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    Useful 3G modem 'mode switching' script

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    52 Posts 4 Posters 39.0k Views
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      If not then try <earlyshellcmd>instead.

      Steve</earlyshellcmd>

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      • J
        jamesc
        last edited by

        It does respond to AT commands on cuaU0.2  :)

        My question is, what is cuaU0.1 which is also available to assign under PPP

        Also, when I assign the PPP to an interface, I also see cuaU0.0 and cuau0 in the 'Modem Port' dropdown list so i'm a little confused  ???

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Probably due to the way pfSense finds the serial ports to display:

          $serialports = pfSense_get_modem_devices();
          
          

          I can't find that function but if it relies on, for example, sysctl dev.u3g then they won't appear there.

          The reason that the modem provides several serial ports is not obvious to me but it seems it's possible to get stats from the modem on one interface whilst connected via another, signal strength, baud rate etc.

          Steve

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          • J
            jamesc
            last edited by

            Thanks Steve.

            I found a simcard, there's no credit on it but it still connects and gets an IP address.

            I've tried both the shellcmd and earlyshellcmd options but sometimes there is a delay until the actual switch occurs.  The boot sequence continues regardless, the PPP interface is brought up but the modem is not yet ready so a WAN connection isn't established.  If I go into the GUI and manually hit connect, PPP is dialled and the WAN comes online.

            Any idea of how we can delay bringing up PPP until we know the modem has successfully switched?

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              What happens when it tries to dial out before the interface is switched?
              I'm surprised that it doesn't just keep trying.
              Maybe using dial-on demand or idle time out.

              You could write a script that ran usb_modeswitch, waited and then called the appropriate interface connect function.

              Steve

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              • J
                jamesc
                last edited by

                It doesnt do anything, the box continues its boot process as if no modem was plugged in. I see the modem details flash up on the console towards the end of the boot process but PPP has already initialised at this point (without seeing the modem) so i suspect it wont keep on attempting a dial out because as far it's concerned, no modem was detected at the time of initialisation, I hope that makes sense!

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Yes I see exactly what you mean.
                  Would probably be best to use an rc script then.
                  This is just a guess but perhaps:

                  
                  #!/bin/sh
                  /usr/local/sbin/usb_modeswitch -c yourmodem.txt
                  sleep 5
                  /etc/rc.reload_interfaces
                  
                  

                  Try issuing a /etc/rc.reload_interfaces and see if it finds the modem and connects.

                  Steve

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                  • J
                    jamesc
                    last edited by

                    I had just finished creating a similar script and was looking for a command that would restart PPP, the reload_interfaces seems to do the trick nicely, thank you.

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                    • J
                      jly2680
                      last edited by

                      how can i put my usbmode_switch script in startup??i have bandluxe 21 mbps 3g modem and successfully flip it to modem mode using usb_modeswitch..I want to connect my modem's ppp  in start up..thanks

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        If it's an RC script, as I detailed above, put it in /usr/local/etc/rc.d and it will run at boot.

                        Steve

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                        • J
                          jly2680
                          last edited by

                          i already put my script in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ but when i reboot pfsense,,ppp dials in fiirst before flipping my usb modem,thus i need to dial my ppp manually..i want to flip my modem first then ppp dials in..TIA

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Yes Jamesc experienced that problem above.
                            Doesn't it redial when you reload the interfaces in the script?

                            Steve

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                            • J
                              jly2680
                              last edited by

                              thanks..reload interfaces did the trick..now i will add 1 more different usb modem.. :)

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                              • J
                                jly2680
                                last edited by

                                problem occurs: persistent disconnections..i cant make my modem to hold for an hour or so..my ppp connection disconnects  every 10 seconds..i try to use my 3g modem directly with my laptop but never had a connection hangup..

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Is it exactly 10 seconds every time? This might indicate some sort of ppp error. Or more random?
                                  What do you see in the logs? Does it do this if you setup the connection manually instead of using the script?
                                  Have you set the PPP session to be 'always on' (idle timeout = 0, which is the default setting)

                                  using rc.reload_interfaces seemed a bit crude when I suggested it earlier and it still does. It maybe that it is causing some other undesired consequence. It would be much better to simply reload WAN or indeed just have it redial. Sadly I'm not sufficiently familiar with the code to suggest anything better.  :(

                                  Steve

                                  Edit: rc.linkup WAN up (or should that be 'up WAN') perhaps?  :-\ Complete guesswork!

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                                  • J
                                    jly2680
                                    last edited by

                                    i think ppp error side?

                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: SendConfigReq #3
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IPADDR 176.225.134.77
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: rec'd Configure Ack #3 (Ack-Sent)
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IPADDR 176.225.134.77
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: state change Ack-Sent --> Opened
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: LayerUp
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] 176.225.134.77 -> 10.0.0.1
                                    Mar 5 23:07:52	ppp: [opt2] IFACE: Up event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: Multi-link PPP daemon for FreeBSD
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp:
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: process 28199 started, version 5.5 (root@FreeBSD_8.0_pfSense_2.0-snaps.pfsense.org 10:25 12-Oct-2011)
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: caught fatal signal term
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IFACE: Close event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: Close event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: state change Opened --> Closing
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: SendTerminateReq #4
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: LayerDown
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: waiting for process 16679 to die...
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IFACE: Down event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: rec'd Terminate Ack #4 (Closing)
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: state change Closing --> Closed
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: LayerFinish
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] Bundle: No NCPs left. Closing links...
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] Bundle: closing link "opt2_link0"...
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] Link: CLOSE event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: Close event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: state change Opened --> Closing
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] Link: Leave bundle "opt2"
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] Bundle: Status update: up 0 links, total bandwidth 9600 bps
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: Close event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: Down event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2] IPCP: state change Closed --> Initial
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: SendTerminateReq #3
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: LayerDown
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: rec'd Terminate Ack #3 (Closing)
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: state change Closing --> Closed
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: LayerFinish
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] Link: DOWN event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: Down event
                                    Mar 5 23:08:36	ppp: [opt2_link0] LCP: state change Closed --> Initial
                                    
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                                    • J
                                      jly2680
                                      last edited by

                                      /etc/rc.reload_interfaces in my script causes my 3g ppp connection to restart every 10-20 secs..

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        Can you show us your script?
                                        It should only be run once at boot, I can't see how it could possibly effect the ppp cycling time.  :-\

                                        Steve

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                                        • J
                                          jly2680
                                          last edited by

                                          #!/bin/sh
                                          /usr/local/sbin/usb_modeswitch usb_modeswitch -v 1a8d -p 2000 -M "5553424312345678000000000000061e000000000000000000000000000000" -2 "5553424312345679000000000000061b000000020000000000000000000000" -n 1 -W
                                          sleep 5
                                          /etc/rc.reload_interfaces
                                          

                                          removing reload interfaces makes my 3g ppp connection stable..is there a place where my script will run first then ppp dials in?or to restart ppp connection after my script run?
                                          i can easily do this with openwrt/ddwrt but i want to try pfsense..

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                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            The code in /usr/local/etc.rc.d should only be run once as far as I know.
                                            You could try calling the script using shellcmd or earlyshellcmd instead:
                                            http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Executing_commands_at_boot_time

                                            Steve

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