DPPP FAQ - Detlef Pleiss, Sep-1-97

---     Can I run the 16 bit version on 32 bit PBBS or vice versa?
No, you cannot mix versions.

---     Will I need multiple IPs or will it share one between callers?
You only need one IP which may even be a dynamic one. A simple dialup account
will do the job.

---     Does it accept Internet callers on the same phone lines like my BBS?
Yes, the same phone lines serve incoming BBS calls (ASCII/ANSI/PA) as well as
PPP Internet connections.

---     Do I need to buy additional PBBS nodes for such PA/Net logins?
If you do not have spare node licenses for that purpose, yes. Although the
modem node that runs DPPP may look "dead", DPPP still uses it to call
routines of the underlying PBBS.

---     I have just a simple dial-up account with my ISP, is that enough?
Yes, see DOCS\SYSOP\DIALUP.TXT. Please make sure you're allowed to forward
this internet access to your callers.

---     Can I force callers into the BBS, so they just don't bypass me?
In my account that doesn't make much sense. If they want to quickly grab
something from the Internet, they just don't want to load PA first. On the
other hand, if your BBS is interesting, once connected anyway, callers would
want to look and see what's up on the BBS. Think about how you make them
*want* to visit your BBS!

---     How many DPPP nodes can my computer run?
Well, I don't know your computer ... <g>. The main issue is over how many
nodes you want to share the bandwidth of your Internet connection. I do not
recommend trying to run more than 4 incoming nodes fed from an analog modem
connection. But, if you have a faster connection ...
The next issue is the number of sockets available, which is only 256 in case
of Windows 95 DUN. So if your BBS runs on Windows 95 I would not recommend
trying to run more than 16 nodes (maybe plus a proxy and a web server) on one
machine. On behalf of CPU and memory load DPPP uses about as
much as the BBS node itself (which may rest safely in the swap file
during a DPPP call). So, given a large enough swap file, if you can run
so much BBS nodes, you can also run DPPP on them.

---     Can I give out static IP's to my callers?
Yes and no - if you yourself have no static IP for the BBS Internet
connection, no. The IP address callers use is always 10.0.2.15 which again is
not visible to the outside Internet. Visible to the outside is only your BBS's
IP address. Reason why one would want to have a static IP is normally if a
caller wants to run some sort of server on his machine. Given your BBS has a
static IP, your callers can use something quite similar to a static IP: If
they want someone from the net connecting to let's say a web server on their
local PC, the caller should enter something like a "redir 1234 80" command at
the Telnet Command Line. The address to contact that web server from out on
the Internet then is <your BBS's IP address>:1234. The "redir" command makes
connections to TCP port 1234 on your BBS machine get forwarded to TCP port 80
on the callers machine. Other callers using DPPP on your BBS could
contact that server also as "10.0.2.2:1234". If you understand why, you have
understood how DPPP works :-)

---     I don't have a static IP, how can my callers PA/Net into the
        BBS without knowing my current IP address?
Have them enter 10.0.2.2 as your IP address in their PA phone book. For DPPP
users that's your BBS's IP address, for each and every node on each and every
BBS. How can all BBS's running DPPP have the same IP address? If you understand
that, you have understood how DPPP works :-)

---     I have a class C network of my own, can't I assign those IP
        addresses to my callers?
No, DPPP is not a router.

---     My BBS runs on multiple nodes on multiple networked machines,
        but only one of them has an Internet connection
See DOCS\SYSOP\NETW_BBS.TXT.

---     I get a carrier loss as soon as DPPP starts!
Make sure your modem does NOT drop carrier on dropping DTR. Have "&D0" in
your modem init string, have "Close Com Port on Drop to DOS" checked in your
PBBS modem configuration.

---     Is it possible to use Compuserve as provider and their winsock.dll?
Yes, whatever Winsocket there is (when connected after using a dialer), DPPP
can use it. You are not even limited to using Compuserve's own dialer. With a
login script you yourself can use Compuserves "go pppconnect" with Win95
Dial Up Networking or Trumpet Winsocket (32bit too). There are instructions
somewhere on Compuserve on how to configure these stacks in order to use
Compuserve as the provider. Anyway, with Compuserve as with any other
provider you should think about the issue wether you're allowed to forward
their internet access to your callers.

---     DPPP does not give the proper online time to the caller, although the
        security level settings are correct!
        DPPP does not deduct online time or credits from the user account!
        It does not care about events that should force callers offline!
        Last-Read-Pointers of DPPP users are suddenly reset to 0!
Most likely you run an old version of PowerBBS that is not fully compatible
to DPPP. Make sure you run at least PowerBBS 5.11!

