Windows Connectd

System Requirements:

Win95/OSR2 or above. NT4/sp4 or above.

Installing

Under NT and Windows 2000 connectd is best run as a service. Just click on setup.exe which will install and start connectd. Thereupon you can manage it as you would any other service.

Under windows 95 connectd will run in standalone mode: you need to add it to a startup key somewhere. (To be tidied up.)

NT 'User Right's needed by connectd.

Under NT setup.exe adds two privileges to the account its setup on:

  • Act as part of the operating system (SeTcbPrivilege)

  • Logon as a service (SeServiceLogonRight)

These aren't removed when connectd is uninstalled (in case other processes need them).

connectd actually needs some more privileges, but we haven't figured quite what.

The Connectd Management Console

Connectd uses the standard unix management console: a text editor (like notepad or 'edit').

Refinements are on the way, but for the moment you've got to get your hands dirty and edit the files.

NB: make sure files don't end in .txt if you're using notepad otherwise they won't work.

Finding those pesky Files

All files go in the same directory as connectd.exe is in.

So if connectd is in c:\connectd then its config-file is c:\connectd\config, the users-file is c:\connectd\users, etc...

Henceforce I will write .\ to mean c:\connectd\ or wherever you've put connectd.

(In the main readme, /etc/connect/ means c:\connectd\, or wherever you have put connectd; so /etc/connect/tarifs means .\tarifs, which means the file called tarifs in the same directory as connectd.)

NB files do not have extensions unless I say othethwise. Windows likes to hide extension so make sure there are none.

Special cases:

The default log file is .\log a logfile of conout$ will cause connectd to open a console and use that, which is handy for debugging.

Important Differences from unix:

There is no pid file.

the CONNECTD_XXXX environment variables aren't cleared out.

Scripts

All scripts are availaible, again they're looked for in connectd's directory but as .\<event>.bat instead of /etc/connect/<event> (as the main readme says.)

There are also .\ip-up.bat and .\ip-down.bat scripts.

.\ip-up.bat is run when the connection to the internet gets started; .\ip-down.bat is run when the connection goes down.

Both are run as if you'd typed. 

<file> "" "<modem-name>" "" "<local-ip>" "<remote-ip>" "<script-param>"

(i.e. much as pppd would invoke ip-up/ip-down. The script-param is the connectd standard.)

Links ("Modems")

THE LINK NAME IS THE NAME OF THE MODEM exactly as it appears in the window's dialogs.

If you have just one modem defined (and no links line in .\config) connectd can sort this out for itself. If you've ever installed more than one you'll need to copy its name into .\config as

links "<modemname>"

e.g.

links "Sportster 28800 External"

One way to do this is to remove the links line from your config-file, then run and kill connectd.

In .\log you'll see something like 

[1Z12L2H]:modem: "Sportster 28800 External"
[1Z12L2H]:modem: "MicroLink 56k Internet"

You can then cut-and-paste the quoted-name, including quotes into your links line.

(Aside: For the time being CONNECTD.EXE replaces the spaces in the name with underscore to create the actual link name used, as most connectd clients assumes link names don't contain spaces...)

WCONNECTD DOES NOT SUPPORT MULTIPLE LINKS UNDER WINDOWS. I don't think the problems are too great, so if you need to do this, email me know, and I will fix it.

Providers

Work as described in the README.txt, except they are called. 

.\providers\<name>.isp

Which means creating a file that looks like this: 

phonenumber "<phoneumber>"
pppuser     "<name-with-isp>"
pppsecret   "<password>"

Dialup Connections

Connectd creates its own temporary dialup connections from the provider definitions you supply--much like a program will create temporary files. These have unique names: beginning "connectd " followed by a string of digits, and should be deleted after connectd exits. If not, you can delete them.

Undet NT Connectd always uses the "default phonebook".

Connectd ignores any existing dialup connections.

Timeouts

The only timeouts connectd honours is the idle-timeout or inactivity-timeout, and that's under W2K. Neither the dial-timeout nor the hangup-timeout are used.

Forwarding/proxying.

Under Windows 2000 (henceforth W2K) connectd tries to enables Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on its connection. (See below)

If ICS doesn't work, or you're not running Windows 2000 then you must start forwarding or proxying. (See Forwarding and proxying primer.) The ip-up.bat/ip-down.bat files can be used to place route commands etc...

W2K ICS

NB: your server must be 192.168.0.1 for Windows 2000 ICS to work, and all your other machines must have addresses 192.168.0.x

If you have multiple network cards in your system you need to tell connectd which one to use for ICS.

Also IF YOU HAVE CHANGED NETWORK CARDS at some point then connectd may need to be told which card to use.

When connectd starts a connection, it writes the names of all the "apparent" network cards to its log file (.\log), noting which one its chosen and which ones its skipped over. Cut and paste the name of the network card into .\config as 

NetworkCard "<card>"

e.g. We'd changed network cards on our W2K machine. So I added the line 

NetworkCard "Realtek RTL8029(AS)-based PCI Ethernet Adapter"

to config, to make connectd use the new PCI card instead of the old card.

Connections in General

There are lots of windows features connectd doesn't understand because I have no way of testing them. This includes callback connections and ISDN features like increasing/decreasing line capacity.

If you want support for these features get in touch with me at fuchsia.groan@virgin.net

Config/command-line options:

I've sat down and grouped errors into those where redialing might fix it (e.g. the modem got the BUSY signal.) and those where it wouldn't (e.g. your password was wrong).

If I've got that wrong, you can mark an error rediable, or unrediable with this option.

<num> is the number that W2K prints, the RAS error code. 

redialable-error     <num>

allows connectd to redial on error num; while

redialable-error     !<num>

prevents connectd redialing.

