Configuring SLIP over a modem

To configure Serial Line Interface Protocol (SLIP) between two systems that communicate through a modem, you can use this procedure, which alternates between the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) interface and the command line to complete the configuration.

For clarity, the following instructions use the names bronze and gold for the two hosts.

  1. Physically connect the modems to bronze and gold.
  2. To create a tty on bronze using SMIT, follow these steps:
    1. Type:
      smit maktty
    2. Select rs232 as the type of tty you wish to create.
    3. Select an available serial port, for example sa0 (system serial port 1).
    4. Select a port number for this tty from the list.
    5. Set the BAUD rate to the baud rate of your modem.
    6. Set Enable LOGIN to disable.
    7. Exit SMIT.
  3. Create a tty on gold.

    Follow the same procedure as you did for bronze (in step 2), except set Enable LOGIN to enable.

    The rest of these instructions assume that the tty number on both bronze and gold is tty1.

  4. Test the physical connection with ATE.
    1. On bronze, type:
      ate
    2. At the Unconnected Main Menu, select the Alter subcommand. Set the Rate to the baud rate of your modem and the Device to tty1.
    3. At the Unconnected Main Menu, select the Connect subcommand. When ATE prompts you for a phone number, enter the phone number of gold and press Enter.
    4. At this point, you should receive a login prompt for gold. Log in.
    5. Return to the connected screen, log out from gold, press Ctrl-v (to get to the ATE CONNECTED MAIN MENU), press the T key to terminate the connection, and press the Q key to exit ATE.
    Note: If you do not receive a login prompt, return to step 1 and verify that your configuration is correct. Do not proceed until you can log in to gold.
  5. Because the tty configuration for use with ATE is slightly different from the configuration for use with SLIP, you must make the following changes:
    1. On bronze, type:
      smit chgtty
    2. On gold, type:
      smit chgtty-pdisable tty1
    3. Select tty1, then select Change/Show TTY Program.
    4. Set Enable LOGIN to disable, then exit SMIT.
  6. Add the following line to the /usr/lib/uucp/Devices file on both bronze and gold:
    Direct tty1 - 9600 direct  

    or replace 9600 with whatever your modem speed is.

  7. Create a SLIP network interface on bronze.
    1. Type:
      smit mkinet1sl
    2. For TTY PORT for SLIP Network Interface, select tty1.
    3. Specify an INTERNET ADDRESS, for example, 130.130.130.1.
    4. Specify the DESTINATION address (of gold), for example, 130.130.130.2.
    5. Specify the BAUD RATE of your modem.
    6. Specify the DIAL STRING, for example:
      • "" AT OK ATDT555-1234 CONNECT ""
      • The meaning of this command is: Use tty1 at 9600 baud. Send AT to the modem. The modem should respond with OK. Dial the phone number 555-1234. The modem should respond with CONNECT. The spaces before and after the "" characters are necessary.
    7. Exit SMIT.
  8. Create a SLIP network interface on gold.
    Follow the same procedure as you did for bronze (in step 5), except exchange the INTERNET ADDRESS and the DESTINATION address.
  9. Add the following two entries to the /etc/hosts file on both bronze and gold:
    130.130.130.1   bronze
    130.130.130.2   gold
    The name you assign must be unique. In other words, if the Token-Ring interface on bronze is already assigned the name bronze, assign the SLIP interface a name such as bronze_slip.
    Note: For a simplified interface to the slattach command, you might use the script /usr/sbin/slipcall.
  10. Test the SLIP connection.
    1. On bronze, type:
      ping gold
    2. On gold, type:
      ping bronze
If both tests succeed, the SLIP connection is ready for use. If not, return to step 5 and verify that the configuration on both bronze and gold is correct.