[pptp-server] IPX + PPTP HOWTO v 0.1

[tmk]

Due to popular demand, here's my first shot at a PPTP IPX howto.

Why use IPX when TCP is so much easier to setup and better understood by
almost all? I can think of 2 reasons off the top of my head: Games and
Security.

Lots of games use IPX/SPX for networking, and some of the newer ones
(Tiberian Sun [ahem]) only support TCP/IP via their own game servers, but
support peer-to-peer IPX. So it would be great to VPN in to your friend's
network and fire up a game of whatever without having to use some online
server somewhere. Security comes into play because even IF someone can hack
through your firewall, they are using TCP/IP and if you only have IPX on the
other end, they CANNOT get any packets through anyways.

So how do i do it?

here's my setup, PLEASE try it on your end and advise me of differences with
your version of the kernel and pppd etc etc..

Redhat 6.0 out of the box (kernel 2.2.5-15)
latest pptpd as of today (9-3-99) which is 0.9.14
pppd 2.3.8
ipxtools from the redhat 6.0 CD (ipxutils2.2.0.12-5.i386.rpm)
ipxripd from somewhere on the internet(ipxripd-0.7-1.i386.rpm)

note: this assumes you are using eth0 for your network and already have TCP
up and running on it.

So what do I need to do?
1) Load kernel ipx modules..
[insmod /lib/modules/misc/ipx.o] you can skip this if you compiled it in.
2)Tell the IPX subsystem what settings to use
[/sbin/ipx_configure --auto_primary on]
[/sbin/ipx_configure --auto_interface on]
it's nice to have automatic settings to fall back on in case you screw up
[/sbin/ipx_internal_net add 1 2]
this sets internal net number to 1, and internal node number to 2. I try not
to reuse number as it makes debugging easier
3) bring the ipx interface up
[/usr/bin/ipx_interface add eth0 802.2 3]
4) Check to make sure it worked
[/usr/bin/ipx_interface check eth0 802.2]
you should see something like:
IPX Address for (eth0, 802.2) is 00000003:00000002.
5) start the routing daemon
[/usr/sbin/ipxd]

Now all that remains is to setup pppd for ipx. This is pretty easy compared
to the last part.

Edit the pppd options file that you use for pptp (or make a new one, or edit
the default one. Whatever one you use, edit it) and add the lines:
---add these lines--
ipx
ipx-network 4
---done adding lines--
and save the file.

Fire up pptpd and make sure your clients have IPX checked in their dial up
settings. That's it! Easy eh?

Warning: IPX may be VERY slow over dialup pptp connections. It might be a
good idea to do the old start->run \\computername trick to let ARP know the
mac address of the other machine before you run your game.

anyone wanna try some sort of IPX network game to test all this out? My 'it
works' test is to connect to a windows share on a computer running only ipx
from a computer running ipx for dialup only (without the vpn connection it
can't see the other computer at all, but with it they talk just fine)

Kevin