Commands Reference, Volume 4

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

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 interfaces to perform operations such as setting IP addresses, and the flags of the IP 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.

Required Keywords
server_name name	Name of this system. This name should be unique to the system. Ensure that the first 20 bytes of the name are unique.
lcp_server #	Number of server connections. Represents the number of server connections that the subsystem will allow.Storage for all specified connections is allocated at the time the subsystem is configured. The minimun value is 0 and the maximum value is gated by the amount of memory in the system.
lcp_client #	Number of client connections. The minimum value is 0 and the maximum value is gated by the amount of memory in the system. Client connections are IP interfaces configured without addresses.
num_if #	Number of IP interfaces to configure,. Must be less than or equal to lcp_server + lcp_client.
num_hdlc #	Number of async hdlc modules to configure for. This will define the maxmimum number of concurent asynchronous PPP sessions (client and server) that can be active. Cannot be greater than lcp_server lcp_client.

Optional Keywords

These keywords will override the global default LCP options.

txacm 0xXXXXXXXX	Transmit Asynchronous Character Map.
-negacm	Do not negotiate async character mapping. Rejects the peers configuration information frames that contains this option.
-negmru	Do not negotiate MRU (Maximum Receive Unit). Rejects the peers configuration information frames that contains this option.
mru #	MRU desired. A default is 1500.
-negacf	Do not negotiate ACF (address control field) compression. ACF will not be compressed. Rejects the peers configuration information frames that contain this option.
-negprotocolcompress	Do not negotiate protocol compression. Normaly the PPP protocol field will be compressed by one byte for Network protocols. This disables negotiation of this option for both receiveing and sending frames.

/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.

Keywords
interface	Indicates that a new interface defintion is being started.
server	Indicates that the interface is a server connection. Requires the following keywords: local_ip xxx.yyy.zzz.qqq remote_ip xxx.yyy.zzz.qqq These addresses MUST be different on the pair basis, however the local IP address can be the same for all PPP interfaces. On a given server, the remote address must be unique.

Keywords

interface

Indicates that a new interface defintion is being started.

server

Indicates that the interface is a server connection.

Requires the following keywords:

local_ip xxx.yyy.zzz.qqq

remote_ip xxx.yyy.zzz.qqq

These addresses MUST be different on the pair basis, however the local IP address can be the same for all PPP interfaces. On a given server, the remote address must be unique.

Optional Keywords
netmask xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx	Specifies a netmask for this interface.

Exit Status

This command returns the following exit values:

0	Successful completion.
!0	An error occurred.

Security

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

Examples

Example /ect/ppp/lcp_config File:

# Comment line
server_name PPPSERVER_ALPHA
lcp_server 5
lcp_client 1
num_if 6
num_hdlc 6

Example /ect/ppp/if_conf File:

# Sample ip server configuration information.
# Note that the complete stanza does not contain
# comments or blank lines
interface
server
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.191
netmask 255.255.240.0
 
#However between stanzas one can have blank or
# comment lines.
 
interface
server
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.196
netmask 255.255.240.0
 
interface
server
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.197
netmask 255.255.240.0
 
interface
server
local_ip 129.35.130.45
remote_ip 129.35.131.201
netmask 255.255.240.0
 
interface
server
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 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 0.0.0.0 --> 0.0.0.0 netmask 0xff000000

Note: pp5 is the result of the lcp_client keyword in the /etc/ppp/lcp_config file (lcp_client 1).

Files

/usr/sbin/pppcontrold	Contains the pppcontrold daemon.
/etc/ppp/lcp_config	Configures the subsystem (lcp_config should be generated by SMIT).
/etc/ppp/if_conf	Configures the TCP/IP interfaces (if_conf should be generated by SMIT).
/etc/ppp/pppcontrold.pid	Contains the pppcontrold process id.
/etc/ppp/ppp.conf	Contains input to the strload command.

Related Information

The pppattachd daemon, pppdial command.

The startsrc command, stopsrc command.

The syslog subroutine.

Asynchronous Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) Subsystem Overview in AIX 5L Version 5.1 System Management Concepts: Operating System and Devices.

The System Resource Controller Overview in AIX 5L Version 5.1 System Management Guide: Operating System and Devices gives an explanation of subsystems, subservers, and the System Resource Controller.