FreeBSD Man Pages

ieee80211(4)

NAME

     ieee80211 -- standard interface to IEEE 802.11 devices

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/socket.h>
     #include <net/if.h>
     #include <net/ethernet.h>
     #include <net/if_ieee80211.h>

DESCRIPTION

     This section describes the standard interface to configuration and status
     information on IEEE 802.11 devices.  Most devices support options not
     configurable by this interface.  They must be set by their respective,
     specific control program.	The interface is via one of the following
     ioctl(2) calls on a socket:

     SIOCG80211  Get configuration or status information.

     SIOCS80211  Set configuration information.

     These requests are made via a modified ifreq structure.  This structure
     is defined as follows:

     struct ieee80211req {
	     char	     i_name[IFNAMSIZ];	     /* if_name, e.g. "wi0" */
	     u_int16_t	     i_type;		     /* req type */
	     int16_t	     i_val;		     /* Index or simple value */
	     int16_t	     i_len;		     /* Index or simple value */
	     void	     *i_data;		     /* Extra data */
     };

     For SIOCG80211 the following values of i_type are valid:

     IEEE80211_IOC_SSID 	   Returns the requested SSID by copying it
				   into the buffer pointed to by i_data and
				   setting i_len to the length.  If i_val is
				   >= 0 then the request refers to the config-
				   ured value for that slot.  Generally, 0 is
				   the only valid value, but some interfaces
				   support more SSIDs.	If i_val is -1 then
				   the request refers to the currently active
				   value.

     IEEE80211_IOC_NUMSSIDS	   Returns the number of SSIDs this card sup-
				   ports.  In most cases, this is 1, but some
				   devices such as an(4) support more.

     IEEE80211_IOC_WEP		   Returns the current WEP status in i_val.
				   Valid values are IEEE80211_WEP_NOSUP,
				   IEEE80211_WEP_ON, IEEE80211_WEP_OFF, and
				   IEEE80211_WEP_MIXED.  Respectively, these
				   values mean unsupported, mandatory for all
				   devices, off, and on, but not required for
				   all devices.

     IEEE80211_IOC_WEPKEY	   Returns the requested WEP key via i_data
				   port more.  If so, the first four (0-3) are
				   the standard keys stored in volatile stor-
				   age and the others are device specific.

     IEEE80211_IOC_NUMWEPKEYS	   Returns the number of WEP keys supported by
				   this device, generally 4.  A device that
				   does not support WEP may either report 0 or
				   simply return EINVAL.

     IEEE80211_IOC_WEPTXKEY	   Returns the WEP key used for transmission.

     IEEE80211_IOC_AUTHMODE	   Returns the current authentication mode in
				   i_val.  Valid values are
				   IEEE80211_AUTH_NONE, IEEE80211_AUTH_OPEN,
				   and IEEE80211_AUTH_SHARED.

     IEEE80211_IOC_STATIONNAME	   Returns the station name via i_data and its
				   length via i_len.  While all known devices
				   seem to support this in some way or
				   another, they all do it differently and it
				   appears to not have anything to do with the
				   actual IEEE 802.11 standard so making up an
				   answer may be necessary for future devices.

     IEEE80211_IOC_CHANNEL	   Returns the current direct sequence spread
				   spectrum channel in use.

     IEEE80211_IOC_POWERSAVE	   Returns the current powersaving mode.
				   Valid values are IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_NOSUP,
				   IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_OFF,
				   IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_ON,
				   IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_CAM,
				   IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_PSP, and
				   IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_PSP_CAM.  Currently,
				   IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_ON is defined to be
				   equal to IEEE80211_POWERSAVE_CAM, but this
				   may be incorrect.

     IEEE80211_IOC_POWERSAVESLEEP  Returns the powersave sleep time in msec in
				   i_val.

     For SIOCS80211 the following values of i_type are valid:

     IEEE80211_IOC_SSID 	   Set the desired SSID for infrastructure and
				   ad-hoc modes to value given by i_data and
				   i_len.  The length should be no longer than
				   32 characters.

     IEEE80211_IOC_WEP		   Set the current WEP mode to the value given
				   in i_val.  Valid values are the same as
				   those for this value above.	Devices which
				   do not support all modes may choose to
				   either return EINVAL or choose a reasonable
				   alternate (supported) setting.

     IEEE80211_IOC_WEPKEY	   Set the WEP key indicated by i_val to the
				   value given by i_data and i_len.  Gener-
				   ally, valid values of i_len are 0, 5, and

     IEEE80211_IOC_AUTHMODE	   Set the current authorization mode to the
				   value given in i_val.  Valid values are
				   given above.  Not all devices support this.

     IEEE80211_IOC_STATIONNAME	   Set the station name to the value given by
				   i_data and i_len.  The standard does not
				   appear to deal with this feature so the
				   range of valid values may vary from device
				   to device.

     IEEE80211_IOC_CHANNEL	   Set the desired ad-hoc channel to the value
				   given by i_val.  On some devices this has
				   an impact on infrastructure mode as well.
				   Valid values are 1-14, but 0 should be
				   allowed and should return the device to the
				   default value.  May devices support this
				   directly by converting any invalid value to
				   the default value.

     IEEE80211_IOC_POWERSAVE	   Set the current powersaving mode to the
				   value given in i_val.  Valid values are the
				   same as those for this value above.
				   Devices which do not support all modes may
				   choose to either return EINVAL or choose a
				   reasonable alternate (supported) setting.
				   Most devices only support CAM mode.

     IEEE80211_IOC_POWERSAVESLEEP  Set the powersave sleep time in msec to the
				   value in i_val.

SEE ALSO

     ioctl(2), an(4), ray(4), wi(4), ancontrol(8), ifconfig(8), raycontrol(8),
     wicontrol(8)

HISTORY

     The ieee80211 manual appeared in FreeBSD 4.3.

FreeBSD 5.4		       February 23, 2001		   FreeBSD 5.4

SPONSORED LINKS