>
>We have two Suns (SunOS 4.1.x) running slip.  Currently, the machines
>are sitting right next to each other and have just a plain serial
>cable with a null-modem between them.  The plan is to put modems
>on these things and place one in another building where it will be
>connected to an ethernet that's on the internet.  
>
>My question is: how do I establish the connection?  Is there a program
>that I can use to handle the dialing, or should I just echo the modem
>commands to the serial port?  I also want to detect a dropped carrier
>and redial.  One end should always autoanswer and require a password
>before going on.  Once the connection is made, both machines would do
>the slattach.
>
>Obvously somebody has figured this out, but I've downloaded 3 versions
>of SLIP none of them say anything about dialing.
>
>From what I've read of comp.protocols.ppp, it sounds like ppp _might_
>do what I need, but we've already spent a lot of time setting up slip.  
>Should I start over with PPP, or is there a generic way to do this?
>
>
Thanks for all the useful suggestions.  I'm about to go look for some
of these packages, but thought I'd share the suggestions that were
mailed directly to me.

1. Morningstar's commercial package.  Sounds good, but we want public
   domain, as this may just be temporary.  (If we can convince the boss
   that it's useful enough but too slow at modem speeds, we might be
   able to convince him to go with a 56K leased line)

2. cslip-2.6 for solaris 1.x

3. dp-2.3 got several good reviews

4. csn-slip (ftp.uu.net:/networking/ip/slip/sun) includes a tip
   command to dial.  I already downloaded this one, I'll have to
   look again, but I didn't see anything about a tip command.

5. Another (really obvious) method that we came up with ourselves...

	# private line - better not be busy!
	echo "ATDT555-1212">/dev/ttya	#dial modem
	slattach ...

   The modem (A Supra FAX Modem) supports auto redial on dropped DTR
   which we're playing with.

   This method may pose a security risk as anybody could dial it
   if not attached, but we plan to be attached 24hours.  Also, if
   somebody did dial it, they wouldn't get a login prompt, just a
   raw IP socket.  I'm sure somebody who worked at it could figure
   out how to abuse it, but the line should always be busy. 
-- 
		-Dave Williss
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!
The opinions stated above are those of a small fish that lives in my ear