Plug your USB Modem to your laptop/PC just wait for a few minutes and your are ready to surf the net. Pretty interesting, huh?

Well the recipe is given below.
Assumptions:
1. I assume you have Tata Indicom’s “Plug to Surf” USB Modem duly configured on your Linux machines.
2. If your are not able to figure out how to do that just read the bundled CD carefully, its pretty well mentioned on it.

So, first things first. What files will you need to touch?
i. /usr/bin/wvdial
ii. a new file may be /etc/udev/rules.d/85-autodial-usb-modem.rules

Change permissions of your wvdial so that any user can run that as root. Sounds security violation but thats okay if you are a single user on laptop or desktop.
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ sudo chmod a+s /usr/bin/wvdial
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ ls -l /usr/bin/wvdial
-rwsr-sr-x 1 root 0 76220 2007-03-09 03:23 /usr/bin/wvdial

Now you need to know the USB device ID of your modem.

ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 016: ID 1b7d:070a
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Notice that Bus 001 is shoing ID as 1b7d:070a
Here the first number before a ( : ) is the vendor id and later is the Product id. Now its time to tell your UDEV service about it. Create a new file sumthing like this.

ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/85-autodial-usb-modem.rules

Now insert the below line in this rules file and save and close.

ACTION==”add”, SUBSYSTEM==”usb_device”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”1b7d”, SYSFS{idProduct}==”070a”, OWNER=”ameya”,RUN+=”/usr/bin/wvdial”

Make sure to change the idVendor and idProduct values as per your USB Vendor ID.

ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ sudo chmod 644 /etc/udev/rules.d/85-autodial-usb-modem.rules
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ ls -l /etc/udev/rules.d/85-autodial-usb-modem.rules
-rw-r–r– 1 root 0 128 2008-06-08 18:46 /etc/udev/rules.d/85-autodial-usb-modem.rules

Now restart the UDEV services.
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ /etc/init.d/udev restart

This is it. Now whenever you connect your USB modem to the port just wait for a minute and it then you are ready to surf the internet. You will not need to dial any services. Now, I have noticed that when you connect the USB Modem it first gives you a red light indication which means that Modem is searching for Network Range. When it turns to green it is actually ready to dial. At this time our script is dialling the modem. Once it is done it will give you blinking green signal which means it is sending/receiving the packets meaning you can now surf the web.

Well, now that its auto-dialling there should be some easy way to terminate the modem. Here it is.
We only need to create 1 file as below.
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ vi byebye

Insert the below line to it and save and close.

kill -9 `ps aux |grep wvdial |grep -v grep | awk ‘{print $2}’`

Now, make the file executable with,

ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ chmod 755 byebye
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ ls -l byebye
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root 0 63 2008-06-08 10:25 /home/ameya/byebye

Copy the file to your bin directory.

ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ sudo cp byebye /usr/bin/

How to use this file?
When you are connected to the net and wish to disconnect just go to the terminal and run the below command.
ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ sudo byebye

It will ask the user password to disconnect. Isn’t it easy?
Or you can copy the file on your desktop so that you can double click the executable to disconnect.

ameya@ameya-laptop:~$ sudo cp byebye /home/ameya/Desktop/

Now, double click on the file and open in a terminal.. provide password to disconnect the internet.
Do let me know if it finds useful to you.

Prerequisite

BSNL Broadband provides different types of ADSL modem/router:

Huawei ADSL modem/router with ethernet and USB port
DareGlobal ADSL modem/router with ethernet port.
Huawei ADSL modem/router with ethernet port, USB port and built-in wireless access point.
You should have a working ethernet card to connect the modem/router. No information is available about connecting using USB (PPPoA).

Instructions

Note: The router/modem would trigger the connection if configured this way.(Router on -> Connected)

Ethernet Connection

Connect the modem/router to the ethernet card
Assign an IP address for the ethernet card; the router has a fixed interface address of 192.168.1.1, so you can use 192.168.1.2 for your ethernet interface.
$ sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.2
Add 192.168.1.1 as default gateway.
$ sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1
Enter the address of some DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. These DNS adresses are provided on BSNL’s instruction manual.
$ sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf
The entry will be of type nameserver 61.1.96.71, where the IP will be the one provided in your BSNL Broadband instruction manual.

