Connecting to Free Internet numbers in Egypt from Solaris Intel
This document describes in brief how to setup Solaris Intel to access free internet ISPs in Egypt.
what you will need:
- Solaris 8 intel installed on the machine.
- Hayes compatible external serial modem.
- Phone line.
what to do:
1- Download Solstice PPP 3.0.1 from http://access1.sun.com/Products/solaris/ppp_301/ , and follow the installation instructions.
2- After successful installation, run the pppinit command in a terminal and do the following:
- Select Asynchronous Client by typing 1 followed by Enter (meaning the modem will dial out only).
- Select modem type as number 22 (Hayes compatible), or select your modem from the list if it was there.
- Type ttya for serial com port 1 or ttyb for serial com port 2, whichever has the modem attached to it.
- Type remote server name (the connection name) as one word, (example: FreeInet).
- Enter phone number as one of the following listed below:
07770505
07770123
07770999
07778888
07777770
07779777
07772220
07771777
07773030
07775000
note that only these are proven to work with Solstice PPP 3.0.1 out of around 40 numbers, The rest failed to connect. There might be others that work properly and not listed above.
- Select the default displayed script filename by typing Enter.
- Select default answer (none) for IP address by typing Enter, (so to obtain a dynamic IP address).
- Select default netmask (255.255.255.0) displayed by typing Enter.
- Select default (none) for PAP ID by typing Enter.
- Select default (none) for CHAP ID by typing Enter.
- Select default (120) seconds inactivity time-out by typing Enter, or type your own number in seconds followed by Enter. (this is the amount of time that the connection will stay on and idle without hanging up if there were no Internet usage, after the amount of seconds passes it will hang up automatically).
- Type E followed by Enter to save and exit the configuration.
3- Allow Solaris to use DNS service by editing the line in /etc/nsswitch.conf that says:
hosts files
to be:
hosts files dns
note that the original line could be different (such as: hosts files nis). In any case, all you have to do is add "dns" to the end of the line and save the file.
4- now add the valid DNS server addresses for all the listed ISPs to the /etc/resolv.conf file:
domain menanet.com
nameserver 62.140.73.1
nameserver 62.140.73.2
nameserver 163.121.128.134
nameserver 212.103.160.18
note that menanet.com can be changed to be any top level domain of your ISP, such as ahram.org.eg or link.net. Also note that 2 of the DNS servers are valid for 2 numbers, and the other 2 are valid for the rest of the numbers, including them all in that file will make the DNS work properly when connecting to any number.
now to connect to the Internet, issue the command:
pppconn FreeInet
to connect to the default number specified in pppinit. note that FreeInet is the remote server name (connection name) specified in pppinit, it should be changed to be the same as whatever connection name you typed in pppinit.
to connect to different number than the default number typed in pppinit, use:
pppconn FreeInet 07775000
replacing 07775000 with any number you choose from the numbers listed above.
finally, use the command:
pppdisc
to disconnect.
Note: sometimes when hanging up the Internet using pppdisc and then trying to re-connect again using pppconn FreeIenet (or other connection name), The modem doesn't dial and nothing happens, i still can't figure out why is this happening, but i found out that a quick and dirty solution is to restart the PPP link manager using the command sequence:
/etc/init.d/ppp stop
then:
/etc/init.d/ppp start
and then connecting again using:
pppconn FreeInet.
and it works fine.
For any questions, comments, or feedback, use Mohamed.Medhat@islamway.net, that's it.
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