Linux and AT&T Worldnet Service

AT&T Worldnet Service uses standard PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) with CHAP (Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol). While Windows 3.1x or Windows 95/98 is required to register a new account, other operating systems that support PPP with CHAP can be used once an account is registered. We have instructions for configuring your Linux system below, and at Linux/KPPP and AT&T Worldnet Service.

Note: You will need to find your AT&T Worldnet Service account information.

Unless you have already configured your Linux system to use PPP to another Internet Service Provider, connecting to AT&T Worldnet Service from Linux will take a little bit of work (recompiling the Linux kernel). Here are a few here a few reasons why one might want to do this bit of work.

If you have used PPP to connect to other ISP's from Linux, and pretty much know what you are doing try reading the Expert Notes below.

If you have difficulty getting your Linux system to connect to AT&T Worldnet Service, see the Common Problems section below.

To configure Linux:

If you have not already done so, activate your AT&T Worldnet Service account using the installation disks.
If you have already successfully installed and used PPP with other ISP's, skip to step 5.
Get a copy of ppp-2.1.2d.tar if your kernel is version 1.2.x, or ppp-2.3.4f.tar for kernels >= 1.3.x.
Follow the directions contained within the ppp package for rebuilding your kernel with PPP support and for installing pppd and chat.
If your system came with pppd already installed in /usr/sbin/pppd, make sure that pppd is the actual binary and not a shell script. If /usr/sbin/pppd is a shell script, move it somewhere else and replace it with the pppd binary.
Get a copy of your account information file and use the settings in the scripts below. Your account information file might be different, depending on the version of your AT&T Worldnet Service software.
Add the following line to the file /etc/ppp/chap-secrets:

999999999@worldnet.att.net * "password" *

where 9999999999has been replaced by number on the Name or LoginName line of your account information file, and passwordis replaced the value on the Password line. The quotation marks around the password are important to protect any special characters that might appear in the password.
Create, the following script, substituting the proper values for $NAME and $PHONE. I have given my script the name /usr/sbin/ppp-on.
#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# Script to establish connection from a Linux system to
# worldnet via PPP.
#
$DOMAIN="worldnet.att.net";
$SEARCH=$DOMAIN;
$NAMESERVER1="204.127.129.4";
$NAMESERVER2="204.127.160.4";
$NAMESERVER3="204.127.129.3";
$NAMESERVER3="204.127.160.3";
$NAME="999999999\@worldnet.att.net";
$PHONE="6213400"; # Cambridge, MA
$MODEM="/dev/modem";

$resolv = '>/etc/resolv.conf';

open(CONF,$resolv)|| die "Cannot open file: $resolv.\n $! \n";

print CONF "\#resolv.conf - created by ".$ARGV."\n";
print CONF "domain ".$DOMAIN."\n";
print CONF "search ".$SEARCH."\n";
print CONF "nameserver ".$NAMESERVER1."\n";
print CONF "nameserver ".$NAMESERVER2."\n";
print CONF "nameserver ".$NAMESERVER3."\n";

$command="/usr/sbin/pppd name \"".$NAME."\"".
" -d connect \'/usr/sbin/chat -t 45 -v ABORT BUSY \"\" ATDT".
$PHONE." CONNECT \"\"\' ".$MODEM.
" 57600 noipdefault modem defaultroute crtscts";
$ENV{'PATH'} = ''; # Make $ENV{'PATH'} untainted
system($command);

Executing this script should then startup up a connection to AT&T Worldnet Service. Give the script a permission of 4755 (chmod 4755 /usr/sbin/ppp-on) if you want to be able to startup the Internet connection from accounts other than root.

This script is a bit fancy in that it writes to the file /etc/resolv.conf the domain name and the nameserver numbers. This can be handy if you have several similar scripts for different ISP's, each of which has its own domain name and nameservers. If perl is not available, or you want a simpler script, edit /etc/resolv.conf to contain:

domain worldnet.att.net
nameserver 204.127.129.4
nameserver 204.127.160.4
nameserver 204.127.129.3
nameserver 204.127.160.3

Also, use the following the following script startup PPP (replacing the login name and phone number with appropriate values.)

/usr/sbin/pppd name "999999999@worldnet.att.net" -d connect \
'/usr/sbin/chat -t 45 -v ABORT BUSY "" ATDT1111111 CONNECT ""' \
/dev/modem 57600 noipdefault modem defaultroute crtscts
Optionally, one may optionally add a script to disconnect ppp. The following is an example of /usr/sbin/ppp-off
#!/bin/sh
# ppp-down - simply kills the ppp-daemon
kill `ps -a | grep pppd | grep -v grep | cut -b 1-6`

Mail and News

The values of NNTP_HOST, SMTP_HOST, POP_SERVER, POP_PASSWORD, and EMAIL_ADDR can be extracted from your account information file and used in whatever pop-mail and news software you choose. The Linux version Netscape 2.0 or Netscape 3.0 handle both mail and news fine.

Ed Kelley's A Visual Guide to configuring Netscape 3.0 under Windows 95 may provide some guidance towards setting up Netscape 3.0 under Linux.

PPP utilities and References

A number of PPP utilities are available to enhance the use of PPP on Linux. Additional information on networking and PPP under Linux can be found in The Linux Network Administrators' Guide and the Linux PPP HOWTO.

The newsgroups linux.dev.ppp and comp.os.linux.networking can also be useful.

Expert notes

If you are already using PPP to other ISP's there are essentially just two possibly new things that need to be done. First, since AT&T Worldnet Service uses CHAP, you must put your username and password into the file /etc/ppp/chap-secrets like so:
999999999@worldnet.att.net * "password" *

Secondly, the chat script should only go as far as getting the phone dialed in. CHAP will take care of passing username and password. For example:
usr/sbin/pppd name "999999999@worldnet.att.net" -d connect

'/usr/sbin/chat -t 45 -v ABORT BUSY "" ATDTthenumber CONNECT ""' \
/dev/modem 57600 noipdefault debug modem defaultroute crtscts

Common Problems

Here are some things to check if you are having difficulty getting the Linux-Worldnet connection to work.

Make sure that ppp is built into the Linux kernel that you are using. To find out, watch the kernel messages during bootup, or review these messages with the dmesgcommand.
Make sure that /usr/sbin/pppd is a binary and not a script. If it is a script, find out where the pppd binary actually is and replace the pppd script with the binary. Some Linux distributions, such as recent Slackware releases have a script instead of a binary in /usr/sbin.
If the ppp connection appears to be made (/sbin/ifconfigshows a sensible looking ppp0 interface), but disconnects after a short time (60 seconds), then you have an authentication problem. The two most common causes are the previous item /usr/sbin/pppd is a script instead of a binary), or having the incorrect username or password in the /etc/ppp/chap-secrets file. Make sure that you have the correct password and that it has quotes around it.
Make sure you do NOT attempt to negotiate the username and password in the chat script. Only use the chat script to dial into AT&T Worldnet Service. Do NOT attempt to use kermit or another terminal emulation program to dial into kermit to learn the login sequence. It will NOT be helpful and not teach you anything useful.

Need Additional Help?

If you can't find the answers you need, please try:

The help file for the application you are using.
Our FAQs.

Note: AT&T DSL Service support is available at http://dslhelp.att.net

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