Access the router’s management interface via a browser by typing the address 192.168.1.1. The admin username/password is admin/admin
Set the connection type to `PPPoE’. On my MT882 box, this comes under `WAN Settings’
Enter your user name and password (username is of the form xyz@dataone)
Reset the router. It will take 2-3 minutes for the box to come up again
Steps 2, 3, 4 can also be done from menu System->Administration->Network in GUI

Alternate Method:

Connect your ethernet wire to the port at the back of your computer.
Fire up the terminal and type in sudo pppoeconf
It should detect your modem.
Keep on pressing enter. Fill in your user name and password when indicated.
It should be easy to stick on to defaults.
You should be prompted back to your terminal when it would say pppoe loaded. Simple. That’s the end of terminal.
Now go to System>Administration>Networking. Click on it. You would be asked for your password to carry out the administrative job as root. You should be prompted to enter the following details.

Activate the Wired connection.
Highlight the wired connection and click on properties.
Check the box “enable the connection”
Configuration as Static IP.
IP Address : 192.168.1.2
Subnet mask fills on it’s own as 255.255.255.0
Gateway address :192.168.1.1

Wireless Connection

Assign an IP address for wireless NIC; the router has a fixed interface address of 192.168.1.1, so you can use 192.168.1.2 for your wireless NIC.
$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.2
In some cases you may need to replace wlan0 with with eth0 or eth1.

Add 192.168.1.1 as default gateway.
$ sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1
Add network ESSID.
$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid WA1003A
Default ESSID for the modem/router provided by BSNL are same as model names. You can change it from modem/router’s admin console.

Enter the address of some DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. These DNS adresses are provided on BSNL’s instruction manual.
$ sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf
The entry will be of type nameserver 61.1.96.71, where the IP will be the one provided in your BSNL broadband instruction manual.

Access the router’s management interface via a browser by typing the address 192.168.1.1. The admin username/password is admin/admin
Set the connection type to for PVC0 connection as ‘PPPoE’. On WA1003A modem/router, this comes under ‘Setup’
Enter your user name and password (username is of the form xyz@dataone)
Set the modulation to GDMT. On WA1003A modem/router, this comes under ‘Setup->Modem Setup’

Save and restart the modem/router. On WA1003A modem/router, this can be done under ‘Tools->System Commands’ It will take 2-3 minutes for the box to come up again

Wireless security

In admin console, ‘Advanced->Wireless Security’ set security to WEP.
Add a 64 bit authentication key, 10 characters in hex format i.e 0-9 and A-F

Add this key to wireless NIC configuration.

$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 key A1B2C3D4E5
Save settings in router and restart it. Reactivate the card, probably using ifdown and ifup

One stop instruction for wireless NIC:

Add following lines to /etc/network/interfaces
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
wireless-essid WA1003A
wireless-key A1B2C3D4E5

auto eth0
Most of the steps can also be done from menu System->Administration->Network in GUI

(Note: Most of the instructions are based on the document at http://www.calcuttatelephones.com/dataoneinstall/bb008.html)

Alternative

Note: Ubuntu would trigger the connection if configured this way.(Router on -> Ubuntu on -> Connected)

Make sure your Ethernet card is configured
Open a Terminal: Applications->Accessories->Terminal
Enter sudo pppoeconf
Follow instructions on the screen. The defaults are fine for most cases. Make sure you enter your username and password carefully. Beware : The password will be visible on the screen.

Checking Usage

Casanova has made a python script for checking dataone usage.
NOTE: For bug reports, feature requests go to http://code.google.com/p/doufs/
Dataone usage script

MTNL Triband

MTNL Triband offers DSL 502T Dlink Router for ADSL for those who opt not to buy one. However, I would recommend buying the same router, if one chooses not to pay rent to MTNL for this modem. This router has known to work without issues.

Users who try out Ubuntu Live CDs would have to set up DNS as shown below. For Kubuntu Users, Konqueror automatically detects the network (if through ethernet) and one can access without any configuration.

Ethernet

For users, who have connected their router to the Ethernet card, only have to setup the DNS address as provided by MTNL.
Follow the following steps
Go to System->Administration->Network
Move to the DNS Tab
Click on the default entry (which could be 192.168.1.1) and click on “Delete” button
Click on “Add” button and enter the DNS address. You would have to call up on 1504 and get DNS addresses.

USB

Works out of the box for Kubuntu 6.06 (and onwards – need confirmation)
Works for Ubuntu 7.10 (One would have to setup the DNS. Please see the ethernet section above to setup the DNS)

Checking usage

To find out your usage, you can log on to http://register.mtnl.net.in and input your telephone number as “username” and the password as your “CA” number, if you haven’t changed it. Click on Account Summary on the left pane, when you are in.

