aragorn pppd[6401]: primary DNS address 202.106.196.152
Jun 15 12:23:19 aragorn pppd[6401]: secondary DNS address 202.106.196.115
Jun 15 13:21:39 aragorn pppd[6401]: No response to 3 echo-requests
Jun 15 13:21:39 aragorn pppd[6401]: Serial link appears to be disconnected.
Jun 15 13:21:45 aragorn pppd[6401]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 13:21:45 aragorn pppd[6401]: Connect time 58.4 minutes.
Jun 15 13:21:45 aragorn pppd[6401]: Sent 1399605 bytes, received 8533398 bytes.
Jun 15 13:21:45 aragorn pppd[6401]: Exit.
Jun 15 13:21:50 aragorn pppd[6711]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 13:21:50 aragorn pppd[6711]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 13:21:50 aragorn pppd[6711]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 15 13:22:22 aragorn pppd[6711]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 13:22:22 aragorn pppd[6711]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 13:22:25 aragorn pppd[6711]: Exit.
Jun 15 13:22:30 aragorn pppd[6731]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 13:22:30 aragorn pppd[6731]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 13:22:30 aragorn pppd[6731]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 15 13:23:02 aragorn pppd[6731]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 13:23:02 aragorn pppd[6731]: Connection terminated.
..
..
..
Jun 15 14:21:27 aragorn pppd[2790]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 14:21:27 aragorn pppd[2790]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 15 14:21:27 aragorn pppd[2790]: local IP address 61.149.31.157
Jun 15 14:21:27 aragorn pppd[2790]: remote IP address 61.148.24.1
Jun 15 14:21:27 aragorn pppd[2790]: primary DNS address 202.106.196.152
Jun 15 14:21:27 aragorn pppd[2790]: secondary DNS address 202.106.196.115
Jun 15 14:52:08 aragorn pppd[2790]: No response to 3 echo-requests
Jun 15 14:52:08 aragorn pppd[2790]: Serial link appears to be disconnected.
Jun 15 14:52:14 aragorn pppd[2790]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 14:52:14 aragorn pppd[2790]: Connect time 30.7 minutes.
Jun 15 14:52:14 aragorn pppd[2790]: Sent 370321 bytes, received 1911982 bytes.
Jun 15 14:52:14 aragorn pppd[2790]: Exit.
Jun 15 15:02:22 aragorn pppd[3005]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 15:02:22 aragorn pppd[3005]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 15:02:22 aragorn pppd[3005]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 15 15:02:53 aragorn pppd[3005]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 15:02:53 aragorn pppd[3005]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 15:02:57 aragorn pppd[3005]: Exit.
Jun 15 15:11:50 aragorn pppd[3173]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 15:11:50 aragorn pppd[3173]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 15:11:50 aragorn pppd[3173]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/0
Jun 15 15:12:21 aragorn pppd[3173]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 15:12:21 aragorn pppd[3173]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 15:12:25 aragorn pppd[3173]: Exit.

P.S.

Additional info:
I am using RH8. I setup the ADSL connection using 'redhat-config-network'. I did upgrade the 'rp-pppoe' rpm to the lastest one available from roaring-penguin, however, I have not configured it or used it in anyway.

It did it again. After almost giving up, I decided to try it one last time, and sure enough it connected again. Unfortunately, it also disconnected again and wont start again. I just realised that there may be other things going on beyond 'pppd' so I Have added the last section of the message log. Things to note: I think the message from the kernel is coming from netfilter/iptables which logs certain packets. The firewall I am using is from "http://iptables-tutorial.frozentux.net/iptables-tutorial.html".

