6.2 Connection with a single leased link - dial on demand
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## 6.2 Connection with a single leased link - dial on demand

If the WinRoute host is connected to the Internet via dial-up, WinRoute can automatically dial the connection when users attempt to access the Internet. WinRoute provides the following options of dialing/hanging control:

- Line is dialed when a request from the local network is received. This function is called Dial on demand. For further description see below.

- Line is disconnected automatically if idle for a certain period (no data is transmitted in both directions).

- Maintenance of persistent connection or disconnection of the link within defined time ranges.

### Requirements

The corresponding device must be installed on the WinRoute (usually an analog or an ISDN modem) and the corresponding dial-up connection must be created in the operating system. It is not necessary to define and save login data in the dial-up settings, this information can be defined directly in WinRoute. This connection type also requires one or more network cards for connection of individual segments of the LAN. Default gateway must NOT be set on any of these cards!

We recommend you to create and test a dial-up connection before installing WinRoute.

### Warning

Before configuring the LAN and the firewall for a Internet link dialed on demand, please pay special attention to the information provided in chapter 25.5 Internet links dialed on demand. Correct configuration of the network with respect to specific qualities and behavior of on demand dial helps to avoid subsequent problems.

### Configuration with the wizard

On the second page of the Traffic Policy Wizard (see chapter 7.1 Network Rules Wizard), select A Single Internet Link — Dial on Demand.

Figure 6.4. Traffic Policy Wizard — dial on demand

On the third page of the wizard, select a corresponding dial-up connection (Internet link). If authentication data are not saved in the operating system, username and password are required.

Figure 6.5. Network Policy Wizard — selection of an interface for the Internet connection

In the Software Appliance / VMware Virtual Appliance edition, the wizard allows:

- to configure parameters of the selected interface,

- to create a new interface (PPPoE, PPTP or dial-up).

For details on network interfaces, see chapter 5 Network interfaces.

### Resulting interface configuration

When you finish set-up in Traffic Policy Wizard, the resulting configuration can be viewed under Configuration → Interfaces and edited if desirable.

Figure 6.6. Configuration of interfaces — an on-demand dial link

The Internet Interfaces group includes only the Dial-up connection link selected in the third page of the wizard. This connection is set up as a dial-on-demand link (see information in the column labeled as Internet). Other interfaces (including Dial-In) are considered as segments of the LAN and put in Trusted / Local interfaces.

The Internet interfaces group can include multiple dial-ups. However, only one of these links can be set for on-demand dialing. If another link is dialed manually, WinRoute will route packets to the corresponding destination network in accordance with the system routing table (see also chapter 18.1 Routing table) and perform IP address translation (NAT). However, such configuration would be of any use. It is therefore recommended to keep only a single on-demand-dial link in the Internet interfaces group.

To change the dial-on-demand link, use the corresponding option in the interface edit dialog (see chapter 5 Network interfaces) or use the context menu (by right-clicking on the link).

### Warning

In the Dial on Demand mode, default gateway must NOT be set on any network interface of the firewall! On-demand dialing is based on absence of the default gateway (if no route exist in the routing table where a packet would be directed, WinRoute create a default gateway by dialing an Internet link).

### Dialing options

For dial-ups, the interface settings dialog (see chapter 5 Network interfaces) includes also the Dialing settings tab where specific parameters for dial-up connections can be set:

Figure 6.7. Interface properties — dialing settings

Login information

  If login data for the particular dial-up connection change, it can be updated here or it is also possible to use the data saved in the operating system (if saved there).

Time intervals for persistent connection and persistent hang-up

  Under certain circumstances it may be needed that dial on demand works only within a certain time period (typically in working hours) and that the link is hung-up outside this range. With respect to cost rates of individual providers, it can sometimes be most efficient to keep the link up persistently even in times with dense network communication.

  For these purposes, it is possible to set time intervals for persistent connection and/or hang-up.

  If the time intervals overlap, the interval in which the link is hung-up rules over the other. In times outside the defined ranges, the link is dialed on demand.

  Note:

  1. If a static route over a dial-up is defined in WinRoute's routing table, this link will be dialed whenever a packet is routed through there. Settings for the interval within which the link should be hung-up persistently will be ignored in this case.

     For details, see chapter 18.1 Routing table.

  2. The dialing settings do not include an explicit option of connection recovery upon failures. In case of connection outage, connection will or will not be recovered in dependence on the current mode of the link:

     - If the link should be connected persistently at the moment of the failure, the connection is recovered automatically.

     - If the connection is set to be hung-up at the moment of the outage, the connection will not be recovered.

     - In mode of on-demand dial (i.e. outside the intervals defined), connection will be recovered in response to the first request (i.e. packet sent from the local network to the Internet).

Automatic hangup when idle

  Dial-ups are usually charged by connection time. When no data are transferred via the connection, there is no reason to keep the link up. Therefore, it is possible to set also idleness time after which the link will be hung-up automatically.

  For optimal idleness timeout length, it is necessary to know how the Internet connection is charged in the particular case. If the idleness timeout is too short, it may result in too frequent hanging up and dialing of the link which might be very uncomfortable and in certain cases even increase connection costs.

  Note: In the time interval where persistent connection of the link is set (see above), the idleness timeout is ignored.

Dialing scripts

  In some cases there is a special need of running a program or a script (execute a batch command) along with dialing or hanging up a link. This can be helpful for example if a special type of modem is used that must be controlled by a special program provided by its developers.

  WinRoute allows launching any program or a command in the following situations: Before dial, After dial, Before hang-up or/and After hang-up.

  Note: In case of the Before dial and Before hang-up options, the system does not wait for its completion after startup of the program.

  Figure 6.8. Dial-up — external commands

  Path to the executable file must be complete. If the path includes spaces it must be closed into quotes, otherwise the part after a space will be considered as a parameter(s) of a batch file. If the path to the file is quoted, the text which follows the closing quote mark is also considered as batch file parameter(s).

  ### Warning

  WinRoute is running in the operating system as a service. Therefore, external applications and operating system's commands will run in the background only (in the SYSTEM account). The same rules are applied for all external commands and external programs called by scripts. Therefore, it is not highly unrecommended to use interactive applications (i.e. applications with user interaction) for the actions described above. Otherwise. interactive applications are running as “invisible” until the next reboot or until the particular process is ended by the Windows Task Manager. Under specific circumstances, such application might also block other dials or hang-ups.

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6.1 Persistent connection with a single link | Contents | 6.3 Connection Failover