1999/02/10
PPPSmartAgent 1.0b5 Open Beta Release Note
The PPPSmartAgent is a Java-based diagnostic tool for monitoring
Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) negotiations across PortMaster(R)
products running ComOS(R) 3.8 or later. PPPSmartAgent 1.0b5 is now
available for open beta to any Lucent customer at no charge.
The PPPSmartAgent was designed with the following goals:
* Detects and explains common problems with PPP negotiations.
* Presents possible solutions when a PPP negotiation fails.
* Diagnoses PPP negotiations on single or multiple PortMaster
products.
* Translates PPP hexadecimal debug output from the PortMaster into
human-readable form, based on PPP-related RFCs 1661, 1877, 1990,
and 1994.
* Is portable across operating systems.
_______________ Contents
Main Functions
Using the PPPSmartAgent
System Requirements
Installing the PPPSmartAgent
Running the PPPSmartAgent
Limitations
Bugs Fixed
Contacting Technical Support
_______________ Main Functions
The PPPSmartAgent presents the user with a single document interface
(SDI) panel that displays a list of currently connected PortMaster
products, a list of PPPSmartAgent messages, and a detailed view of each
PPPSmartAgent message.
PPPSmartAgent does the following:
* Diagnoses PPP negotiations on one or multiple PortMaster products.
* Allows you to set the PPPSmartAgent messages you want to receive.
* Deletes one or all PPPSmartAgent messages.
* Outputs to a PPPSmartAgent log file.
* Reads and diagnoses Telnet logs that contain 0x51 debug information.
The PPPSmartAgent currently detects the following common PPP negotiation
problems:
* Link Control Protocol (LCP) loopback
* LCP callback enabled
* Invalid Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) username and/or password
* PAP user failure to log in
* Invalid Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) username
and/or password
* Authentication type mismatch
* IP address mismatch---IP Control Protocol (IPCP) loop
* Netuser destination that is set incorrectly
The PPPSmartAgent decodes the following protocols:
* Link Control Protocol (LCP)
* Password Authentication Protocol (PAP)
* Challenge Handshake Protocol (CHAP)
* IP Control Protocol (IPCP)
* Compression Control Protocol (CCP)
* IPX Control Protocol (IPXCP)
_______________ Using the PPPSmartAgent
_______ Diagnosing a Single PortMaster
Use the File menu as follows to connect to a PortMaster and start
monitoring the PortMaster immediately for PPP negotiation problems:
1. From the PPPSmartAgent interface, select File, and then select
Connect to....
2. Enter the appropriate information in the Connect To dialog.
_______ Diagnosing Multiple PortMaster Products
1. From the PPPSmartAgent interface, select File, and then select
Connect to....
2. Enter the appropriate information in the Connect To dialog.
3. After connecting to the first PortMaster, select File, select
Connect to..., and enter the appropriate information in the
Connect To dialog.
The PortMaster you are connected to is automatically selected. The
PPPSmartAgent starts monitoring each PortMaster immediately when you
connect to it.
_______ Selecting PPPSmartAgent Messages to Receive
To select the PPPSmartAgent messages you want to receive and view:
1. From the PPPSmartAgent interface, select Message, and then select
Preferences.
2. From the Smart Agent Message Options dialog, select the
PPPSmartAgent messages you want to receive.
3. Click OK to save.
_______ Viewing PPPSmartAgent Message Details
When the PPPSmartAgent receives a message, you can view message
details by clicking the message.
_______ Viewing Further PPPSmartAgent Details
Most PPPSmartAgent messages are created from multiple PPP debug
messages. You can view these PPP debug messages by double-clicking the
PPPSmartAgent message. A separate window appears containing all the PPP
debug messages and the decoded meaning of the hexadecimal code
associated with each message.
_______ Logging PPPSmartAgent Messages
To log all PPPSmartAgent messages and message details to a file:
1. Click the Log File box near the top left of the screen.
2. Enter the name of the file you want to use as a log file, or click
Browse to chose a filename.
_______ Reading Log Files into the PPPSmartAgent
To feed a debug 0x51 log file into the PPPSmartAgent and have the
PPPSmartAgent analyze the log:
1. From the PPPSmartAgent interface, select File, and then select
Read Telnet Log File....
2. Enter the debug log filename in the text field, or click Browse to
find the name of the file you want to read into the PPPSmartAgent.
The PPPSmartAgent starts analyzing the log file immediately and
notifies you if something is wrong with the PPP negotiations in the log
file.