Windows Connectd

System Requirements:

Win95/OSR2 or above. NT4/sp4 or above.

Installing

Under NT and Windows 2000 connectd is best run as a service. Just click on setup.exe which will install and start connectd. Thereupon you can manage it as you would any other service.

Under windows 95 connectd will run in standalone mode: you need to add it to a startup key somewhere. (To be tidied up.)

NT 'User Right's needed by connectd.

Under NT setup.exe adds two privileges to the account its setup on:

  • Act as part of the operating system (SeTcbPrivilege)

  • Logon as a service (SeServiceLogonRight)

These aren't removed when connectd is uninstalled (in case other processes need them).

connectd actually needs some more privileges, but we haven't figured quite what.

The Connectd Management Console

Connectd uses the standard unix management console: a text editor (like notepad or 'edit').

Refinements are on the way, but for the moment you've got to get your hands dirty and edit the files.

NB: make sure files don't end in .txt if you're using notepad otherwise they won't work.

Finding those pesky Files

All files go in the same directory as connectd.exe is in.

So if connectd is in c:\connectd then its config-file is c:\connectd\config, the users-file is c:\connectd\users, etc...

Henceforce I will write .\ to mean c:\connectd\ or wherever you've put connectd.

(In the main readme, /etc/connect/ means c:\connectd\, or wherever you have put connectd; so /etc/connect/tarifs means .\tarifs, which means the file called tarifs in the same directory as connectd.)

NB files do not have extensions unless I say othethwise. Windows likes to hide extension so make sure there are none.

Special cases:

The default log file is .\log a logfile of conout$ will cause connectd to open a console and use that, which is handy for debugging.

Important Differences from unix:

There is no pid file.

the CONNECTD_XXXX environment variables aren't cleared out.

Scripts

All scripts are availaible, again they're looked for in connectd's directory but as .\<event>.bat instead of /etc/connect/<event> (as the main readme says.)

There are also .\ip-up.bat and .\ip-down.bat scripts.

.\ip-up.bat is run when the connection to the internet gets started; .\ip-down.bat is run when the connection goes down.

Both are run as if you'd typed. 

<file> "" "<modem-name>" "" "<local-ip>" "<remote-ip>" "<script-param>"

(i.e. much as pppd would invoke ip-up/ip-down. The script-param is the connectd standard.)

Links ("Modems")

THE LINK NAME IS THE NAME OF THE MODEM exactly as it appears in the window's dialogs.

If you have just one modem defined (and no links line in .\config) connectd can sort this out for itself. If you've ever installed more than one you'll need to copy its name into .\config as

links "<modemname>"

e.g.

links "Sportster 28800 External"

One way to do this is to remove the links line from your config-file, then run and kill connectd.

In .\log you'll see something like 

[1Z12L2H]:modem: "Sportster 28800 External"
[1Z12L2H]:modem: "MicroLink 56k Internet"

You can then cut-and-paste the quoted-name, including quotes into your links line.

(Aside: For the time being CONNECTD.EXE replaces the spaces in the name with underscore to create the actual link name used, as most connectd clients assumes link names don't contain spaces...)

WCONNECTD DOES NOT SUPPORT MULTIPLE LINKS UNDER WINDOWS. I don't think the problems are too great, so if you need to do this, email me know, and I will fix it.

Providers

Work as described in the README.txt, except they are called. 

.\providers\<name>.isp

Which means creating a file that looks like this: 

phonenumber "<phoneumber>"
pppuser     "<name-with-isp>"
pppsecret   "<password>"

Dialup Connections

Connectd creates its own temporary dialup connections from the provider definitions you supply--much like a program will create temporary files. These have unique names: beginning "connectd " followed by a string of digits, and should be deleted after connectd exits. If not, you can delete them.

Undet NT Connectd always uses the "default phonebook".

Connectd ignores any existing dialup connections.

Timeouts

The only timeouts connectd honours is the idle-timeout or inactivity-timeout, and that's under W2K. Neither the dial-timeout nor the hangup-timeout are used.

Forwarding/proxying.

Under Windows 2000 (henceforth W2K) connectd tries to enables Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on its connection. (See below)

If ICS doesn't work, or you're not running Windows 2000 then you must start forwarding or proxying. (See Forwarding and proxying primer.) The ip-up.bat/ip-down.bat files can be used to place route commands etc...

W2K ICS

NB: your server must be 192.168.0.1 for Windows 2000 ICS to work, and all your other machines must have addresses 192.168.0.x

If you have multiple network cards in your system you need to tell connectd which one to use for ICS.

Also IF YOU HAVE CHANGED NETWORK CARDS at some point then connectd may need to be told which card to use.

When connectd starts a connection, it writes the names of all the "apparent" network cards to its log file (.\log), noting which one its chosen and which ones its skipped over. Cut and paste the name of the network card into .\config as 

NetworkCard "<card>"

e.g. We'd changed network cards on our W2K machine. So I added the line 

NetworkCard "Realtek RTL8029(AS)-based PCI Ethernet Adapter"

to config, to make connectd use the new PCI card instead of the old card.

Connections in General

There are lots of windows features connectd doesn't understand because I have no way of testing them. This includes callback connections and ISDN features like increasing/decreasing line capacity.

If you want support for these features get in touch with me at fuchsia.groan@virgin.net

Config/command-line options:

I've sat down and grouped errors into those where redialing might fix it (e.g. the modem got the BUSY signal.) and those where it wouldn't (e.g. your password was wrong).

If I've got that wrong, you can mark an error rediable, or unrediable with this option.

<num> is the number that W2K prints, the RAS error code. 

redialable-error     <num>

allows connectd to redial on error num; while

redialable-error     !<num>

prevents connectd redialing.