Modems for use with Solaris/Unix Servers


One of the items that can cause a huge amount of frustration for people setting up Solaris or Unix servers is trying to find out how modems get configured. Each version of Solaris or Unix, may have different configuration requirements. Lucky for all of us, there is an abundance of information on this topic, and we only need know where to find it.

In today's tip, we locate some great sources of community information that enable;

  • Outbound modem use.
  • Dial-in modem setup
  • Fax
  • PPP
  • Send to Pagers
  • ISDN, Cable Modems, xDSL information with a listing of Freeware, Shareware, and Commercial products.

    Before getting started with a modem on any Solaris or Unix based system, it is important to know that not all modems created today are real modems. Solaris requires a *real* "Hayes Compatible" serial modem in order to work properly. However, once the PC market started down the slippery slope of price wars, many companies started to cut cost by removing almost all the parts from inside the modem, and letting Microsoft Windows software do all the work, at the expense of your main CPU utilization. These devices dominate today, and are called "WinModems". To ensure that you are aware of this, and do not purchase a winmodem for use on Solaris, there is an excellent resource on this topic at http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html

    Once you have selected a "normal" modem for use on Solaris, you must explore the excellent information source covering Solaris, serial ports, and modems made available by Stokely Consulting at: http://www.stokely.com/unix.serial.port.resources/index.html The site covers all aspects of how to configure modems, fax servers, serial terminal servers, and system configuration files.

    The "Inside Solaris" site also has a great article showing how many Solaris and windows systems can share a cable modem or DSL line to the Internet, which can be found at http://www.elementkjournals.com/sun/9905/sun9951.htm The article even explores using the non-commercial IP-Filters NAT and Firewall package on Solaris to configure a secure home network.

    One other resource is http://www.kempston.net/solaris/ which has sections showing the configuration of dial-in servers, PPP servers, and how to dial out and connect to an ISP of your choice.

    Up to and including Solaris 8 asppp is included with Solaris. Rumor has it that asppp is deprecated and will be replaced with pppd. My personal experience is that pppd is a better performer. In the future I intend to have a paper explicitly covering setting pppd on SolarisX86 at present I don't feel I have enough 1st hand experience with pppd.
    However some of my ppp resources can be found at http://www.riddleware.com/solx86/ppp-config.html
    Binaries of pppd for Solaris can be found at http://playground.sun.com/pppd