PPPoE and smoothwall

itsjustme · 01-02-2004, 09:25 PM

i posted this over at the smoothwall forum, but thought I'd throw it in here also, just in case:

I am having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get my brand new DSL modem to talk to Smoothwall. It's a ZyXEL 645ME-A1 from Sprint.

I just got dsl today and got my sprint/earthlink stuff set up by connecting my dsl modem directly to my W2K machine and runnning the setup program from their CD. That basically just initializes the modem and setup my username and password. The modem can be set up by telneting into it. Apparently their setup CD is a front end that sets up part of the info that can be setup with telneting.
So, the modem is set up for PPPoE and has my username and password in it.

When I pull the cat5 out of the w2k machine and stick it in the red nic on my smoothwall machine, I can't seem to figure out how to get it going.
From another thread I discovered that PPPoE in smoothwall is an 'option' in the 'ppp settings' page. So, I set the interface to PPPoE. Went back to the Control page and clicked on 'Connect'. The DSL light is on on the modem and the LAN(100) link light flashes but there is never any 'Activity' light. Smoothwall blinks a couple of times and said it's 'dialing' (for some goofy reason) and then eventually returns to 'PPPoE idle' status. I went directly into smoothwall with a 'setup' login and futzed around some in there also, but no joy. I did set the type to Red + Green (or was it Green + Red).

I tried re-initializing the modem and removed my username and password and then on the 'ppp settings' page I added them to the 'Authentication' section. That didn't work either. I toggled 'Bridge' in the modem and tried it on and off, that didn't seem to do anything.

I don't where to go from here. I'd sure like to get the DSL to go through my Smoothwall and simply replace my 56k modem.

here's the setup I am trying to do:
---dsl line---dsl modem---red nic-smoothwall-green nic---linksys switch---pc's

here's the setup I am on now, since it's my only option currently:
---dsl line---dsl modem---nic on w2k

Can somebody give me a little guidance here or point me to a simple smoothwall step-by-step setup howto or something? There doesn't seem to be much in the doc's, at least that I could find so far.

Thanks...

itsjustme · 01-03-2004, 08:12 AM

Man!! I was so excited to get DSL.

Now I am getting depressed since I can't add it to my network via Smoothwall.

Any help would be appreciated.

Don't make me have to

!!

itsjustme · 01-03-2004, 03:26 PM

Well, I seem to be getting closer!! I'm getting 'Activity' light on the modem.

Here's some cut and paste of the modem configuration utility and my smoothwall setup below based on some recommendations:

Code:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Copyright (c) 1994 - 2003 ZyXEL Communications Corp.

                              Prestige 645ME-A1 Main Menu

     Getting Started                      Advanced Management
       1. General Setup                     21. Filter Set Configuration
       3. Ethernet Setup                    22. SNMP Configuration
       4. Internet Access Setup           23. System Password
                                                 24. System Maintenance
                                                 25. IP Routing Policy Setup
     Advanced Applications              26. Schedule Setup
       11. Remote Node Setup
       12. Static Routing Setup
       15. NAT Setup                        99. Exit

                          Enter Menu Selection Number: 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Menu 1 - General Setup

                    System Name= Sprint
                    Location=
                    Contact Person's Name=

                    Route IP= Yes
                    Route IPX= No
                    Bridge= Yes

                    Press ENTER to Confirm or ESC to Cancel:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Menu 3.2 - TCP/IP and DHCP Ethernet Setup

                    DHCP Setup
                      DHCP= Server
                      Client IP Pool Starting Address= 192.168.1.2
                      Size of Client IP Pool= 1
                      Primary DNS Server= 0.0.0.0
                      Secondary DNS Server= 0.0.0.0
                      Remote DHCP Server= N/A
                    TCP/IP Setup:
                      IP Address= 192.168.1.1
                      IP Subnet Mask= 255.255.255.0  (it's set at .252, see below)
                      RIP Direction= Both
                        Version= RIP-2B
                      Multicast= IGMP-v2
                      IP Policies=
                      Edit IP Alias= No

                    Press ENTER to Confirm or ESC to Cancel:

Press Space Bar to Toggle.

only subnet 255.255.255.252 is allowed  (so I left it at .252)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Menu 4 - Internet Access Setup

