SPPPCONTROL(8) BSD System Manager's Manual SPPPCONTROL(8)
spppcontrol - display or set parameters for an sppp interface
spppcontrol [-v] ifname [parameter[=value]] [...]
The sppp(4) driver might require a number of additional arguments or op-
tional parameters besides the settings that can be adjusted with
ifconfig(8). These are things like authentication protocol parameters,
but also other tunable configuration variables. The spppcontrol utility
can be used to display the current settings, or adjust these parameters
as required.
For whatever intent spppcontrol is being called, at least the parameter
ifname needs to be specified, naming the interface for which the settings
are to be performed or displayed. Use ifconfig(8) or netstat(1) to see
which interfaces are available.
If no other parameter is given, spppcontrol will just list the current
settings for ifname and exit. The reported settings include the current
PPP phase the interface is in, which can be one of the names dead,
establish, authenticate, network, or terminate. If an authentication pro-
tocol is configured for the interface, the name of the protocol to be
used, as well as the system name to be used or expected will be
displayed, plus any possible options to the authentication protocol if
applicable. Note that the authentication secrets (sometimes called keys)
are not returned by the underlying system call, and are thus not
displayed.
If any additional parameter is supplied, superuser privileges are re-
quired, and the command works in 'set' mode. This is normally done quiet-
ly, unless the option -v is also enabled, which will cause a final prin-
tout of the settings as described above once all other actions have been
taken. Use of this mode will be rejected if the interface is currently in
any other phase than dead. Note that you can force an interface into dead
phase by calling ifconfig(8) with the parameter 'down'.
The currently supported parameters include:
authproto=protoname
Set both, his and my authentication protocol to protoname.
The protocol name can be one of 'chap', 'pap', or 'none'.
In the latter case, the use of an authentication protocol
will be turned off for the named interface. This has the
side effect of clearing the other authentication-related
parameters for this interface as well (i.e., system name
and authentication secret will be forgotten).
myauthproto=protoname
Same as above, but only for my end of the link. I.e., this
is the protocol when remote is authenticator, and I am the
peer required to authenticate.
hisauthproto=protoname
Same as above, but only for his end of the link.
myauthname=name
Set my system name for the authentication protocol.
hisauthname=name
Set his system name for the authentication protocol. For
CHAP, this will only be used as a hint, causing a warning
message if remote did supply a different name. For PAP,
it's the name remote must use to authenticate himself (in
connection with his secret).
myauthsecret=secret
Set my secret (key, password) for use in the authentication
phase. For CHAP, this will be used to compute the response
hash value, based on remote's challenge. For PAP, it will
be transmitted as plain text together with the system name.
Don't forget to quote the secrets from the shell if they
contain shell metacharacters (or whitespace).
myauthkey=secret
Same as above.
hisauthsecret=secret
Same as above, to be used if we are authenticator and the
remote peer needs to authenticate.
hisauthkey=secret
Same as above.
callin Require remote to authenticate himself only when he's cal-
ling in, but not when we are caller. This is required for
some peers that do not implement the authentication proto-
cols symmetrically (like Ascend routers, for example).
always The opposite of callin. Require remote to always authenti-
cate, regardless of which side is placing the call. This is
the default, and will not be explicitly displayed in 'list'
mode.
norechallenge
Only meaningful with CHAP. Do not re-challenge peer once
the initial CHAP handshake was successful. Used to work
around broken peer implementations that can't grok being
re-challenged once the connection is up.
rechallenge
With CHAP, send re-challenges at random intervals while the
connection is in network phase. (The intervals are current-
ly in the range of 300 through approximately 800 seconds.)
This is the default, and will not be explicitly displayed
in 'list' mode.
Display the settings for bppp0. The interface is currently in dead phase,
i.e., the LCP layer is down, and no traffic is possible. Both ends of the
connection use the CHAP protocol, my end tells remote the system name
'uriah', and remote is expected to authenticate by the name 'ifb-gw'.
Once the initial CHAP handshake was successful, no further CHAP chal-
lenges will be transmitted. There are supposedly some known CHAP secrets
for both ends of the link which are not displayed.
$ spppcontrol bppp0
bppp0: phase=dead
myauthproto=chap myauthname="uriah"
hisauthproto=chap hisauthname="ifb-gw" norechallenge
A possible call to spppcontrol that could have been used to bring the in-
terface into the state shown by the previous example:
# spppcontrol bppp0 \
authproto=chap \
myauthname=uriah myauthsecret='some secret' \
hisauthname=ifb-gw hisauthsecret='another' \
norechallenge
netstat(1), pppoe(4), sppp(4), ifconfig(8)
B. Lloyd and W. Simpson, PPP Authentication Protocols, RFC 1334.
W. Simpson, Editor, The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), RFC 1661.
W. Simpson, PPP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP), RFC
1994.
The spppcontrol utility appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.
The program was written by Joerg Wunsch, Dresden.
MirBSD #10-current October 11, 1997 2