[plug] Funny pppd messages in logs

[Andrew Howell]

On Tue, Dec 01, 1998 at 12:20:18PM +0800, Christian wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, John Summerfield wrote:
> 
> > > I haven't looked too closely into the configuration yet but does anyone
> > > have any idea what the problem might be?
> > 
> > better to look before asking. You might have found this with "man pppd" and
> > decided to check what options you have on the commandline and in /etc/ppp.
> >        debug  Enables connection debugging facilities.   If  this
> >               option  is given, pppd will log the contents of all
> >               control packets sent  or  received  in  a  readable
> >               form.   The  packets are logged through syslog with
> >               facility daemon and level debug.  This  information
> >               can  be  directed to a file by setting up /etc/sys-
> >               log.conf appropriately (see syslog.conf(5)).
> 
> Firstly let's clear up the matter of identity here.  I wrote the original
> post from Oliver's account since I'd just fiddled around and got it to
> connect up.  I had debug option on in order to see what was happening and
> left it on however the little thing I neglected to mention in the previous
> post was that the lines pppd was writing to the log file were not during
> the initial setup/negotiation but well after the connection was fully
> established (IP address assigned etc.) and the lines were being written
> every couple of seconds.
> 
> My experience using pppd is with version 2.2.0 (this version was 2.3.5 or
> something I think - whatever the one which ships with Debian 2.0 is) and
> version 2.2.0 only writes the debug lines with the control information
> during connection negotiation.  I've never seen pppd write such lines to a
> log file after the connection has been fully established.  There is also
> nothing in the pppd manual for 2.2.0 which suggests a different pattern of
> behaviour from the portion of the 2.3.5 (I assume) manual posted above. 
> 
> Hence the question is still legitimate: what is causing those extra LCP
> packets and hence the lines in the log file?  Are LCP packets being
> continuously sent throughout the course of a normal connection (perhaps
> someone who knows a bit more about ppp can answer this - even if just for
> curiousity's sake) and the semantics of the debug option of pppd vary from
> version to version in a way not detailed in the manual?  Or are the LCP
> packets being sent because of some misconfiguration or problem with the
> link? 

AFAIK ppp sends LCP packets continuously to test if the connection is still
alive.

-- 
Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment
factor - 91%.  Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot
startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night!
                -- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day'

Andrew Howell
Perth, Western Australia			       andrew at it.net.au