Sify

Obtaining the sify dialer

Download the client from the same place where you got the windows client. This should ideally be http://202.144.65.70:8090 , and at the time of writing the file is can be found at http://210.18.11.199:81/bbandclient/sifyconnect-1.3-bin.tar.gz. or http://210.210.4.74:81/bbandclient/sifyconnect-1.3-bin.tar.gz

Installing the dialer

Untar the the dialer using your favorite untar program , or do this :

$ tar -xzvf sifyconnect-1.3-bin.tar.gz
Then run the following commands as root :

$ cd sifyconnect-1.3-bin/
$ bash install.sh

Using the dialer

Run the following commands :

$ sifyd
$ sifyconnect -l
This will prompt you for your username & password , give them. Once you do that your as good as logged in , you can now close the terminal and use the internet.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes the client on trying to log in says something like –

“Login failed : Get the latest version of the client”

This is because after upgrading it’s protocol in some places, sify has discontinoued support for the old protocol . It has also stopped development of it’s GNU/linux and Mac clients , so you might have to call sify customer care and tell them your problem. They probably just allow you IP and account to use the old protocol It took them about 8 hours to fix the problem when I had it.

Another problem that might occur would be like –

“-bash: /etc/init.d/sifybb: No such file or directory”

Pacenet

Following is a guide for configuring Pacenet on Fedora. Should be somewhat helpful for Ubuntu users. http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-82441.html

Airtel Broadband

Adsl Router

PPPoE (non bridged)

In this mode, your router will connect as sson as it is switched on. If you are billed for time connected then you need to use bridged mode

Go to System->Administartion->Networking and make sure you have configured an ip (192.168.1.2, for example) and have set your DNS (supplied by Airtel) and Default gateway (192.168.1.1). If your router is handling DHCP then you needn’t configure an ip.
Navigate to http://192.168.1.1
Enter the username and password (default is admin for both)
Click Run Wizard
Click Next
Select your time zone (+5:30)
Click Next
Select
Click Next
Enter your username and password. VPI = 1, VCI = 32, Connection Type = PPPoE LLC
Click restart

Hathway

Note down the IP address, gateway and DNS server addresses given by Hathway.
Navigate to System => Administration => Network
Enter your password
In Connections tab, select your ethernet card, in my case it’s Wired Connection(eth1)
Click on properties and set the tabs as follows, (replace the details with your own details)
Configuration: Static IP address

IP Address: 202.88.100.15

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Gateway Address: 202.88.100.5

Go to DNS Tab.
Click on Add next to DNS box and type the address of DNS server.
For adding more DNS servers, repeat the above step.
Click on Close to finish.

It was a tough job to clean up the queue. I tried the “exiqgrep” command to clean the emails those were older than 1 day from the queue.

exiqgrep -o 86400 -i | xargs exim -Mrm

Where 86400 are the seconds of 1 day.

However the above command was not of much help instead it keep on giving me errors. I had to think calmly to delete all the spams. I first decided ran the below command to Run additional queues in the background.

exim -qff &

I given this command multiple times. So that many queues were running at the same time. The next step was to clear all the Frozen messages from the mail queue.

exim -bpr | grep frozen | awk {’print $3′} | xargs exim -Mrm

Clearing the Frozen messages was a wise decision as it the mail queue was showing now 4000 messages in it. The other job was to find similar messages. I checked the queue again.

exim -bpr |more

I could guess that most of the emails are 2 or 3 days older. To clear all these spams the next command was helpful, which checked the mail queue then searched “2d” in it and taking the 3 argument which is Message Id… it deleted all those emails.

exim -bpr | grep 2d | awk {’print $3′} | xargs exim -Mrm

The queue was under my control after clearing the email older to two and three days. Still there were couple of hundreds emails in the queue. I noticed that there are many emails without a sender residing in the queue. It was very simple to clean these spams now.

exim -bpr | grep <> | awk {’print $3′} | xargs exim -Mrm

Yippie… I cleared the mail queue.

Some other useful Exim Queue managing commands are below :

exim -Mvh msgid View message header
exim -Mvb msgid View message body
exim -M msgid Force delivery of message
exim -v -M msgid View the transact of message

Force another queue run
exim -qf

Force another queue run and attempt to flush the frozen message
exim -qff

View the log for the message
exim -Mvl msgid

Remove message without sending any error message
exim -Mrm messageID

Giveup and fail message to bounce the message to the Sender
exim -Mg messageID

How much mail in the queue?
exim -bpc

How many Frozen mails in the queue
exim -bpr | grep frozen | wc -l

Deleteing Frozen Messages
exim -bpr | grep frozen | awk {’print $3′} | xargs exim -Mrm

To force exim update:
/scripts/eximup –force

These are very simple ACLs. You need to edit the Exim’s main configuration file: exim4.conf.template

The code should be as below..

################################################## # MAIN CONFIGURATION SETTINGS #

##################################################

Under the main configuration search the ACL Configuration.

