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OS/2 PPP and AT&T Worldnet Service

Connecting from the command line without a dialer

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

First question? Why wouldn't you want to just use the SLIPPM dialer provided with the OS/2 IAK?

The answer is, you might. In that case the information on this page is not for you. The primary reason for wanting to connect without the dialer is automation. If you would like to control the establishment of the ppp connection from another program, this could be useful. In general the dialer can make automating the connection process cumbersome.

Automation aside, I like having an icon on my launchpad that establishes an Internet connection with a single click. No muss, no fuss. In addition once you know how to set up for a command line connection you can make use of Don Russell's excellent PPPDial REXX logon script which provides functionality beyond that provided by the SLIPPM dialer. Including automatic redial for busy signals and unsuccessful connection attempts and launching of program when a connection is established.

Creating a resolv file

Now edit or create a file called resolv in the sub-directory to which your ETC environment variable points. If you already have a resolv file set up for another ISP you may want to save it elsewhere. You can always write a CMD file to copy the appropriate resolv into the ETC when connecting to a particular provider.

The values shown below in square brackets below should be replaced by the values of the same name from the REG.INI file that was created during your initial AT&T Worldnet Service registration. Your account information file might be different, depending on the version of your AT&T Worldnet Service software. These instructions assume that your file is named REG.INI, however, you should be able to plug in the information shown in your account file.

domain worldnet.att.netnameserver [DNS_ADDR]nameserver [DNS_ADDR_2]

Using the values from my own REG.INI file my resolv file looks like this:
domain worldnet.att.netnameserver 204.127.129.4nameserver 204.127.160.4

Creating the CMD file for PPP.EXE

Now we just need to create a CMD file and parameter file to start ppp.exe with the appropriate parameters. The names and sub-directory locations for these two files are arbitrary.

Create a file named \tcpip\bin\connatt.cmd with the following contents:
@echo off
REM You may want to add a copy command here
REM to copy the appropriate resolv file to the
REM ETC subdir if you use multiple ISPs.
REM
REM The ppp command below should be on a single
REM line. It is broken here only for ease of
REM display.
REM
ppp file connatt.prm com2 57600connect "slattach ATZ1 OK ATDT555-1234 NNECT"

The last line of this file contains a number of parameters that vary depending on your configuration and location. Change them as appropriate.

Value used in example	Description
com2	com port assigned to your modem
57600	desired DTE speed If you do not know what DTE speed you should use, use 57600 for a 28.8K modem and use 38400 for a 14.4K or lower modem.
ATZ1	modem initialization string This example assumes that you have stored your modem setup for AT&T Worldnet Service in user profile 1 of your modem. This was done to avoid making the command line so long and because many of the characters such as ampersand and percent have a special meaning in OS/2 command lines and have to be handled specially. The ampersand character must be preceded by the OS/2 escape character, caret ^, in order for it to be passed as a parameter. You must double up the percent characters in an init string. You need two for every one you want passed as a parameter. If you don't want to store your modem init string in your modem and you don't want to deal with the headache of special characters in an OS/2 command string, then consider using PPPDial which is discussed later on this page.
ATDT	dialing prefix Use ATDT for tone dialing or ATDP for pulse dialing.
555-1234	AT&T Worldnet Service access phone number Use the number from the PHONE_NUM field of the REG.INI file. Omit the +1 and area code if it is a local call.

Creating a ppp parameter file for AT&T Worldnet Service

Now we need to create the parameter file used by the CMD file. Create a file that in this example we call connatt.prm with the following contents:
mru 1500rtsctsmodemdefaultroutepriority 1notifyexituser "[LOGIN]"name "[LOGIN]"secret "[PASSWORD]"

Again the values shown in square brackets should be replaced with the values of the fields in the REG.INI file of the same name. Your account information file might be different, depending on the version of your AT&T Worldnet Service software. These instructions assume that your file is named REG.INI, however, you should be able to plug in the information shown in your account file. Here is an example with the values filled in. No, the user and secret fields used in this example are not real.
mru 1500rtsctsmodemdefaultroutepriority 1notifyexituser "987654321@worldnet.att.net"name "987654321@worldnet.att.net"secret "#xxx=xxxxxxxxxxx"

Making the connection

Just run connatt.cmd to establish a ppp connection. To break the connection, go to the window where connatt.cmd is running and press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break.

How to connect to AT&T Worldnet Service using PPPDial

PPPDial is a freeware logon script written in REXX by Don Russell that provides a number of useful features not found in the OS/2 SLIPPPM dialer. The most useful of these is automatic redialing for busy signals or unsuccessful connection attempts. It is also useful for automatically starting program such as an e-mail client when a connection is established.