                    ISP's Name= Sprint
                    Encapsulation= PPPoE
                    Multiplexing= LLC-based
                    VPI #= 8
                    VCI #= 35
                    Service Name= Any
                    My Login= 
                    My Password=
                    Single User Account= Yes
                      Address Mapping Set= N/A
                    IP Address Assignment= Dynamic
                      IP Address= N/A
                    ENET ENCAP Gateway= N/A

                    Press ENTER to Confirm or ESC to Cancel:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Menu 11.1 - Remote Node Profile

     Rem Node Name= Sprint                Route= IP
     Active= Yes                          Bridge= Yes

     Encapsulation= PPPoE                 Edit PPP Options= No
     Multiplexing= LLC-based              Rem IP Addr= 0.0.0.0
     Incoming:                            Edit IP/IPX/Bridge= No
       Rem Login=
       Rem Password= ********
     Outgoing:                            Session Options:
       My Login=                            Edit Filter Sets= No
       My Password= ********                PPPoE Idle Timeout(sec)= 0
       Authen= CHAP/PAP                     PPPoE Service Name= Any
                                            Schedule Sets=

                    Press ENTER to Confirm or ESC to Cancel:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's my Smoothwall setup:

>Network Configuration menu
--1. Type
------ Green + Red
--2. Driver and Card Assignements
------ eth0 (mac identified) - (green)
------ eth1 (mac identified) - (red)
--3. Address Settings
------ Green - 10.0.0.1 / 255.255.255.0
------ Red - [Static] - 192.168.1.2 / 255.255.255.252 (see the modem stuff above)
--4 DNS and Gateway settings
------ (I've also tried this with Primary and Secodary swapped around here and also with these omitted.
------ These are numbers I found on the web in a sprint tutorial flash presentation for Static IP setup,
-------so, this may be incorrect. Using the PPPoE setup on W2K does not require these.)
------ Primary - 199.2.252.10
------ Secondary - 204.117.214.10
------ Gateway - 192.168.1.1
>DHCP server configuration
--[*] Enabled
------ Start Address - 10.0.0.10
------ End Adrress - 10.0.0.20
------ Primary DNS - 10.0.0.1
------ Secondary DNS - _____
------ Default Lease - 60
------ Max Lease - 120
------ Domain name suffix - bstexas.net (my local lan, not a registered internet thing)

So, now when I open Mozilla to the start page, which is now https://10.0.0.1:441/cgi-bin/index.cgi, I get Activity light on the modem.
If i open another tab and try to go to a site on the internet, www.google.com, for instance, it goes nowhere. It sits there for a while, I see some Activity light and then get: "www.google.com could not be found. Please check the name and try again."

So, there something else to tweak in there. Maybe the Bridge part needs to be set back to No.

Ok, while I was typing this, I was also checking the setup, and discovered that setting [Static] in the 'Address Settings' is what appears to remove any mention of PPPoE in the 'ppp settings' screen, and therefore, apparently kills the username and password authentication I had in there. So, I modified the modem configuration to include the username and password:
------------- My Login= myusername@earthlink.net
------------- My Password= *******

Still no joy. I see Activity on the modem but it can't find anything on the internet.
So, I go back in and remove the Primary and Secondary DNS from the 'DNS and Gateway settings' screen. Reboot smoothwall.
Still no internet, but I do get the Activity light, so it's trying to push through!

So, where do I go from here?

Thanks for any replies.

itsjustme · 01-03-2004, 07:39 PM

Ok, I'm back to square one and ready to go one step at a time.

I reset the modem.
I plugged it into my W2K machine.
I telnet'ed in and set my username and password.
I rebooted.
Poof - Online in a flash! Just like Friday.

Ok, now, the modem is talking to the internet and serving it up to the W2K machine. The modem doesn't care what's out at the end of the cat5, does it?
It's just online and flinging out data.

Now, I want to give the data dripping out of the cat5 cable to the smoothwall machine so it's talking to the modem just like W2K was doing.

Here is where everything goes down hill.

Let's just concentrate on what I need to do specifically in the Smoothwall 'setup' login.

