Here is the setup:
- A PM2 is at home connected to an Ethernet and a dial-out modem. The
problem occurs with both 3.1.2 and 3.1.3c2 firmware.
- The remote site (work) has a PC running KA9Q software (12/29/91 vintage).
The dial-in line is configured to use PPP PAP authentication. (This
version of KA9Q does not support CHAP.)
- The Portmaster's serial port is configured for Dialnet / DialOut. It is
assigned to a unique Dial Group.
- The Portmaster's location table entry is set for Manual dialing, PPP/IP,
and the same Dial Group number as the dial-out port.
- There is also a User table entry, but I doubt that this is an issue yet
since the failure occurs before it would be used.
When I initiate the connection from the Portmaster to the remote KA9Q
router, the Portmaster successfully calls and connects but runs into a PPP
negotiation problem. Turning on Portmaster PPP debug (0x51) shows a
repeating sequence of receiving a LCP CONFIGURE_REQUEST asking for (amongst
other things) PAP authentication, followed by the Portmaster sending a
CONFIGURE_NAK suggesting CHAP/MD5 authentication instead. Eventually this
stops and the call terminates.
>From my understanding of the PPP RFC, the system sending the authentication
requests (the KA9Q box in this case) should ask for the different auth.
protocols one at a time, asking for the most preferred one first. And the
system receiving these requests should accept (ACK) whatever it can support
(i.e. it should not try to force its own preference). Given this, I would
expect the Portmaster to ACK the PAP request rather than NAKing it and
suggesting CHAP.
What can I do to get the Portmaster to accept the PAP authentication? Or is
this a Portmaster bug?
--Bill
P.S. I ran across a reference to a "set pap off" command in one of the
release notes. I tried "set pap on" and it reported that it was
changing it from on to on, so that is not the problem.