Intermittent PPPOE Connectivity

[abluesongbird]

I recently installed ebox 1.4 (from the ebox ppa repository) onto Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS Server.  I am having trouble with my external pppoe interface: sometimes after a (re)boot the interface is down and my internal network is without a functioning gateway.

My first question is (how can I find out) what is going on here?  I don't see anything in /var/log/messages and plog offers nothing.

My second question is what is the recommended way to bounce a network interface on an ebox machine?  This would offer a partial solution to my original problem but I might also want to bounce the pppoe interface even when it is functioning well (e.g. to request a different IP address).  I don't see interface bouncing in the documentation nor can I find a means in the admin GUI.

I have currently been attempting to bounce the interface manually using ifup and ifdown.  This produces the following output:

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$ sudo ifdown ebox-ppp-eth1
$ sudo ifup ebox-ppp-eth1
ebox-ppp-eth1: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded.
 * Stopping NTP server ntpd
   ...done.
 * Starting NTP server ntpd
   ...done.

9 time out of 10 this fails and ifconfig shows eth1 (without an IP address) but no ppp0.  And then, sometimes, the same ifdown/ifup works and both eth1 and ppp0 are brought up.

Note that this ifdown/ifup sequence usually fails regardless of whether or not ppp0 is up beforehand.  I am hoping that the poor track record of the ifdown/ifup can provide some clue as to why the ppp0 interface is sometimes failing during boot.

Any ideas?  I am all ears and would be appreciate any help.  Thanks.

[abluesongbird]

UPDATE: On further investigation I /do/ see some pppd output in /var/log/messages.  (It wasn't there last night, I swear!  )  A successful ip{up,down} is logged as:

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Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28759]: Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded.
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: pppd 2.4.4 started by root, uid 0
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: PPP session is 8726
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: Using interface ppp0
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth1
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: PAP authentication succeeded
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: peer from calling number AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA authorized
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: local  IP address 555.555.555.555
Mar 24 21:50:35 hostname pppd[28761]: remote IP address 555.555.555.555
Mar 24 21:52:16 hostname pppd[28761]: Terminating on signal 15
Mar 24 21:52:16 hostname pppd[28761]: Connect time 1.7 minutes.
Mar 24 21:52:16 hostname pppd[28761]: Sent 0 bytes, received 1008 bytes.
Mar 24 21:52:16 hostname pppd[28761]: Modem hangup
Mar 24 21:52:16 hostname pppd[28761]: Connection terminated.
Mar 24 21:52:16 hostname pppd[28761]: Exit.

Two different unsuccessful if{up,down} pairs are below.  This doesn't mean too much to me, other than /something/ (my modem?) is either denying me access or refusing to talk to me.  Does anyone know what might be causing the access denied or PADO timeouts?

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Mar 26 17:18:25 hostname pppd[31305]: Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded.
Mar 26 17:18:25 hostname pppd[31307]: pppd 2.4.4 started by root, uid 0
Mar 26 17:18:25 hostname pppd[31307]: PPP session is 8766
Mar 26 17:18:25 hostname pppd[31307]: Using interface ppp0
Mar 26 17:18:25 hostname pppd[31307]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth1
Mar 26 17:18:26 hostname pppd[31307]: Remote message: permission denied
Mar 26 17:18:26 hostname pppd[31307]: Connection terminated.
Mar 26 17:19:05 hostname pppd[10378]: Terminating on signal 15
Mar 26 17:19:05 hostname pppd[10378]: Exit.


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Mar 26 17:19:08 hostname pppd[10495]: Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded.
Mar 26 17:19:08 hostname pppd[10499]: pppd 2.4.4 started by root, uid 0
Mar 26 17:19:43 hostname pppd[10499]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Mar 26 17:20:48 hostname pppd[10499]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Mar 26 17:20:50 hostname pppd[10499]: Terminating on signal 15
Mar 26 17:20:50 hostname pppd[10499]: Exit.


[abluesongbird]

Two different unsuccessful if{up,down} pairs are below.  This doesn't mean too much to me, other than /something/ (my modem?) is either denying me access or refusing to talk to me.  Does anyone know what might be causing the access denied or PADO timeouts?

UPDATE: Further investigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pppoe) yielded that PADO packets come from the telco and not directly from the modem.  This led me to suspect an ISP-enforced maximum disconnect/reconnect frequency.  Sure enough, if I exercised a little patience after issuing a

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sudo ifup ebox-ppp-eth1 command, pppd eventually made the connection.  (It took 2-3 minutes.)  This issue is SOLVED.

One question, still: is ifup/ifdown the recommended way to manage network interfaces on an ebox machine?