_______________ System Requirements
PPPSmartAgent is a Java-based product that can run on any system with
Java Development Kit (JDK) or Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version
1.1.4 or later installed. Nondevelopers can use the JRE rather than
the JDK. Currently, JDK 1.1 and JRE 1.1 are available for the following
platforms:
* Windows NT 4.0 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/
* Windows 95 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/
* Solaris 2.5.1 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/
* Solaris x86 2.5.1 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/
* Linux 2.x ftp://lagrange.la.asu.edu/pub/Linux_jdk/
* FreeBSD http://www.freebsd.org/java/
* SGI IRIX 6.3 http://www.sgi.com/developers/devtools/
* HP-UX 10.02 http://www.hp.com/esy/go/java.html
* Alpha Digital UNIX 4.0 http://www.digital.com/java/download/
* IBM AIX 4.1 http://www.ibm.com/java/tools/jdk.html
* All other platforms http://java.sun.com/cgi-bin/java-ports.cgi
_______________ Installing the PPPSmartAgent
1. Download the following files from the Lucent Remote Access FTP site
as follows:
ftp ftp.livingston.com
- Enter "anonymous".
- Enter your email address; it will not echo.
binary
cd pub/le/software/java
- for Windows, enter
get pppagent10b5.zip
- for Solaris, enter
get pppagent10b5_solaris.tar
- for Solaris x86 and other UNIX systems, enter
get pppagent10b5_unix.tar
- for Macintosh, enter
get pppagent10b5.sit
quit
2. Make sure the path values are set properly:
- For UNIX systems, define the path for jre1.1.4/bin in your .cshrc file.
For example, if you install jre1.1.4 in the /usr/local/lib directory,
then your .cshrc file should have the following entry:
set path=( /usr/local/lib/jre1.1.4/bin $path )
- For JRE 1.1.5 on Windows 95 and Windows NT, installing the JRE
sets the correct values for PATH and CLASSPATH.
- For JRE or JDK 1.1.4 on Windows 95, edit c:\autoexec.bat and add
path=%PATH%;<JAVADIR>\bin
Replace <JAVADIR> with the location where the JRE or JDK was
installed. If the JDK is installed instead of the JRE, the scripts
must be edited.
- For Windows NT 4.0, define the path for JRE 1.1.4 in the System
Environment as follows:
a. Open the Control Panel.
b. Click the System icon.
c. Click the Environment.
d. On the display window, highlight and click the line with the word
Path.
e. Enter the installation path of the JDK or JRE in the Value window.
f. Click the Set button.
Typically, the JDK or JRE is installed on C:\jdk1.1.4 or C:\jre1.1.4.
In this case, the correct path for JDK and JRE is C:\jdk1.1.4\bin or
C:\jre1.1.4\bin.
3. Run the installation:
- For Solaris users, enter the following command on the command line:
tar xvf pppagent10b5_solaris.tar
./pppsmartagent_install.bin
- For Solaris x86 and other UNIX users, enter the following command on
the command line:
mkdir <bin>/Lucent
mkdir <bin>/Lucent/PPPSmartAgent
cp pppagent10b5_unix.tar <bin>/Lucent/PPPSmartAgent
cd <bin>/Lucent/PPPSmartAgent
tar xvf pppagent10b5_unix.tar
rm pppagent10b5_unix.tar
- For Windows users, unzip the pppagent10b5.zip file and run the
pppsmartagent_install.exe program.
- For Macintosh, unstuff the pppagent10b5.sit file and place the
Lucent/PPPSmartAgent folder into your Applications folder.
_______________ Running the PPPSmartAgent
On Windows 95 or Windows NT systems, select the PPPSmartAgent icon from
the Lucent folder in your Start, Programs menu.
On UNIX systems, type "pppsmartagent" at your command tool window from
the PPPSmartAgent installation directory. If you add the PPPSmartAgent
installation directory to your PATH, you can run PPPSmartAgent from
anywhere.
On a Macintosh system, select the PPPSmartAgent icon from the
Lucent/PPPSmartAgent folder.
When running PPPSmartAgent, you can use the following options:
-h <Hostname>
-u <Username>
-p <Password>
-g <Debug level>
-l (specifies to use the local directory)
Use -h, -u, -p together to force the PPPSmartAgent to log in to the
specified PortMaster at startup. For example:
pppsmartagent -h PortMasterName -u \!root -p Password
The -g <Debug level> option specifies the debug level.
