pppcontrold Daemon

Purpose

Controls startup and management of the PPP (Point to Point Protocol) subsystem.

Syntax

To Start and Stop by Using the System Resource Controller:

startsrc -s pppcontrold

stopsrc -s pppcontrold

Description

The pppcontrold daemon reads in the /etc/ppp/lcp_config and /etc/ppp/if_conf files to install and configure the PPP subsystem. SMIT should be used to generate both /etc/ppp/lcp_config and /etc/ppp/if_conf. To modify these files the user must have root authority or be a member of the uucp group. The configuration files are read at initialization where the appropriate streams modules are configured and loaded, and the tcpip network interface layers are installed into the system. After configuring the subsystem, the pppcontrold daemon monitors the streams associated with the IP and IPv6 interfaces to perform operations such as setting IP addresses, and the flags of the IP and IPv6 interface. The pppcontrold daemon terminates upon reciept of SIGTERM or when the stopsrc command is invoked. The prefered method of starting and stopping the pppcontrold daemon is with SRC (System Resource Controller). You must have root authority to run the src commands.

Errors and messages are logged using the syslog facility.

The pppcontrold daemon creates the /etc/ppp/pppcontrold.pid file, which contains a single line with the command process ID used to terminate the pppcontrold daemon.

Flags

None

/etc/ppp/lcp_config File

This file provides the configuration information required for the subsystem. These values are used to ensure proper allocation of storage at the time the subsystem is configured. It is important to configure just what is needed since these values define storage that is allocated within the kernel. Blank lines and lines beginning with a # (pound sign) are ignored in the configuration file. Do not use blank lines or lines beginning with # (pound sign) within the interface definition. Only use these lines between interface definitions.

These keywords will override the global default LCP options.

/etc/ppp/if_conf File

This file defines all the server TCP/IP interfaces. Blank lines and lines beginning with a # (pound sign) are ignored in the configuration file. Do not use blank lines or lines beginning with # (pound sign) within the interface definition . Only use these lines between interface definitions.

interface
client
ipv6
local_ip6 ::0000:0000:0000:0000

interface
client
ip
ipv6
local_ip6 ::0007:0000:0000:4445

interface
demand
ipv6
local_ip6 ::0007:0000:0000:4444
remote_ip6 ::0009:0000:0000:5555
dcmd "exec /usr/sbin/pppattachd /dev/tty3 demand ipv6 >/dev/tty3 nodaemon"

interface
demand
ip
ipv6
local_ip 44.44.44.46
remote_ip 66.66.66.66
netmask 255.255.255.0
local_ip6 ::0007:0000:0000:4446
remote_ip6 ::0009:0000:0000:6666
dcmd "exec /usr/sbin/pppattachd /dev/tty4 demand ip ipv6 >/dev/tty4 nodaemon"

Exit Status

This command returns the following exit values:

Security

Access Control: You must have root authority to run this command.

Examples

# Comment line
server_name pppclient
lcp_server 0
lcp_client 3
lcp_demand 2
num_if 1
num_if6 2
num_if_and_if6 2
num_hdlc 5

# Sample ip server configuration information.
# Note that the complete stanza does not contain
# comments or blank lines
interface
server
ip
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.191
netmask 255.255.240.0

# Sample ipv6 server configuration information.
# Note that the complete stanza does not contain
# comments or blank lines
interface
server
ipv6
local_ip6 ::0009:2313:4C00:3193
remote_ip6 ::0009:2313:4C00:3194

#However between stanzas one can have blank or
# comment lines.

interface
server
ip
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.196
netmask 255.255.240.0

interface
server
ip
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.197
netmask 255.255.240.0

interface
server
ip
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.201
netmask 255.255.240.0

interface
server
ip
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.212
netmask 255.255.240.0

The above configuration files would result in a subsystem that installs the IP and IPv6 interfaces as follows:

pp0: flags=71<UP,POINTOPOINT,NOTRAILERS>
     inet 129.35.130.45 --> 129.35.131.191 netmask 0xfffff000
pp1: flags=31<UP,POINTOPOINT,NOTRAILERS>
     inet 129.35.130.45 --> 129.35.131.196 netmask 0xfffff000
pp2: flags=31<UP,POINTOPOINT,NOTRAILERS>
     inet 129.35.130.45 --> 129.35.131.197 netmask 0xfffff000
pp3: flags=31<UP,POINTOPOINT,NOTRAILERS>
     inet 129.35.130.45 --> 129.35.131.201 netmask 0xfffff000
pp4: flags=31<UP,POINTOPOINT,NOTRAILERS>
     inet 129.35.130.45 --> 129.35.131.212 netmask 0xfffff000
pp5: flags=30<POINTOPOINT,NOTRAILERS>
     inet netmask

Note: pp5 is the result of the lcp_client keyword in the /etc/ppp/lcp_config file (lcp_client 1). Both IP and IPv6 client interfaces will have no address associated with them until a connection" is established with the server and the IPs are negotiated through IPCP/IPV6CP. The only exception is with demand client interfaces. These interfaces will specify their own address and demand it during negotiation. As such, they will have their IP and IPv6 address associated with their interface as soon as the PPP subsystem is started.

Files