Saturday, October 09, 2010
Anu
This hack explains how to automatically dial up yourISP when Firefox starts. Disconnecting is more problematic. Attack thatusing timeout configuration items provided by the operating system. Ifyou want Firefox to auto-dial for you, this preference must be left on:
network.autodial-helper.enabled /* default = true */Windows NT/2000/XP
Top-level dial-up technology under these Windows versions is called Remote Access Services(RAS). It should be started automatically when any program, includingFirefox, attempts to access the Internet. If that's not working foryou, check that the RAS Connection Manager and RAS Auto ConnectionManager services are enabled using the Services icon in the ControlPanel.
If it still isn't working, make a copy of a Firefox desktop shortcut and change the copy. Change the specified firefox.exe program to firefox.bat. Create that .bat file with these contents:
@echo off
start /B /MIN /W rasdial.exe "connectoid"
firefox.exe
The string connectoidis the name of the connection icon, as described in the previoussection. It is case-sensitive. Do not use the name of a desktopshortcut that points to the connection icon. To suppress the dialogthat prompts for your ISP login details, try this instead:
@echo off
start /B /MIN /W rasdial.exe "connectoid" "username" "password"
firefox.exe
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Linux/Unix
Todial up before Firefox starts, just wrap the command-line call toFirefox in a shell script. Before you're ready to go, you must have thefollowing things in place:
- Modem hardware that's known (usually present; test with kudzu --probe)
- Serial and PPP drivers in the kernel (usually present; test with modprobe -l)
- Correct serial devices in /dev (usually present)
- Software for PPP, such as pppd (usually present)
- Software for DHCP, such as dhcpd (usually present)
Forexample, under Red Hat Fedora Core, much of the work is automated foryou. Run this GUI tool and review the information in its help system:
/usr/bin/system-config-network
If no profile is defined for the modem, use the GUI to create one. In the DNS tab, clear all the DNS entries except for DNS Search Path. Enter the ISP's domain name here, making sure the IP address is also recorded, either in the /etc/hosts file or using the tool:
/usr/bin/system-config-bind
If dial-up access via DHCP has been started, Linux DHCP will usually overwrite the /etc/resolv.conf file, which can affect or ruin any existing DNS arrangements that you might have in place.
To configure and run dial-up by hand, configure dhcpd.conf to contain the ISP's DNS and IP Address information. Identify the tty in /dev that matches the modem, and simply run:
pppd /dev/modemtty
dhcpd
Those commands can go in the wrapper script that starts Firefox.
