[TriLUG] The answer to-- rp3 on RH7.1___Dial-up config Script activation via sshd command prompt:call me lazy

[Daniel Jerome]

Hi folx,
Judging from the answers that I have received, I have figured out that I
must of confused a few people with my question.  Well I have accidentally
found the answer to my question so I figured I would share it with all of
you.

Platform is RH 7.1:
When you use the RH Dialup configuration GUI, the configuration changes are
entered into the /etc/wvdial.conf file.  That is the file used by the rp3
dialer.

Here is how I use it:
I run ipmasq via ipchains to provide my entire network NAT access to my ppp0
internet connection.  This allows me to have a basic firewall which will
allow all my computers on my LAN at home to access the Internet via my
dial-up connection to Mindspring.  I have recently purchased a fancy Dell PC
with Win2K pro on it.  It came with an enormous monitor that I really like
to use for Adobe graphics/web/perl/C++ development.  I have gotten tired of
rolling my chair around the room and flipping on monitors to my Linux boxes
that are running KDE and Gnome.  All I ever do in KDE and Gnome is flip to a
command line terminal anyways because I have found that most of the
X-windows based GUI programs are buggy and annoying.  Now I run a Windows
SSH client to access all my Linux boxes over a secure terminal command line
connection.  I have made sure to update all my hosts files so that I can
properly open multiple instances of the SSH client in order to be able to
control all my computers from one place.  By running the wvdail command at
the command line I can now turn my dial up connection on and off.

The holy @#$% aspect of it:
If you hacked my system and read the /etc/wvdail.conf file, you would now
have the access number, username, and password for my Mindspring account
because the file is in plain text and has generous permissions.  As some of
you might already know, the password is the same for all aspects of a
Mindspring account so they would also be able to retrieve my email as well.
Thus it is time to spring for a Cisco Pix or get my 2600 to dial up my
Mindspring account while implementing an ACL.

Ciao,
Call me Lazy