[oclug]pppd demand dialing

[Robert Brockway]

On Sun, 5 Jan 2003, Peter Vibert wrote:

> This is what it does, and gets the proper local and remote IP addresses.
> My wonder is to why and what it does by starting:
> pppd 207.164.7.1:207.164.7.1 /dev/ttyS1
>
> The IP address is cisco.zeuter.com, which is logical, as the script
> I used to set up the internet was written by Tim Burden<tburden at zeuter.
> com>. Does my computer do anything with 207.164.7.1? Can I put some
> other IP in there instead? If so, what can it be?

The IP initially setup is a "dummy".  It can be just about anything[1].
The idea is that without _something_ there pppd wouldn't be able to figure
out when to bring the link up.  Alot of people use RFC1918 addresses there
(eg, 192.168.1.1).  The only thing to watch out for is if you use a real
address & change ISP that you don't have spurious entries in the routing
table left over from old ISPs.  This might cause strange routing problems
in the future.  Use /sbin/route or /sbin/netstat -r to see your routing
table.

[1]  Don't use 127.0.0.1 or anything else used elsewhere on your home
network.

Cheers,
	-Rob

-- Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert at timetraveller.org  ICQ: 104781119
   Linux counter project ID #16440 (http://counter.li.org)
   "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens" -Baha'u'llah