DIAL (C) 1999 by T. Lang

DIAL.XIF:		Autodial driver for ppp0-ppp3

DIAL.XIF is an autodial driver for the ppp interface. It adds the 
interfaces dial0-dial3. Since DIAL.XIF needs access to the ppp 
structures it has to be loaded AFTER SLIP.XIF. Since DIAL.XIF is an 
experimental driver it has not yet been integrated into SLIP.XIF.

You have to start the dial daemon DIALD (in the tool directory) before
DIAL.XIF works. DIAL.XIF tells the dial daemon which connection to 
start or stop.

SETTING UP DIAL.XIF

First of all you have to start the dial daemon (best from the /etc/rc.net
script). DIALD detaches itself from the console so it can be started 
without the "&" parameter. DIALD starts quietly and only talks if it 
finds a problem preventing the installation.

You have to setup one of the dial interfaces to some ip address you 
like and setup a route to it. For typical internet access you may do 
something like:
ifconfig dial0 addr 192.168.21.20
route add default dial0

Whenever a packet is routed to this interface it checks if the 
corresponding ppp interface (here: ppp0) is up and running. If not it 
tells the daemon to start a corresponding script (here: 
/etc/ppp/ppp-up0) to setup the connection. Create a script with this 
name that sets up the connection and does NOT change the route to the 
dial interface (here: default).

When the connection is idle for a while the dial interface tells the 
daemon to start a script (here: /etc/ppp/ppp-down0) to stop the 
connection.

The dial interface has two timeout values: One for waiting for the 
connection (default is 60s) and one for the idle time before the 
connection is being shut down (default is 80s). These values can be 
changed (see below). Note: LCP packets are not counted here since when 
authenticating by CHAP LCP packets are exchanged on a regular basis.

Please be careful with the access rights to /etc/ppp since if a normal
user can place his/her own scripts here he/she may cause serious 
damage by triggering the dial process.

DON'T TRY THESE DRIVERS UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
I'm not responsible for any crashed harddisk or so.

SPECIAL OPTIONS
timeout <timeout>
	With this option you can change the timeout value separately 
	for every dial interface. <timeout> is an intereger value and
	is given in seconds.
waitconnect <timeout>
	As timeout but for the connection timeout. If a connection 
	cannot be established the dial interface waits <timeout> 
	seconds before redialling.
debug <level>
	With this option you can set the debug level for the driver. 
	You normally don't need this. <level> is an integer value.
log <filename>
	With this option you can set a filename where to log. You
	normally don't need this. <filename> is a string.

If you have any suggestions, flames, hints or so do not hesitate to 
contact me. Please do NOT contact me to help you setting up your ppp 
connection. That's up to you! If you have a ppp connection running 
it's really easy to modify the scripts for the use by DIAL.XIF/DIALD.
My address:
Torsten Lang
Bismarckstr. 6
35410 Hungen
EMail: Torsten@Lang.net