I log in as Setup.
I go down to Networking.
I go to Network Configuration type
I set it to Green + Red
(it says pushing down local network)
I go to Drivers and Card Assignment
It shows Green, the card type, eth0, and the mac
It shows Red, the card type (unset)
Do you wish to change these settings: OK
(pushing down local network)
There is an unclaimed ethernet card... blah blah
You can assign this to Red: OK
All card successfully allocated: OK
I go down to Address Settings
Select the interface:
Green - if you change this Ip address... blah blah: OK
IP address: 10.0.0.1
Network mask: 255.255.255.0
OK
Red - here's the fun place:
The selections are
[ ] Static
[ ] DHCP
[ ] PPPoE

DHCP Hostname: ____________

IP Address: ____________
Network Mask: ____________

I won't repeat all the stuff I've tried here. But I'm pretty sure I tried everything that has been discussed so far, to no avail. (uh, that was over at the smoothwall.org forum)

What SHOULD go in here for my setup?

Then I go down to the DNS and Gateway settings
I've left it all blank, I've used the DNS numbers from sprint, the 4.2.2.1 and .2, I've set the gateway to 192.168.1.1.
I think blank is the way to go, because I didn't have to use any of that from the W2K machine.

Ok, I'll stop here and wait for the advice on that red 'Address Settings' page. The modem appears to still be online. The activity light blinks in a periodic fashion. Smoothwall just won't take the feed.

Why am I the only person in the known universe having this problem?? :shock: :wink:

EDIT: I can ping from my Red Hat 8 machine, 10.0.0.20, to the smoothwall machine at 10.0.0.1 and also to the modem at 192.168.1.1, but I can't ping www.yahoo.com, or 4.2.2.1, or 199.2.252.10...
If I ping 4.2.2.1 I get Network is Unreachable
If I ping www.yahoo.com I get Unknown Host

itsjustme · 01-03-2004, 11:01 PM

I don't know why I keep bringing this stuff over here, but who knows, some of it might click with someone...

Ok... trudging right along...
I set it to:[*] Static
IP: 192.168.1.2
Mask: 255.255.255.252
(that's how it was in the W2K setup)
In DNS and gateway, I chatted with Sprint online and set
Pri. DNS - 204.117.214.10
Sec. DNS - 199.2.252.10
Def. Gateway: 192.168.1.1
The sprint guy tried to help but he got a little confused when I started explaining the smoothwall setup.

With this setup, I can ping locally, I can now ping 204.117.214.10, I can ping 4.2.2.1, but I can't ping www.yahoo.com and can't surf a web page.
Interestingly, I can ping 198.41.0.6, which is a yahoo ip, and if I throw that in a browser, I can get the web page to start loading, but then it hangs when it tries to resolve other url's within the page. I also discovered my web page IP address and was able to browse it via the IP, but not the www. part.

I'm getting closer!!
Any ideas why I can ping an external IP now, but not a web address?
It's gotta be something trivial I'm overlooking, eh?

neo77777 · 01-03-2004, 11:16 PM

If you can ping by IP but cannot by FQDN (fully qualified domain name) you are not resolving the names. I am trying to comprehend your actual setup. Your DSL modem is a router-type (you said you can login to it and set it up to accept PPPoE), right? If so, your smoothwall setup shoud be static (or if your modem actually can act as a DHCP server, your smoothwall modem-facing interface should be setup as DHCP client). Are my assumptions right? Once more where do you specify the resolver? On the smoothwall or on the modem? Can you just on the machines on your network put DNS entries provided by the ISP? See what you get. Plus, make sure you are not blocking outgoing DNS requests at the firewall.

itsjustme · 01-03-2004, 11:32 PM

Well, it's like this. That modem is configurable via a telnet session. It defaults itself to 192.168.1.1 / 255.255.255.252. It acts as a DHCP server to the nic in my smoothwall machine. The DHCP range in the modem is 192.168.1.2 thru 192.168.1.37.

If I connect it directly to my W2K machine, the DHCP assigns it 192.168.1.2 / 255.255.255.252 and I go on my merry surfing way.

Now, the modem is connected, online just spewing data down the cat5. basically.
Ok, now I unplug the cat5 from the W2K machine and plug it into the smoothwall machine. The modem is still spewing data down the cable, as far as I can tell. The Activity light continues to flash periodically, like it's looking for somewhere to throw the data.

