# net.ppp0 (PPPoE) inactive but working

## bruda

Hi,

I have a Gentoo box serving router duties which connects to the outside world via an ADSL line using PPPoE.  I am all of a sudden having problems with my PPPoE link.  First, net.ppp0 is brought up normally and works well:

```
Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8058]: Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded.

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8058]: RP-PPPoE plugin version 3.8p compiled against pppd 2.4.5

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8058]: Plugin passwordfd.so loaded.

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8059]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0

Mar 26 23:22:11 post /etc/init.d/net.ppp0[7603]: WARNING: net.ppp0 has started, but is inactive

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8059]: PPP session is 7963

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8059]: Connected to 00:90:1a:a3:85:68 via interface eth4

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8059]: Using interface ppp0

Mar 26 23:22:11 post pppd[8059]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth4

Mar 26 23:22:12 post pppd[8059]: PAP authentication succeeded

Mar 26 23:22:12 post pppd[8059]: peer from calling number <xxx> authorized

Mar 26 23:22:12 post pppd[8059]: local  IP address <yyy>

Mar 26 23:22:12 post pppd[8059]: remote IP address <zzz>

Mar 26 23:30:01 post /etc/init.d/net.ppp0[8173]: WARNING: net.ppp0 has already started, but is inactive
```

(IP addresses, passwords and the such are all there but have been edited out).  At this point the ppp0 interface is up and running fine, and I can connect to the outside world.  However, net.ppp0 is still considered inactive:

```
< post:/var/log > ifconfig ppp0

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol  

          inet addr:<yyy>  P-t-P:<zzz>  Mask:255.255.255.255

          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1492  Metric:1

          RX packets:44888 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:45997 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3 

          RX bytes:37678520 (35.9 MiB)  TX bytes:8304138 (7.9 MiB)

< post:/var/log > /etc/init.d/net.ppp0 status

 * status: inactive
```

In particular, no scripts in ip-up.d are ever run and there is no way I can run my iptables rules and the such.  The services that depend on network are not started unless the rc_depend_strict in /etc/rc.conf is set to NO.  This situation persists, pppd was restarted last night and the link is still inactive (but working fine) today.

This all happened at the lats reboot (caused by a kernel upgrade), but it could have been caused by a number of upgrades in the past month or so since the machine has been up and had the same IP address assigned through PPPoE.  Last time pppd was started no such issue appeared.  I don't even know where to start to fix this.  Right now I use another service to run the needed scripts (ddclient) and the whole router works well, but this is an ugly hack rather than a proper fix.  Advice is appreciated.

Here is my /etc/conf.d/net:

```
modules="!iwconfig"

config_ppp0=( "ppp" )

link_ppp0=( "eth4" )

plugins_ppp0="pppoe"

pppd_ppp0="

        maxfail 0

        persist

        holdoff 0

        defaultroute

        noauth

"

username_ppp0="aaa"

password_ppp0="bbb"

config_eth0="null"

config_eth2="null"

config_eth3="null"

config_eth5="null"

config_eth4="192.168.1.2 broadcast 192.168.1.255 netmask 255.255.255.0"

bridge_br0="eth0 eth2 eth5"

config_br0="10.0.0.1 broadcast 10.255.255.255 netmask 255.0.0.0"
```

and here is emerge --info:

```
Portage 2.1.10.49 (default/linux/amd64/10.0, gcc-4.5.3, glibc-2.13-r4, 3.2.12-gentoo x86_64)

=================================================================

System uname: Linux-3.2.12-gentoo-x86_64-AMD_Athlon-tm-_64_Processor_3000+-with-gentoo-2.0.3

Timestamp of tree: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:30:01 +0000

app-shells/bash:          4.2_p20

dev-java/java-config:     2.1.11-r3

dev-lang/python:          2.7.2-r3, 3.2.2

dev-util/cmake:           2.8.6-r4

dev-util/pkgconfig:       0.26

sys-apps/baselayout:      2.0.3

sys-apps/openrc:          0.9.8.4

sys-apps/sandbox:         2.5

sys-devel/autoconf:       2.13, 2.68

sys-devel/automake:       1.9.6-r2, 1.11.1

sys-devel/binutils:       2.21.1-r1

sys-devel/gcc:            4.4.5, 4.5.3-r2

sys-devel/gcc-config:     1.5-r2

sys-devel/libtool:        2.4-r1

sys-devel/make:           3.82-r1

sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.1 (virtual/os-headers)

sys-libs/glibc:           2.13-r4

Repositories: gentoo

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA dlj-1.1"

CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/php/apache2-php5.3/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5.3/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5.3/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/language.dat.d /etc/texmf/language.def.d /etc/texmf/updmap.d /etc/texmf/web2c"

CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles news parallel-fetch protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch"

FFLAGS=""

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org"

LANG="en_US.UTF-8"

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY=""

SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="3dnow 3dnowext X Xaw3d a52 aac acl acpi alsa amd64 apache2 apm asf audiofile avahi avi berkdb bitmap-fonts bonobo browserplugin bzip2 cairo canvas cdda cli cracklib crypt cups curl cxx dbus device-mapper dri emacs emacs-w3 encode esd fbcon firefox flac font-server fortran gdbm gdu gif gimp glut gnome gpm gstreamer gtk gtkhtml guile hostapd httpd iconv imagemagick imap jack java jpeg kpathsea latex lcms lesstif live logwatch lzw-tiff mad madwifi mbox mjpeg mmx mmxext modules motif mozbranding mozilla mp3 mpeg mudflap multilib mysql ncurses networking nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin offensive ogg opengl openmp oss pam pam_chroot pam_timestamp pcre pdf pdflib png ppds pppd prelude python quicktime readline samba sasl sdl sensord session sndfile sockets spell sqlite sse sse2 ssl stream svg sysfs tcltk tcpd theora tiff truetype truetype-fonts trusted type1-fonts udev unicode usb v4l v4l2 vhosts videos vorbis wmf x264 xinerama xml xml2 xorg xprint xv xvid zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="alias auth_basic authz_host dir log_config mime mime_magic" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse void evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" PHP_TARGETS="php5-3" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="dummy fbdev radeon vesa vga" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"

Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
```

