Sify Broadband

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Contents

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Technology

Sify broadband uses a simple Ethernet based LAN connection to connect its users to the Internet. Due to this, the network setup for the service is trivial.

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Linux Compatibility

Sify provides a console based dialer for Linux on it's Intranet home page. This dialer will, however, not work right away since it is outdated and the new Sify dialer protocol doesn't allow it to function. You have to call the Sify Customer Care and inform them that you are using Linux. They will then allow your account to use the old dialer.

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Steps for the setup

The first step to configuring the broadband connection is to configure your network card. Refer to your operating system manual on how to configure your network. You should have the following as by your Sify CTO:

  • IP Address
  • Netmask
  • Gateway IP Address
  • DNS addresses
  • Temp ID and Key
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Registration

You need to register your new account before you can start using it. To register, use the following URL:

http://210.210.4.75:81/register/bb_signup.php3

You will need your Temp ID to register.

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Dialing in and out

  • Download the Linux dialer from http://202.144.65.70:8090
  • Untar the archive and cd into the directory.
  • Type the command ./install.sh as root
  • The script will install the dialer
  • Type the command sifyd as root to start the dialer backend.
  • Type sifyconnect as root to start the dialer. It will prompt for the username and password that you created during the registration process

At this stage, you can login and logout only as root, which is insecure. To enable your regular username to use the dialer, you can do the following as root: 

       root@localhost# chown myuser /tmp/sifyconnect.log
       root@localhost# chown myuser /tmp/readfifo
       root@localhost# chown myuser /tmp/writefifo

Accordingly, you can change permissions for the above three files to allow other users to use the dialer.

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Alternative Dialers

Due to the limited functionality of the Linux based dialer and the bloated nature of the Windows based dialer, many users have created their own dialers for Sify Broadband. This was possible mainly due to the reverse engineering of the dialer protocol by Pratap of the IndiaSec Reverse Engineering team. The protocl specifications were on the IndiaSec Website, but now seems to have disappeared. Here is a list of dialers available for Linux:

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