Valid debug level values are:
0 - NONE - No debug output
10 - FATAL_ERRORS - Debug output for fatal errors only
20 - ALL_ERRORS - Debug output for all errors (the default)
30 - DEBUG - Useful debug information
40 - VERBOSE - More debug output than you can possibly stand
The -l option sends all debug output to the directory PPPSmartAgent is
installed in. By default, all debug output is sent to the
Lucent/PPPSmartAgent directory created in your home directory. On UNIX,
this default works properly. However the concept of a home directory
is not so clear on PCs and seems to differ for each vendor's Java
virtual machine. Try looking for one of the following:
c:\java\Lucent\PPPSmartAgent
c:\users\<username>\Lucent\PPPSmartAgent
c:\windows\Lucent\PPPSmartAgent
If you still cannot find the directory that contains the debug output,
do a Find, File for debuglog.txt.
_______________ Limitations
* The PPPSmartAgent currently does not work properly with the
PortMaster 4.
* The PPPSmartAgent currently does not detect connection problems with
Multichassis PPP or Multilink PPP.
* The scroll bar might not work correctly if you have JDK or JRE version
1.1.3 or earlier. Use version 1.1.4 or later.
* The PPPSmartAgent slows down when detecting IPCP or LCP loops. However,
this slowdown is only temporary.
* When the PPPSmartAgent is run under Motif or OpenWindows, the
following text might appear but does not indicate any runtime
problems in the PPPSmartAgent:
Warning:
Name: scrollbar
Class: XmScrollBar
The scrollbar page increment is less than 1.
* The resizing feature does not work properly on the PPPSmartAgent
raised panels. To resize panels, click the border of the panel, hold
down the mouse button, drag the pointer to the side, and resize.
This bug has been fixed in JDK and JRE version 1.1.7.
* The Solaris installation does not work for Solaris x86. Instead, use
the UNIX install files.
* Uninstall does not clean up the Windows/temp directories for the
Windows platforms. The directories that are not deleted properly
appear as 10-digit numerical strings. Erase these 10-digit numerical
directory strings to reclaim this disk space.
_______________ Bugs Fixed
The following bugs in previous beta releases of the PPPSmartAgent are fixed
in version 1.0b5.
_______ Bugs Fixed from 1.0b4
* The PPPSmartAgent no longer reports authentication type mismatch
when the netuser destination is set incorrectly.
* CHAP username is now decoded correctly.
* Dropped LCP Config Request and Config Ack messages are now fixed.
* Fixed reporting of "CHAP User Failed to log in" message for normal
termination.
_______ Bugs Fixed from 1.0b3
* LCP Protocol Reject packets are now read correctly.
* LCP loopback detection now works properly.
* CHAP user failed to log in when the IPCP negotiation fails is now
fixed.
* Detail fields are now updated correctly.
* The PAP decoder is now working properly when the password is set to null.
* Text in the Smart Agent Message Options dialog box is now properly
left-justified.
_______ Bugs Fixed from 1.0b2
* The PPPSmartAgent now decodes the Bandwidth Allocation Protocol (BAP)
and the Bandwidth Allocation Control Protocol (BACP).
* Message details are now displayed when you select the message, for
all messages.
* PPP Debug Messages are now decoded faster.
_______ Bugs Fixed from 1.0b1
* The maximum number of visible messages has been increased from 75
to 250.
* The list of connected PortMaster products now refreshes properly
and removes a Portmaster after you disconnect from it.
* The system beep when a PPPSmartAgent message appears has been disabled.
________________________________________________________________________
_______ Copyright and Trademarks
Copyright 1999 Lucent Technologies. All rights reserved. PortMaster,
ComOS, and ChoiceNet are registered trademarks of Lucent Technologies,
Inc. RADIUS ABM, PMVision, IRX, and PortAuthority are trademarks of
Lucent Technologies, Inc. All other marks are the property of their
respective owners.
_______ Notices
Lucent Technologies, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with
respect to the contents or use of this publication, and specifically
disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or
fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Lucent Technologies, Inc.
reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes to
its content, any time, without obligation to notify any person or
entity of such revisions or changes.
_______ Contacting Technical Support
Do not contact Lucent Remote Access Technical Support about this
product. If you have questions, bug reports, or request for
enhancements, send email to pppagent-feedback@livingston.com. Mention
that you are running PPPSmartAgent 1.0b5, and include the release of
JDK or JRE you are using, the operating system version (uname -a), and
the version of the ComOS on the PortMaster.
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