NAME¶

pppoe-server - user-space PPPoE server

SYNOPSIS¶

pppoe-server [options]

DESCRIPTION¶

pppoe-server is a user-space server for PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) for Linux and other UNIX systems. pppoe-server works in concert with the pppoe client to respond to PPPoE discovery packets and set up PPPoE sessions.

OPTIONS¶

-F

The -F option causes pppoe-server not to fork and become a daemon. The default is to fork and become a daemon.

-I interface

The -I option specifies the Ethernet interface to use. Under Linux, it is typically eth0 or eth1. The interface should be "up" before you start pppoe-server, but need not have an IP address. You can supply multiple -I options if you want the server to respond on more than one interface.

-X pidfile

This option causes pppoe-server to write its process ID to pidfile. Additionally, it keeps the file locked so that only a single process may be started for a given pidfile.

-q /path/to/pppd

Specifies the full path to the pppd program. The default is determined at compile time. One use of this option is to supply a wrapper program that modifies the arguments passed to pppd. This lets you do things not directly supported by the server (for example, specify IPv6 addresses.)

-Q /path/to/pppoe

Specifies the full path to the pppoe program. The default is determined at compile time. This option is only relevant if you are not using kernel-mode PPPoE.

-T timeout

This option is passed directly to pppoe; see pppoe(8) for details. If you are using kernel-mode PPPoE, this option has no effect.

-C ac_name

Specifies which name to report as the access concentrator name. If not supplied, the host name is used.

-S name

Offer a service named name. Multiple -S options may be specified; each one causes the named service to be advertised in a Service-Name tag in the PADO frame. The first -S option specifies the default service, and is used if the PPPoE client requests a Service-Name of length zero.

-m MSS

This option is passed directly to pppoe; see pppoe(8) for details. If you are using kernel-mode PPPoE, this option has no effect.

-x n

Limit the number of sessions per peer MAC address to n. If a given MAC address attempts to create more than n sessions, then its PADI and PADR packets are ignored. If you set n to 0 (the default), then no limit is imposed on the number of sessions per peer MAC address.

-s

This option is passed directly to pppoe; see pppoe(8) for details. In addition, it causes pppd to be invoked with the sync option.

-L ip

Sets the local IP address. This is passed to spawned pppd processes. If not specified, the default is 10.0.0.1. If specified as 0.0.0.0 the selection of local IP address is delegated to pppd.

-R ip

Sets the starting remote IP address. As sessions are established, IP addresses are assigned starting from ip. pppoe-server automatically keeps track of the pool of addresses and passes a valid remote IP address to pppd. If not specified, a starting address of 10.67.15.1 is used. If specified as 0.0.0.0 remote IP allocation will be delegated to pppd.

-N num

Allows at most num concurrent PPPoE sessions. If not specified, the default is 64.

-M string

Sends string in a MOTM tag in a PADM packet right after sending the PADS to a client.

-H url

Sends url in a HURL tag in a PADM packet right after sending the PADS to a client. Note that url must start with either http:// or https://.

-O fname

This option causes pppoe-server to tell pppd to use the option file fname instead of the default /etc/ppp/pppoe-server-options.

-p fname

Reads the specified file fname which is a text file consisting of one IP address per line. These IP addresses will be assigned to clients. The number of sessions allowed will equal the number of addresses found in the file. The -p option overrides both -R and -N.

In addition to containing IP addresses, the pool file can contain lines of the form:

	a.b.c.d-e

which includes all IP addresses from a.b.c.d to a.b.c.e. For example, the line:

	1.2.3.4-7

is equivalent to:

	1.2.3.4
	1.2.3.5
	1.2.3.6
	1.2.3.7

-r

Tells the PPPoE server to randomly permute session numbers. Instead of handing out sessions in order, the session numbers are assigned in an unpredictable order.

-u

Tells the server to invoke pppd with the unit option. Note that this option only works for pppd version 2.4.0 or newer.

-o offset

Instead of numbering PPPoE sessions starting at 1, they will be numbered starting at offset+1. This allows you to run multiple servers on a given machine; just make sure that their session numbers do not overlap.

-f disc:sess

The -f option sets the Ethernet frame types for PPPoE discovery and session frames. The types are specified as hexadecimal numbers separated by a colon. Standard PPPoE uses frame types 8863:8864. You should not use this option unless you are absolutely sure the peer you are dealing with uses non-standard frame types.

-k

The -k option tells the server to use kernel-mode PPPoE on Linux. This option is available only on Linux kernels 2.4.0 and later, and only if the server was built with kernel-mode support.

-g path

The -g option tells the server the full path to the pppoe.so or rp-pppoe.so plugin to use with kernel-mode PPPoE. If omitted, a compiled-in default is used; this default can be displayed using the -h option.

-i

The -i option tells the server to completely ignore PADI frames if there are no free session slots.

-h

The -h option prints a brief usage message and exits.

-U path

The -U option creates a UNIX socket which can be connected to in order to manage pppoe-server at run-time. Please refer to the CONTROL-SOCKET section below for more detailed instructions.

OPERATION¶

pppoe-server listens for incoming PPPoE discovery packets. When a session is established, it spawns a pppd process. The following options are passed to pppd:

nodetach noaccomp nobsdcom nodeflate nopcomp novj novjccomp
default-asyncmap

In addition, the local and remote IP address are set based on the -L and -R options. The pty option is supplied along with a pppoe command to initiate the PPPoE session. Finally, additional pppd options can be placed in the file /etc/ppp/pppoe-server-options (which must exist, even if it is just empty!)

Note that pppoe-server is meant mainly for testing PPPoE clients. It is not a high-performance server meant for production use.

CONTROL-SOCKET¶

The control-socket was implemented as a secondary mechanism to improve run-time control of the pppoe-server. To use it you need to start pppoe-server with the -U option described above. You can then (in the absence of a control-client currently) use netcat to connect to the control socket, for example:

nc -U /run/pppoe-server.control

Assuming -U /run/pppoe-server.control was passed to pppoe-server.

The following commands are implemented:

set drain {off|on|quit}

This will set whether or not pppoe-server responds to PADI packets or not. When set to off pppoe-server will respond, else PADI packets will be ignored. This allows the pppoe-server to be drained from clients. In addition when set to quit will terminate pppoe-server when all pppoe-clients have terminated.

This allows for (mostly) seamless upgrades in that the currently running instance can be issued with "set drain quit" prior to starting a new interface on the same interfaces, thus allowing new connections to be made whilst maintaining proper state on existing clients.

show status

This will show basic status information for the connected-to pppoe-server.

AUTHORS¶

pppoe-server was written by Dianne Skoll <dianne@skoll.ca>.

The pppoe home page is https://dianne.skoll.ca/projects/rp-pppoe/.

SEE ALSO¶

pppd(8), pppoe(8), pppoe-sniff(8), pppoe-relay(8)