1. Register for AT&T Worldnet Service using the native Windows software as described earlier and keep the file created by this process.
2. Create a resolv file as described earlier in this document.
3. Obtain and install PPPDial.
4. Create a CMD file with the contents below. I call this one pppdlatt.cmd.

@echo off
REM You may want to add a copy command here
REM to copy the appropriate resolv file to ETC
REM subdir if you use multiple ISPs.
REM
REM The ppp command below should be on a single
REM line. It is broken here only for ease of
REM display.
REM
ppp file connatt.prm com2 57600connect "pppdial.cmd pppdlatt.rsp"

As before the values com2 and 57600 may be changed according to your particular configuration as described earlier in this document.

1. Create the connatt.prm file exactly as described earlier.
2. Create the response file used by PPPDIAL.CMD. Create a file named pppdlatt.rsp with contents similar to those below tailored to your configuration.

GO
[PPPDIAL_REM] Sample pppdial script response
[PPPDIAL_REM] file for connecting to
[PPPDIAL_REM] AT&T Worldnet
[PPPDIAL_USE_DIALER]
[PPPDIAL_PREFIX] ATDT
[PPPDIAL_PHONE] 555-1234
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_REM] Init modem as appropriate for
[PPPDIAL_REM] Worldnet and your brand/model
[PPPDIAL_REM] of modem
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_REM] If the modem you used to do the
[PPPDIAL_REM] registration is the same
[PPPDIAL_REM] brand/model as the one you'll be
[PPPDIAL_REM] using regularly then the file
[PPPDIAL_REM] \Worldnet\dialer\modems2.ini
[PPPDIAL_REM] contains a modem init string
[PPPDIAL_REM] that you should consider using
[PPPDIAL_REM] here.
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_REM] The init string shown here is for
[PPPDIAL_REM] a generic Rockwell Rockwell chip
[PPPDIAL_REM] set 28.8K modem
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_REM] The following init string should
[PPPDIAL_REM] be on one line with no imbedded
[PPPDIAL_REM] blanks. Split here for display[PPPDIAL_REM] only.
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_INIT1] AT&FW2&C1&D2&K3&Q5S7=60S36=7S46=138S48=7S95=47L2
[PPPDIAL_REM] Use the PPPDIAL_INIT2 statement if
[PPPDIAL_REM] you need a second init string
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_REM] Wait 3 seconds between redials
[PPPDIAL_REM][PPPDIAL_DELAY] 3
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_REM] Only retry dialing 500 times
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[PPPDIAL_MAX_REDIAL] 500
[PPPDIAL_REM] This is entirely optional but may be
[PPPDIAL_REM] used to start programs that you
[PPPDIAL_REM] would like automatically started
[PPPDIAL_REM] when your Internet connection is
[PPPDIAL_REM] established.
[PPPDIAL_REM]
[OS/2] START /B /C /MIN NETAPPS.CMD

This PPPDIAL response file differs from the typical PPPDIAL response file because they usually contain a series of strings to watch for and strings to send in response in order to accomplish a scripted login. These are not needed here because AT&T Worldnet Service does not use scripted logins for ppp connections, but instead uses CHAP (cryptographic handshake authentication protocol).

1. If you have any programs you would like automatically started when your Internet connection is established you might want to write a command file to kick them off. Here is what mine looks like:

/*************************************************
NETAPPS.CMD** Start Internet applications at connection time
************************************************
//
****************************************
Make the REXXUTIL functions available
***************************************
/call rxFuncAdd 'SysLoadFuncs','RexxUtil','SysLoadFuncs'call SysLoadFuncsaddress cmd/
**********************************************
Wait long enough for the PPP connection to* stabilize. This delay is not absolutely* necessary, but I have found that it helps* in my environment.** Snooze 20 seconds
*********************************************
/call syssleep 20/
****************************************
Start the PMMail mail client program
***************************************
/call directory '\southsde\pmmail''start /B /N /MIN pmmail'
/**************************************
Start program to set PC clock from* an Internet time server.
*************************************
/call syssleep 5'start /B /MIN /N nistime.exe -s1'/
*****************************************
Start the Internet superserver daemon* which will in turn start whatever* daemons it has been configured to* start, including but not limited to* the telnetd and ftpd daemons.
****************************************
/call syssleep 5'start /B /MIN /N inetd'/
*********** All done**********/

Run pppdlatt.cmd to establish a ppp connection. To break the connection, go to the window where pppdlatt.cmd is running and press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break.

Sources for shareware OS/2 Internet Utilities

There are many sources of shareware Internet OS/2 utilities available such as those in the NETAPPS.CMD file above. Here's a good place to start:

• OS/2 Internet Resources

Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

Prepared by: Jim Fowler

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