---     PBBS PPP autodetection does not work, while running DPPP from an ANSI
        menu works fine!
Make sure you run a version of PowerBBS that has PPP autodetection built in.
You need at least PowerBBS 5.11. Given you have the right version installed,
it's most likely a problem of modem configuration or line noise. Make sure
ANSI connections with a simple terminal program work fine. You must not use
XON/XOFF handshake at either side.

---     A PPP connection gets established, callers can connect to the BBS
        machine / PA/Net-Nodes, but they cannot connect to remote sites!
First make sure the TCP/IP stack on the BBS machine is configured correctly.
Make sure you can i.e. launch a browser on the BBS machine and connect to
remote sites.
Otherwise it's most likely a problem with IP address negotiation. If the
caller uses an "server assigned" setting, have him try 10.0.2.15 as fixed
IP address and 10.0.2.3 for DNS. In DPPPSet->Protocol make sure you have
"accept local IP Address" and "accept remote IP Address" not checked.

---     I run a fron end mailer, can I still have it autodetect PPP?
Depends on the mailer. It does work with BeeMail, see DOCS\SYSOP\BEEMAIL.TXT.

---     My callers have a security level that gives them 999 minutes online
        time per day, but DPPP hangs up after 20 minutes!
Now it's time to think about registering DPPP :-)
Registration is $180. Online registration is available at
http://www.grafix-net.com/powrbbs/3rdprty.htm



CALLERS ASKING:

---     My network cookbook says I should first use "ping" on a well known host
        but it doesn't work!
DPPP uses an emulation for "ping" that does not work with any remote host. So
not getting a response to a "ping" request does not necessarily mean the
remote host is down or unreachable. But if you do get a response back, the
remote host is up and running and the roundtrip time value is correct.
Normally Unix hosts will answer DPPP's emulated "ping"s while Windows hosts
won't. Anyway you should always be able to "ping" IP addresses in the
10.*.*.* range and the real IP address of the BBS host machine.

---     As you say DPPP acts as a proxy, do I have to enter some proxy
        settings in my browser or "traverse firewall" settings in a FTP
        client?
If your sysop tells you to enter something as proxy settings in your browser
please do so. It isn't necessary to get things to work, but could give you
tremendously enhanced throughput. You do not need to set up anything special
for FTP, as DPPP handles FTP forwarding automatically, as long as you connect
to standard FTP port 21.

---     I can FTP to server.some.where, but some.other.server:12345 doesn't
        work?!
DPPP does know what to do if you connect to the standard port for FTP servers
(21), but it doesn't know you're doing FTP if you contact a FTP server on a
non-standard port. But, you can tell it! Enter i.e. "emu ftp 12345" at the
Telnet Command Line (Telnet to 10.0.2.0) to be able to connect to FTP servers
running on port 12345.

---     Can I transfer files to a friend of mine calling in on another node
        via FTP?
Yes. Enter "redir 12345 21" at the Telnet Command Line, then run your FTP
server. Tell your friend to enter "emu ftp 12345" at his Telnet Command Line
and then point his FTP client to "10.0.2.2:12345".

---     I don't want to type the same IP addresses all the time, can't I just
        type "bbs" instead?
Yes, you can. If you have a file "hosts" (no extension!) in your Windows
directory, add a line reading:

10.0.2.2        bbs

to it. If you don't have a "hosts" file, create one with that line in it.
After that you can use "bbs" (without quotes) instead of "10.0.2.2". Not sure
if it takes a reboot though ...

---     Isn't there something similar for those cryptic port numbers?
Yes, there is. DPPP understands the names of the standard services (listed in
the file \windows\services) in place of their port numbers. So you can type
"redir 12345 ftp" instead of "redir 12345 21". Both commands have the same
effect.

---     I entered my user name and password all correct, but it still doesn't
        work!
Did you enter your password in ALL CAPITALS? You must do so!
Maybe your available online time or credits are used up. Call into the BBS
with PowerAccess or a terminal program and check!

---     I have the <fill in here> TCP/IP stack on my machine. Will that work?
As PPP is an Internet standard, the answer in general is yes. Configure
your TCP/IP stack to retrieve server assigned IP and DNS addresses or use
10.0.2.15 as your IP address and 10.0.2.3 for DNS. Enter your BBS account and
password in all capitals for CHAP or PAP authentication. DPPP has been tested
with Windows 95 DUN, Windows NT RAS, Trumpet Winsocket, Shiva PPP, MacTCP and
Linux pppd.