Many thanks in advance.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

bruda,

From your net file you have 

```
config_ppp0=( "ppp" ) 

link_ppp0=( "eth4" ) 

plugins_ppp0="pppoe" 
```

The first two lines are baselayout1 syntax, the last line is baselayout2.

Drop the open/close brackets.

I know support for the old syntax is going away, or even gone away by now, dependifng on your version of openrc..

----------

## bruda

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> From your net file you have 
> 
> ```
> config_ppp0=( "ppp" ) 
> 
> ...

 

Good point, many thanks (for some reason I missed those...).  Needless to say, this does not solve my problem.  Anybody any idea at least where should I look?  Many thanks again.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

bruda,

rp-ppoe as in  [ebuild  N     ] net-dialup/rp-pppoe-3.10-r1  ?

Don't use it - the kernel provides PPoE. Use that instead.  I can't check my router just now. Its dead following two drives in a 5 spindle raid5 set failing.

Replacements have sipped (under warranty) and should be installed over the weekend.

I did install that then came across a web pache saying that the functionality had be moved to the kernel which I what I use.

I can posk back when my router is back up if you like.  I have a feeling that I set rc_depend_strict in /etc/rc.conf to NO because I want sshd to work even if PPPoE is dead.

----------

## bruda

Hi,

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> rp-ppoe as in  [ebuild  N     ] net-dialup/rp-pppoe-3.10-r1  

 

I have never used that, I always relied on the in-kernel drivers.

 *Quote:*   

> I can posk back when my router is back up if you like.  I have a feeling that I set rc_depend_strict in /etc/rc.conf to NO because I want sshd to work even if PPPoE is dead.

 

Well, if you find some explanation that would be useful.  Any hint will be in fact useful.  It is maddening, as the whole thing used to work very well and started acting all of a sudden.

----------

## javeree

I have (almost) the same problem. net.ppp1 womes up, but is said to be inactive. Still, the interface received an IP address, and I seem to be able to use it (whatismyip returns the ip adress of the ppp interface). However, I have ddclient as a dependency of ppp1, so my IP address doesn't get updated and it's bye-bye remote access   :Sad: 

I have a hunch however that it has something to do with resolvconf, as that is the last thing that i remember fiddling with.

I am behind a router using interface ethm, and get a dhcp address from that router. At the same time, teh router passes it's own address 192.168.1.1 as dns server address and what it assume is its own domain. Then ppp starts, connecting over ethm wit§h my ISP where it also gets a dhcp address and and adds its own dns servers

So /etc/resolv.conf loooks a bit like (by heart, as I have no remote access right now    :Confused: )

 *Quote:*   

> search home  <= 'home' is assigned by the router
> 
> 127.0.0.1
> 
> 192.168.1.1 <= dns address assigned by the router over ethm
> ...

 

The result of this was that when I asked locally to ping 'Venus', that it would try to find Venus.home instead to Venus.mydomain and failed (the router is not smart enough to answer dns queries from it's own dhcp names). So I added in /etc/resolvconf.conf 

"search_domain mydomain".

Now the first line of /etc/resolv.conf looks like "search mydomain home", and I can ping myseelf using a short name.

So everything 'looks' ok, except the ppp interface being inactive. Mind you, I am not sure that this change and the ppp problem are related, as there was some time between the change and me seeing the problem.

----------

