Topic: Dialup policy not working correctly

[Mark Wilkinson]

I have installed a e-smith server and gateway on a client's network.  I have set the dialup connect policy to continous during office hours, never outside office hours and never on weekends.  The client is a school and their Internet account is disabled outside office hours so nobody can connect.

The e-smith server has been continually dialing up on the weekends and as it cannot connect due to the account restrictions, it has been disconnected only to redial a minute later.  

The client is upset at the phone bill and wants the server removed.

This is our first attempt to install an e-smith server and were using it as a test bench before further installations.  To say that I am not confident of recommending a similar setup to the rest of my clients is an understatement.

Can anyone help?

[gavin]

Have you checked your mail settings , There are some options in there that nominate times to check for mail ..

Just a suggestion

Regards,
Gavin

[stephen noble]

dialup connections when you pay for phone calls are dangerous
i bet my clients phone bill was bigger than yours

i solved this by using dialmon
www.dungog.net/sme/howto/isp.html

regards
stephen noble

[Anne Anderson]

I have had a similar issue, also with clients who are schools. This problem seems to be regardless of the age of the server, version of e-smith, ISP or quality of line connection.
If I understand correctly, you have setup a monitoring system. Does this depend on the user monitoring/actioning modem connections?

I hope you can help as the schools can ill afford bills for 1300 calls in one month...

Regards,

Anne

[stephen noble]

>This problem seems to be regardless of the age of the server, version of e-smith,
 >ISP or quality of line connection.


yes SME is based on the premise that you have a permanent or semi permanent connection  
or local phone calls are free, otherwise you need to make modifications
Service link customes are almost all going to have permanent connections

>If I understand correctly, you have setup a monitoring system. Does this depend  
>on the user monitoring/actioning modem connections?

i do a few things
-make the modem noisy
-send email on dialup connections
-increase the delay between unsuccefull attempts
-overwrite diald settings so connections only occur
*from the server-manager or
*at a preset time or
*via a desktop using the dialmon client

i'll send more details offlist, i have an interest in the nsw cso

regards
stephen

[saleem]

Any more news on a howto to do this.

Most businesses in the UK do not need or want a permanant connection.  They are told by competitors who provide M$ SBS that they can use a modem no problems.

Is the solution to buy the dialmon software ?

[stephen noble]

>Is the solution to buy the dialmon software

dialmon is GPL, you can set it up yourself but you need more than a little linux/sme knowledge

the dungog.net rpms are based on the hope that users see the benefit of a packaged solution, plus you get more than just dialmon setup.

regards
stephen noble
dungog.net/sme

[Anne Anderson]

Stephen,

RE: dialup problem fix
You suggested a few things:
> -make the modem noisy
> -send email on dialup connections
> -increase the delay between unsuccefull attempts
> -overwrite diald settings so connections only occur
> *from the server-manager or
> *at a preset time or
> *via a desktop using the dialmon client
>
> i'll send more details offlist, i have an interest in the nsw
> cso

Sorry for the delay in getting back. Yes we would be interested in some further information in correcting this dialup problem. Is this problem addressed in the new version?

Regards,

Anne