Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 implements the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), a data link protocol, which is a member of the TCP/IP protocol suite. PPP describes how data is transmitted between two endpoint machines, over communications media such as telephone lines.
Since the early 1990s, PPP has been a widely used Internet standard for sending datagrams over a communications link. The PPP standard is described in RFC 1661 by the Point-to-Point Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). PPP is commonly used when remote computers call an Internet service provider (ISP) or a corporate server that is configured to receive incoming calls.
Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 is based on the publicly available Australian National University (ANU) PPP–2.4 and implements the PPP standard. Both asynchronous and synchronous PPP links are supported.
Various versions of standard PPP are available and in wide use throughout the Internet community. ANU PPP-2.4 is a popular choice for Linux, Tru64 UNIX,and all three major BSD variants:
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
NetBSD
Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 brings the highly configurable features of ANU PPP-2.4 to machines that run the Oracle Solaris operating system. Machines that run Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 can easily set up PPP links to any machine that runs an implementation of standard PPP.
Some non-ANU-based PPP implementations that successfully interoperate with Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 include the following:
Oracle Solaris PPP, also known as asppp, available with the Solaris 2.4 through Solaris 8 releases
Solstice PPP 3.0.1
Microsoft Windows 98 DUN
Cisco IOS 12.0 (synchronous)
Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 is the PPP implementation that is supported. The Solaris 9 release and later releases do not include the earlier Asynchronous Oracle Solaris PPP (asppp) software. For more information, refer to Migrating From Asynchronous Oracle Solaris PPP to Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 (Tasks).
If you currently use asppp, consider migrating to Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0. Note the following differences between the two Oracle Solaris PPP technologies:
Transfer modes
asppp supports asynchronous communications only. Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 supports both asynchronous communications and synchronous communications.
Configuration process
Setting up asppp requires configuring the asppp.cf configuration file, three UUCP files, and the ipadm command. Moreover, you have to preconfigure interfaces for all users who might log in to a machine.
Setting up Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 requires defining options for the PPP configuration files, or issuing the pppd command with options. You can also use a combination of both the configuration file and command-line methods. Oracle Solaris PPP dynamically creates and removes interfaces. You do not have to directly configure PPP interfaces for each user.
Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 features not available from asppp
MS-CHAPv1 and MS-CHAPv2 authentication
PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE), to support ADSL bridges
PAM authentication
Plug-in modules
IPv6 addressing
Data compression that uses Deflate or BSD compress
Microsoft client-side callback support
If you are converting an existing asppp configuration to Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0, you can use the translation script that is provided with this release. For complete instructions, refer to How to Convert From asppp to Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0.
Many resources with information about PPP can be found in print and online. The following subsections give some suggestions.
For more information about widely used PPP implementations, including ANU PPP, refer to the following books:
Carlson, James. PPP Design, Implementation, and Debugging. 2nd ed. Addison-Wesley, 2000.
Sun, Andrew. Using and Managing PPP. O'Reilly & Associates, 1999.
Some useful Internet RFCs about PPP include the following:
1661 and 1662, which describe the major features of PPP
1334, which describes authentication protocols, such as Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) and Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP)
1332, an informational RFC that describes PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE)
To obtain copies of PPP RFCs, specify the number of the RFC in the search field on the IETF Request for Comments site.
For technical details about the Oracle Solaris PPP 4.0 implementation, refer to the following man pages:
Also, see the man page for the pppdump command. You can find the PPP-related man pages by using the man command.