##################################################

# ACL CONFIGURATION #
# Specifies access control lists for incoming SMTP mail #

##################################################

Often spammers send for the HELO argument the name or the IP of your host. We can specify our own domain with the ipaddress to reduce the spams. My own domain is “ameyapandit.com” and my own IP is 208.113.170.151.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

acl_check_helo:
accept
hosts = +own_hosts

# If the HELO pretend to be this host
deny condition = ${if or { \
{eq {${lc:$sender_helo_name}}{ameyapandit.com}} \
{eq {${lc:$sender_helo_name}}{208.113.170.151}} \
} {true}{false} }

# by default we accept
accept

—————————————————————————————————————————-

Sender checking

We can refuse some senders, from some marketing companies.

acl_check_sender:
deny senders = /etc/exim4/filters/sender_reject.list
accept

—————————————————————————————————————————-

Comments:

1. Vivek Says:
   October 19th, 2007 at 2:32 amIt was really a nice experience with passed year.Is it really a passed year ???? ooofff…..How fastly a year finished !!! Great Memories as u written here..Will definitely miss you Don..
   All The Best.

   Vivek .
   Oct 19,2007

2. Sai Chitale Says:
   October 22nd, 2007 at 7:32 amAmeya,
   must say, amazingly written article.
   i was tempted to comment on it as soon as i read it. i was the one , infact i was the lucky one to be with you while u were about to take all the important decisions and make some vital changes in your life. i must say, seriously, now that i think of all whetever u have done in this 1 yr, i feel its really creditable on your part to have done everything successfully. no frustrations, no regrets on the decisions made by you, confident on the things u decided( inspite of most of the people being against you in the staying away from home ).
   i have seen you change so much recently and all for the good.
   i am so proud of you. seeing where you are right now. and must say… you made me famous too  .
   no one would have done that.
   thanks. and i am extremely happy seeing you like this.
   keep posting more n more atricles and i will be there to comment
   cheers dude !
   you rock !
   sAi ChItAlE.
3. Sonia Says:
   October 23rd, 2007 at 4:22 amwell….really cool blog…
   I cd visualize everything while reading…bt u must hav enjoyed all d happy-sad moments…
   keep it up buddy.

   BTW u dint tell me ever dt Vivek is ur ex-room mate!!!!

4. Kunal Hadkar Says:
   October 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pmYeah even i am lucky that i shared couple of days at Ameya’s place at Chandivli with his roomies yes it was a nice experience.

   Good Luck,
   Ameya for your new career start & welcome back home.

5. Nishit Shah Says:
   November 2nd, 2007 at 2:52 amI know Ameya for more than a year now from the time we were working in Katalyst and we all really had a gr8 time there..Seems you had a ball wid ur roomies. Hav neva got a chance like this to stay away from home with pals.. wud surely love this sum day! All da best 4 ur next job !
6. Aarya Says:
   November 12th, 2007 at 2:22 amAmu,
   Great write-up.Made me wonder about how millions of Mumbaikars go through this everyday and still emerge so much stronger, smarter and wiser.I’m so glad you got the opportunity to do this. I’m sure you will never regret it. Good Luck on your new job and always stay positive!
   God Bless,
   Aarya
   xo
7. Ameya Says:
   November 12th, 2007 at 8:53 amThankssss a lot Vivek… Sai…. Sonia… Kunal.. Nishit… and Aarya.

   All I am is b’coz your love ‘n friendship. Keep loving 

8. Rajesh Bhadra Says:
   November 12th, 2007 at 11:28 pmHey,
   I feel good to hear that you had a great time with your office colleagues/friends. Even I want to do it. But kinda scared bcoz I have never lived alone ever. I had been to trips, stayed at friends place for weeks, et al. But I had never stayed away from home for months. Bit scared to do things all by myself. I doubt,Would I be able to do things on my own.
   Any tips???
9. Ameya Says:
   November 12th, 2007 at 11:46 pmHie Rajesh,
   I think all of the things we do once for the first time. You .. yourself have the tips. Read your last sentence..  “I doubt,Would I be able to do things on my own.”
   You will definitely enjoy staying like it If you are ready.. to
   1. cook food or help cooking food..
   2. wash your cloths
   3. wait for your chance to use the bathroom (very IMP)
   4. manage even if someday your roommate is drunk and boring you
   5. share everything you have (material.. and emotional.. not others lol )
   6. clean the room once in a while

   These are some of the difficult times.. however the relation you share with your roomies.. is awesome. At times there are your parents.. your kids.. your brother/sister.. your teacher.. your enemy.. your everything. Yes even sister ( we got our Rakhis tied by our roomies.. as our sister were far away)

   This place is too short to describe anything. You just have to experience it.

   All the best.