In the smoothwall machine, I set the Red nic, the one connected to the modem, to Static with the 192.168.1.2 / 255.255.255.252 setup, like it was in the W2K machine. On another setup page within smoothwall, I set the primary DNS for my sprint connection to 204.117.214.10 and the secondary to 199.2.252.10 and the Default Gateway to 192.168.1.1, the IP of the modem.

I changed my internal network to 10.0.0, with the smoothwall green nic, the one that goes to my switch, set at 10.0.0.1, and the DHCP range for my workstations as 10.0.0.10 thru 10.0.0.20 .

With this setup I get the ping situation: can ping IPs, can't ping www.'s.

Any ideas?

itsjustme · 01-03-2004, 11:54 PM

OK... Interesting development.... Please standby...

itsjustme · 01-04-2004, 12:00 AM

Ok, I plugged my W2K machine back into the switch on my system. I rebooted it. The smoothwall machine assigned it an IP of 10.0.0.19. (The red hat 8 machine got assigned 10.0.0.20).

Now, the W2K machine is surfing the web thru smoothwall thru the modem and can ping www.yahoo.com.

Apparently, the problem is within the red hat 8 machine.
I apparently need to set something up in there now.
Of course, I didn't have to with my external 56K modem, but hey, this is a whole new gizmolian adventure!

So, what does red hat 8 want? Something in resolv.conf, or something?

Thanks...

neo77777 · 01-04-2004, 12:16 AM

Try to put
nameserver ip.addy.of.nameserver1
nameserver ip.addy.of.nameserver2
in the /etc/resolv.conf
See what happens.

itsjustme · 01-04-2004, 12:27 AM

Woo Hoo!!

I looked at resolv.conf on the red hat 8 machine.
The only thing in it was the 192.168.1.100 from my previous internal network setup. I changed it to 10.0.0.1 to match my new network, and voila!! Surfing again on red hat!!
Didn't need the sprint DNS IPs'.

I just fired up my slackware 9.1 machine. Checked resolv.conf. It was automatically reconfigured to 10.0.0.1 and it's surfin' with the big dogs!!

Juts fired up my laptop with a new wireless card, Linksys WPC54G and it's talking to the WAP54G connected to the switch connected to the smoothwall connected to the modem and it's surfing, no problem, also!!!

I am Happy!!! Dang... the beer stores are all closed!

Thanks for listening!!

I better write a paper on this!

itsjustme · 01-04-2004, 07:51 AM

So, I worked on that DSL hook up to my network for a day and a half. Much of that time I was directly connected on my W2K box, no firewall. I finished up after midnight last night, but, now I have the connection passing thru the smoothwall firewall.

So, this morning I decided... well, better do a manual run of my Norton Antivirus on the W2K machine. Sure enough, scanning now... already found 2 infected files!

bleh....

cadger · 01-13-2004, 01:38 PM

Thank goodness someone has finally tackled this PPPoE sprint modem & smoothwall monster.

I've been battling this 645R router/modem & smoothwall sporadically for months. I was about to give up.

Time to give it one more shot.

I'll let you know how my experience goes.

cadger · 01-14-2004, 09:38 AM

I've been running a 645 series (645R) ADSL modem from sprint for nearly a year. I've unsucessfully tried numerous times to put smoothwall between this modem and the switch.

I wanted smoothwall to have the outside IP addy & provide DHCP to the switch, so I can do some port forwarding.

Well I finally did it.

First off the 645R is set as a router/server, which signs onto the sprint/earthlink network via PPPoE. Which will not work for the setup I require.

So I had to change the modem to act as a bridge.

This was done following these instructions.

http://userfs.cec.wustl.edu/~dwb2/wo...fig-HOWTO.html

About halfway down the page is the "hard way" which is actually easy.

Now for Smoothwall. Going to be brief on some of this.

Install Smoothwall as Green + Red

Set Green's IP

Set Green to assign DHCP range

Set Red to use PPPoE

Reboot smoothwall.

Logon as Admin

Networking Tab

ppp settings

Set Interface as PPPoE

Persistent connection: Checked

Automatic reboot if connection down for 5 minutes: Checked

Connect on SmoothWall restart: Checked

Username: ELN/you@foobar.foo (Sprint here uses ELN/you@earthlink.net)
Password: foobar

Method: PAP or CHAP

DNS: Automatic

Reboot Smoothwall

Viola!

I hope this is helpful to someone.