3. On the client side

After having configured the server, the client is easy. The “/etc/ppp/options” file has a single entry:

#/etc/ppp/options
lock

The serial port on my client is “/dev/ttyS0” (COM1), so I also have to create a “/etc/ppp/options.ttyS0” file:

#/etc/ppp/options.ttyS0
115200
crtscts
local
name zaphod
noauth

Only a few new options in this file. Note that the speed on server and client has to be the same (here it is 115200). With “name zaphod” the client name is specified. This name has to correspond to an entry in the “/etc/ppp/pap-secrets” file of the client and has to be a valid user name on the server. The “noauth” option specifies that the peer (server) does not have to authenticate itself to the client.

The last bit: setting the client name (user name) and its secret (password) in the “/etc/ppp/pap-secrets” file:

#/etc/ppp/pap-secrets
# Secrets for authentication using PAP
# client             server            secret             IP addresses
zaphod             *                     gargleBlaster

So user “zaphod” uses a password “gargleBlaster”, which should get him into the system. Note that these files contain sensitive information, make sure you set the permissions on them correctly.

3.1. Start the client

On the command line, type:

/usr/sbin/pppd /dev/ttyS0 -detach

3.2. Connecting to an MS Windows server

What if you want to make a connection to a Windows server? Again we'll need the “connect” option and a chat script. Add the following line to your “/etc/ppp/options.ttyS0” file:

connect chat -v -f /etc/ppp/scripts/winserver.chat

Also create the chat script “/etc/ppp/script/winserver.chat”:

TIMEOUT 10
'' CLIENT\c

This makes the client send the “CLIENT” string before trying to start the PPP connection.

3.3. Oddly enough

Oddly enough I created a Linux server that has connect to both Linux and Windows computers, so I found myself with the odd situation of having to setup both Linux systems such that they would connect to Windows servers and clients!