Topic: Proxy server on the ISPs end?

[Steve Hiner]

I have been trying to set up my e-smith server and the dial-out connection doesn't seem to be working.  I have a somewhat strange situation since the DNS on the ISP is disabled and I connect to their proxy server (adult content filtering).  I thought I would be able to have the e-smith server connect to the ISP and just setup the clients to use the proxy server but the e-smith server doesn't seem to be able to do anything on the Internet because normal DNS on the ISP is partially blocked.  If neccessary I will cancel the content filtering but my client would like to be able to use it.  

Can e-smith work through a proxy?  If so, how do I set it up?

Also, it seems that the server turns off the modem speaker when it dials out but I like to know when it is dialing.  How do I turn the speaker back on?  Do I have to change a template or just a normal script/conf file?

Thanks for the help.

Steve

[Kim Morrison]

Hi Steve!

I'm going to respond to your post in three separate posts.

e-smith uses a proxy seamlessly. Simply set up your client machines to use your ISP's proxy server and it'll work just fine.  

Sometimes ISP proxy servers block certain minor functions on the e-smith server - for example, the internet test mechanism on the e-smith server may erroneously fail if it's going through a proxy server - but these tend to be minor issues not central to the fundamental functionality of the product.

Kim

[Kim Morrison]

Steve,

Regarding the DNS problem... Your ISP must either provide you with DNS servers that your e-smith server can access for DNS lookups or allow your e-smith server to perform its DNS lookups itself by accessing DNS servers on the Internet.

If your ISP is providing you with DNS servers, the IP addresses of those servers must be entered into the appropriate section in the Web-based manager.  If your ISP is not providing DNS servers, simply leave the fields for DNS servers in the web-based manager blank and the e-smith server will resolve DNS lookups on its own.

You mentioned that your ISP was partially blocking DNS lookups. Can you elaborate on that?

Cheers,

Kim

[Kim Morrison]

To turn the modem speak on, simple edit:

/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/chat-ppp0

and change "ATL0M0DT' to "ATL1M1DT"

Then run:

/sbin/e-smith/signal-event console-save

in order to update the real file from the template.

Good luck!

Kim

[Steve Hiner]

Kim,

Good, that confirms what I thought - setting up the client for the proxy server and ignoring on the e-smith server.  I also suspected that the proxy was causing the internet test to fail (I actually thought it was a problem with the modem at first since I didn't ever hear it dial out so I hooked up my external modem and realized it was probably the ISP that was causing the failure).  

It is still possible that I need to switch modems.  
If I boot up in DOS and use: echo atdt123-4567 > com3
I can hear the modem dial out but if I direct the same command to ttyS2 under Linux I don't hear the modem dial out so I suspect there is a problem with the modem.  It is probably a PnP modem since it doesn't have any jumpers and I'm pretty sure it isn't a WinModem since I can get a dial out from DOS.  I will just replace the modem since it isn't worth my time to try to fix this one.

Steve

P.S. Thanks for always responding so promptly and completely to my questions.

[Steve Hiner]

Kim,

The thing about partially blocking DNS service is mostly conjecture on my part.  I'm guessing that in order to block normal access to web sites and force the user to go through the proxy server they my block your access to the name servers.  However, they can't block it completly or I couldn't send my email through mail.domain.com like I am supposed to (I would have to use an IP).  That being said, you can probably safely ignore my comment.

Steve

[Charlie Brady]

Steve, some ISPs will force you to use their
proxy - by blocking outgoing port 80 from
your IP address. If this is the case, you will need to reconfigure the squid on the
e-smith server to *always* use their proxy.

Do this by adding a line like:

cache_peer proxy.your.isp parent 3128 7    no-query default

in /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/squid/squid.conf.
Substitute for 3128 whatever port your ISP uses for their proxy.

Then do the "signal-event console-save" thing to activate the change.

Keep an eye on the squid log files to try to see if it works.

BTW, I've suggested that configuring a parent cache should be an option in the standard e-smith.