PPPCTL(8)						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						 PPPCTL(8)

NAME

     pppctl -- PPP control program

SYNOPSIS

     pppctl [-v] [-t n] [-p passwd] [host:]Port | LocalSocket [command[;command]...]

DESCRIPTION

     This utility provides command line control of the ppp(8) daemon.  Its primary use is to facilitate simple scripts that control a running dae-
     mon.

     The pppctl utility is passed at least one argument, specifying the socket on which ppp is listening.  Refer to the 'set server' command of
     ppp for details.  If the socket contains a leading '/', it is taken as an AF_LOCAL socket.  If it contains a colon, it is treated as a
     host:port pair, otherwise it is treated as a TCP port specification on the local machine (127.0.0.1).  Both the host and port may be speci-
     fied numerically if you wish to avoid a DNS lookup or do not have an entry for the given port in /etc/services.

     All remaining arguments are concatenated to form the command(s) that will be sent to the ppp daemon.  If any semi-colon characters are found,
     they are treated as command delimiters, allowing more than one command in a given 'session'.  For example:

	   pppctl 3000 set timeout 300; show timeout

     Do not forget to escape or quote the ';' as it is a special character for most shells.

     If no command arguments are given, pppctl enters interactive mode, where commands are read from standard input.  When reading commands, the
     editline(3) library is used, allowing command-line editing (with editrc(5) defining editing behaviour).  The history size defaults to 20
     lines.

     The following command line options are available:

     -v      Display all data sent to and received from the ppp daemon.  Normally, pppctl displays only non-prompt lines received.  This option is
	     ignored in interactive mode.

     -t n    Use a timeout of n instead of the default 2 seconds when connecting.  This may be required if you wish to control a daemon over a
	     slow (or even a dialup) link.

     -p passwd
	     Specify the password required by the ppp daemon.  If this switch is not used, pppctl will prompt for a password once it has success-
	     fully connected to ppp.

ENVIRONMENT

     The following environment variables are understood by pppctl when in interactive mode:

     EL_SIZE	 The number of history lines.  The default is 20.

     EL_EDITOR	 The edit mode.  Only values of "emacs" and "vi" are accepted.	Other values are silently ignored.  This environment variable will
		 override the bind -v and bind -e commands in ~/.editrc.

EXAMPLES

     If you run ppp in -auto mode, pppctl can be used to automate many frequent tasks (you can actually control ppp in any mode except interactive
     mode).  Use of the -p option is discouraged (even in scripts that are not readable by others) as a ps(1) listing may reveal your secret.

     The best way to allow easy, secure pppctl access is to create a local server socket in /etc/ppp/ppp.conf (in the correct section) like this:

	   set server /var/run/internet "" 0177

     This will instruct ppp to create a local domain socket, with srw------- permissions and no password, allowing access only to the user that
     invoked ppp.  Refer to the ppp(8) man page for further details.

     You can now create some easy-access scripts.  To connect to the internet:

	   #! /bin/sh
	   test $# -eq 0 && time=300 || time=$1
	   exec pppctl /var/run/internet set timeout $time; dial

     To disconnect:

	   #! /bin/sh
	   exec pppctl /var/run/internet set timeout 300; close

     To check if the line is up:

	   #! /bin/sh
	   pppctl -p '' -v /var/run/internet quit | grep ^PPP >/dev/null
	   if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
	     echo Link is up
	   else
	     echo Link is down
	   fi

     You can even make a generic script:

	   #! /bin/sh
	   exec pppctl /var/run/internet "$@"

     You could also use pppctl to control when dial-on-demand works.  Suppose you want ppp to run all the time, but you want to prevent dial-out
     between 8pm and 8am each day.  However, any connections active at 8pm should continue to remain active until they are closed or naturally
     time out.

     A cron(8) entry for 8pm which runs

	   pppctl /var/run/internet set filter dial 0 deny 0 0

     will block all further dial requests, and the corresponding 8am entry

	   pppctl /var/run/internet set filter dial -1

     will allow them again.

SEE ALSO

     ps(1), editline(3), editrc(5), services(5), ppp(8)

HISTORY

     The pppctl utility first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.5.

BSD
								   June 26, 1997							       BSD