Modem Dial Information

Introduction

This section allows you to customize various information about your modem and telephone. These will typically be useful when you have problems connecting to ISP, or you want to customize some of the modem settings.

Connectivity

"Rainmail Server" works with all kinds of Internet connections including Analog modems, ISDN Modems, DSL, Cable Modem and Leased lines. This screen helps you configure your connection to Internet. For simplifying this process, we divide the above connections into two major categories, "Dial Up" and "Permanent".

If you have an Analog (or) ISDN Modem, you will have to explicitly dial up a number and connect to your ISP. If you have any other kind of connection, you will have a permanent connection to Internet (provided your connecting equipment is powered on).

"Rainmail Server" not only allows you to set up a connection, but also switch from one mode to another in case of failure. For example, if your leased line is down, you can use an ordinary modem to download your mails.

To specify connectivity,Select "Dial Up" if you intend to use an analog or ISDN Modem.

Select "Permanent" if you intend to use Cable Modem, DSL or Leased Line, and Specify the Internet address of your router or Cable Modem in "Gateway Address" field. Specify an Interface name in "Gateway Device" field. This can be an existing interface (like "eth0:1"), or a new interface (like "eth1" ).

Specify the IP Address of your machine using which your machine talks to Internet in "IP Address" field.

Configuring your DSL, Cable Modem or Leased line

We will configure your "Rainmail Server" to work with these devices by establishing an (possibly virtual) interface to the DSL, Cable Modem or Leased line router. To do this, you will need to assign another IP address to your machine (this has to be on the same network segment as your router).

You will also need to know the IP address of the router. We will use the router as gateway. Finally, you will need to name this (possibly virtual) interface.  If you have only one network card, your new interface must be virtual. You can named the new interface based on the old interface. In this scenario, giving a name of "eth0:1" will do. If you have two network cards (one to your LAN and another top your router), you can give this interface a new name (like "eth1").

Once you have this information, start the configuration program using the steps given in "Starting the Configuration Program" and choose the "Select Connectivity" item on the left hand side. That will bring up the following screen:

In the above screen, select "Permanent" in the "Connectivity" field. This will enable the next three edit boxes. Enter IP address of router in the "Gateway Address" field, name of our new interface in "Gateway Device" field and our second IP address in "IP Address" field. Then press "Set" to use Cable Modem, DSL or Leased line connectivity to Internet. You will have to reboot the machine for this to take effect.

Sample Configuration for connecting with DSL, Cable Modem or Leased line

In this section, we will take a look at an example configuration for a leased line setup. We will assume that our primary IP address is "192.168.1.1" (on interface eth0), our network segment is "192.168.1." and that our router's IP address is "192.168.1.254".

Since router and our machine are on the same segment, we will just define a virtual interface to the router. We will choose a free IP address on our network ("192.168.1.200") and assign as second address to our machine.

Therefore, the values we will use to configure connectivity are:

Our IP address: 192.168.1.200

Interface name: eth0:1 (Virtual Interface)

Gateway IP address: 192.168.1.254

If you are not sure how to configure "Rainmail Server" for your scenario, please call or email our technical support.

Press the "Set" button. Successful completion of this operation is notified by a dialog. Even though the configuration has been changed, this setting will only take effect the next time system is rebooted. Therefore, please make sure that you reboot the machine after this operation.For help on configuring different connections, please visit our web site at http://www.getcloser.net.

Change Telephone Dialing Mode

There are two commonly used protocols by which the telephone signals to the telephone network what number to dial. The older one is called "pulse dialing", and the newer one "touch tone dialing" or "tone dialing".

When using pulse dialing, each digit dialed is converted into a series of "pulses", where the number of pulses correspond to the number dialed. Each "pulse" is equivalent to the phone going "on-hook" (like hanging up the phone) for a brief moment and then "off-hook" again. The pulses can be heard as loud clicking sounds.

Pulse dialing is being phased out and is being replaced by tone dialing. Tone dialing uses a series of sounds to convey the phone number to the telephone network. The sounds are sent to the phone company the same way the phone conversation would be. To change the telephone dialling mode run the "Rainmail Server" configuration program. Click on "Change Telephone Dialing Mode" on the left-hand side. That will bring up the following screen.

Modem Connection Duration

This feature allows your PC to automatically disconnect from the Internet if you stop using it for a set amount of time. This can be changed as required. " Rainmail Server" includes the SmartProxy server which puts you on the Internet when you want to. The SmartProxy Server also has the ability to sense when nobody is using the Internet and then disconnect from your ISP. This ensures that no manual intervention is needed to ensure optimal use of your resources.

By default, the Smartproxy server disconnects from your ISP when there has been no traffic between your site and ISP for 10 minutes. You can change this default using this section. To change the default, click on the radio button corresponding to the timeout value you desire. Then press the "Set" button. The successful completion of this change is intimated by a dialog.

The setting does not take effect till you do one of the following:

reboot your machine, or run the following command "/etc/rc.d/init.d/diald.init restart".

Change Modem init string

An initialization string is simply a string of characters that tell the modem to do certain things like error correction, pause between dialing attempts, set modem speaker volume, etc. If you are experiencing slow connections, disconnections, or if your modem doesn't even dial, you should definitely consider changing your modem's initialization string.

An initialization ("init") string is the list of commands that your software sends to the modem to initialize it and prepare it for a connection. The init string typically sets options such as speed, error correction, compression, various timeout values, and how to display results to you.

Add Connect Timings

"Rainmail Server" comes with provisions to access your mails from anywhere in the word. This provision is meant to work irrespective of the kind of connectivity you have to Internet. The global access feature is disabled by default.

If you connect to Internet using a dialup line (PSTN or ISDN), this is one of the section you will have to work with to enable your users to access their mails from anywhere in the world.

Essentially, if you want a user <user> to access his mail from anywhere in the world and you are using a dial up line to connect to Internet, you will have to do the following:

      Export your IP address (details in section "Security Functions"),

       Allow external access to user <user> (details in section "Security Functions"), and

      Make sure you are connected to Internet whenever user <user> wants to access their mail.

This section helps you specify the third. You can add certain hours in this section and "Rainmail Server" will make sure that you are connected to Internet during those times every day. Suppose you specify "9:00-15:00", you will always be connected to Internet from 9AM to 3PM every day. User <user> can access your server during these times and check his mail/see the Intranet. If you are connected to Internet with an always on connection (like DSL, Cable Modem or Leased line), you do not need to work with this section.

To specify timings, specify the start timings (00:00 to 23:59) in the field "Start Time (HH:MM)" and end timings in the field "End Time (HH:MM)". Press the "Add" button for the settings to take effect immediately. If the interval you specify clashes with one already specified, you will get an error message.

You can specify multiple non-overlapping timings and "Rainmail Server" will connect to Internet during all those times.

Successful completion of this operation is indicated by a dialog.

Delete Connect Timings

This section helps you delete connect timings already specified. You might want to do this to change the timings or delete existing ones.For details on why you would want to specify these times, please refer to section "Add Connect Timing".

To delete a specific timing, choose the interval using "Start Time" combo box and press "Delete" button. Successful completion of this operation is indicated by a dialog.