Jun 15 17:30:59 aragorn pppd[3269]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:30:59 aragorn pppd[3269]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:30:59 aragorn pppd[3269]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
Jun 15 17:30:59 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:30:59 aragorn pppoe[3270]: PPP session is 5303
Jun 15 17:31:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: not replacing existing default route to eth0 [0.0.0.0]
Jun 15 17:31:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: local IP address 61.149.28.175
Jun 15 17:31:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: remote IP address 61.148.24.1
Jun 15 17:31:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: primary DNS address 202.106.196.152
Jun 15 17:31:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: secondary DNS address 202.106.196.115
Jun 15 17:32:08 aragorn iptables: succeeded
Jun 15 17:32:08 aragorn last message repeated 2 times
Jun 15 17:34:27 aragorn named[675]: client 192.168.1.1#32834: bad zone transfer request: 'yahoo.com/IN': non-authoritative zone (NOTAUTH)
Jun 15 17:35:19 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=61.152.250.65 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=116 ID=6582 PROTO=TCP SPT=44405 DPT=1044 WINDOW=0 RES=0x00 RST URGP=0
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:05:5d:a0:85:9c via eth0
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.6 to 00:05:5d:a0:85:9c via eth0
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: Dynamic and static leases present for 192.168.1.6.
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: Remove host declaration an or remove 192.168.1.6
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: from the dynamic address pool for 192.168.1.0/24
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.6 (192.168.1.1) from 00:05:5d:a0:85:9c via eth0
Jun 15 17:37:36 aragorn dhcpd: DHCPACK on 192.168.1.6 to 00:05:5d:a0:85:9c via eth0
Jun 15 17:44:20 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=64.152.73.236 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=238 ID=57290 PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=1033 WINDOW=9300 RES=0x00 RST URGP=0
Jun 15 17:46:49 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=216.239.33.99 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=235 ID=30288 PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=1088 WINDOW=8190 RES=0x00 ACK FIN URGP=0
Jun 15 17:46:52 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=216.239.33.99 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=235 ID=29394 PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=1088 WINDOW=8190 RES=0x00 ACK FIN URGP=0
Jun 15 17:46:57 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=216.239.33.99 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=235 ID=22181 PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=1088 WINDOW=8190 RES=0x00 ACK FIN URGP=0
Jun 15 17:47:08 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=216.239.33.99 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=235 ID=12504 PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=1088 WINDOW=8190 RES=0x00 ACK FIN URGP=0
Jun 15 17:47:28 aragorn kernel: New not syn:IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=216.239.33.99 DST=61.149.28.175 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=235 ID=58703 PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=1088 WINDOW=8190 RES=0x00 ACK FIN URGP=0
Jun 15 17:53:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: No response to 3 echo-requests
Jun 15 17:53:00 aragorn pppd[3269]: Serial link appears to be disconnected.
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn pppd[3269]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn pppd[3269]: Connect time 22.1 minutes.
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn pppd[3269]: Sent 306510 bytes, received 1853645 bytes.
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn pppoe[3270]: read (asyncReadFromPPP): Session 5303: Input/output error
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn pppoe[3270]: Sent PADT
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn pppd[3269]: Exit.
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost; attempting re-connection.
Jun 15 17:53:06 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:53:11 aragorn pppd[3425]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:53:11 aragorn pppd[3425]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:53:11 aragorn pppd[3425]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
Jun 15 17:53:11 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:53:42 aragorn pppd[3425]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 17:53:42 aragorn pppd[3425]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:53:42 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:53:46 aragorn pppoe[3426]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Jun 15 17:53:46 aragorn pppd[3425]: Exit.
Jun 15 17:53:46 aragorn adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost; attempting re-connection.
Jun 15 17:53:51 aragorn pppd[3445]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:53:51 aragorn pppd[3445]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:53:51 aragorn pppd[3445]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
Jun 15 17:53:51 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:54:22 aragorn pppd[3445]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 17:54:22 aragorn pppd[3445]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:54:22 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:54:26 aragorn pppoe[3446]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Jun 15 17:54:26 aragorn pppd[3445]: Exit.
Jun 15 17:54:26 aragorn adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost; attempting re-connection.
Jun 15 17:54:31 aragorn pppd[3466]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:54:31 aragorn pppd[3466]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:54:31 aragorn pppd[3466]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
Jun 15 17:54:31 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:55:02 aragorn pppd[3466]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 17:55:02 aragorn pppd[3466]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:55:02 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:55:06 aragorn pppoe[3467]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Jun 15 17:55:06 aragorn pppd[3466]: Exit.
Jun 15 17:55:06 aragorn adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost; attempting re-connection.
Jun 15 17:55:11 aragorn pppd[3487]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:55:11 aragorn pppd[3487]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:55:11 aragorn pppd[3487]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
Jun 15 17:55:11 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:55:17 aragorn adsl-stop: Killing pppd
Jun 15 17:55:17 aragorn pppd[3487]: Terminating on signal 15.
Jun 15 17:55:17 aragorn adsl-stop: Killing adsl-connect
Jun 15 17:55:23 aragorn pppd[3487]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:55:23 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:55:24 aragorn pppd[3600]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:55:24 aragorn pppd[3600]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:55:24 aragorn pppd[3600]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/2
Jun 15 17:55:24 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:55:46 aragorn pppoe[3488]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Jun 15 17:55:46 aragorn pppd[3487]: Exit.
Jun 15 17:55:55 aragorn pppd[3600]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 17:55:55 aragorn pppd[3600]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:55:55 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:55:59 aragorn pppoe[3601]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Jun 15 17:55:59 aragorn pppd[3600]: Exit.
Jun 15 17:55:59 aragorn adsl-connect: ADSL connection lost; attempting re-connection.
Jun 15 17:56:04 aragorn pppd[3685]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Jun 15 17:56:04 aragorn pppd[3685]: Using interface ppp0
Jun 15 17:56:04 aragorn pppd[3685]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
Jun 15 17:56:04 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jun 15 17:56:35 aragorn pppd[3685]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Jun 15 17:56:35 aragorn pppd[3685]: Connection terminated.
Jun 15 17:56:35 aragorn /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jun 15 17:56:39 aragorn pppoe[3686]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Jun 15 17:56:39 aragorn pppd[3685]: Exit.

Well, I'm a complete n00b, so this may not be of much help ... especially since you seem to know much more about Gnu/Linux than I.


However, I just thought I'd offer up the experience of my own struggle with Gnu/Linux and Adsl.

I used to have Mandrake 9.0. I configured and reconfigured the adsl connection, but it would often just drop out and refuse to connect. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why it would sometimes connect and then for no reason drop the connection, or simply refuse to connect in the first place.

In my experimenting with everything that could possibly affect the connection, I happened to remove the shorewall firewall packages. After that the network connection worked like a charm, and I simply downloaded the latest version of shorewall from shorewall.net ... and not the Mandrake version.

Have you tried a different firewall, or perhaps just reinstalled the firewall that you already have?

I don't know what's causing your connection to be lost unless your firewall is blocking the replies to pings.

As for re-connecting, RP-PPPOE requires eth0 to be DOWN before you connect. (ifdown eth0 or ifconfig eth0 down).

Good luck!

When you say 'etho' must be down I assume you are assuming that 'eth0' is connected to the ADSL modem ('ppp0'), right?

If my problem is firewall related how is it possible to connect at all? Why would the firewall cause the connection to drop out after an unpredictable period of time? Last night, everything was up and I was web surfing for more than an hour with no problems. This morning I was lucky to get more than two-three minutes. However, this morning I could reconnect almost immediately, unlike yesterday where I would sometimes have to wait over an hour before miraculously the system would allow me to reconnect.