WICONTROL

Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
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BSD mandoc

NAME

wicontrol - configure WaveLAN/IEEE devices

SYNOPSIS

-i iface [-o ]
-i iface -t tx_rate
-i iface -n network_name
-i iface -s station_name
-i iface -c 0 | 1
-i iface -q SSID
-i iface -p port_type
-i iface -a access_point_density
-i iface -m mac_address
-i iface -d max_data_length
-i iface -e 0 | 1
-i iface -k key [-v 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]
-i iface -T 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
-i iface -r RTS_threshold
-i iface -f frequency
-i iface -P 0 | 1
-i iface -S max_sleep_duration
-i iface -Z (zero signal cache)
-i iface -C (display signal cache)
-i iface -A (scan access points)

DESCRIPTION

The command controls the operation of WaveLAN/IEEE wireless networking devices via the wi(4) driver. Most of the parameters that can be changed relate to the IEEE 802.11 protocol which the WaveLAN implements. This includes the station name, whether the station is operating in ad-hoc (point to point) or BSS (service set) mode, and the network name of a service set to join (IBSS) if BSS mode is enabled. The command can also be used to view the current settings of these parameters and to dump out the values of the card's statistics counters.

The iface argument given to should be the logical interface name associated with the WaveLAN/IEEE device ( wi0 , wi1 etc.). If none is specified then ``wi0 '' is used as default.

OPTIONS

The options are as follows:

-i iface [-o ]

Display the current settings of the specified WaveLAN/IEEE interface. This retrieves the current card settings from the driver and prints them out. Note that the channel list value is in decimal, and probably should be in HEX. One bit is set for every channel available, bit 1 for channel 1, etc. Thus 2047 means 0x7ff, or that channels 1-11 are available. Using the additional -o flag will cause to print out the statistics counters instead of the card settings. Encryption keys are only displayed if is run as root.

-i iface -t tx_rate

Set the transmit rate of the specified interface. The legal values for the transmit rate vary depending on whether the interface is a standard WaveLAN/IEEE or a WaveLAN/IEEE Turbo adapter. The standard NICs support a maximum transmit rate of 2Mbps while the turbo NICs support a maximum speed of 6Mbps. Newer NICs support a raw speed of 11Mbps, although the true rate is less than 5Mbps. The following table shows the legal transmit rate settings and the corresponding transmit speeds:

1 Ta Fixed Low (1Mbps)
2 Ta Fixed Standard (2Mbps)
3 Ta Auto Rate Select (High)
4 Ta Fixed Medium (4Mbps)
5 Ta Fixed High (6Mbps)
6 Ta Auto Rate Select (Standard)
7 Ta Auto Rate Select (Medium)

The standard NICs support only settings
1 through 3 Turbo NICs support all the above listed speed settings. The default driver setting is 3 (auto rate select).

-i iface -n network_name

Set the name of the service set (IBSS) that this station wishes to join. The network_name can be any text string up to 30 characters in length. The default name is the string ``ANY '' which should allow the station to connect to the first available access point. The interface should be set for BSS mode using the -p flag in order for this to work.

Note: the WaveLAN manual indicates that an empty string will allow the host to connect to any access point, however I have also seen a reference in another driver which indicates that the ``ANY '' string works as well.

-i iface -s station_name

Sets the station name for the specified interface. The station_name is used for diagnostic purposes. The Lucent WaveMANAGER software can poll the names of remote hosts.

-i iface -c 0 | 1

Allow the station to create a service set (IBSS). Permitted values are 0 (don't create IBSS) and 1 (enable creation of IBSS). The default is 0 This will not work if the port type has not been set to 1.

-i iface -q SSID

Specify the name of an IBSS (SSID) to create on a given interface. The SSID can be any text string up to 30 characters long.

-i iface -p port_type

Set the port type for a specified interface. The legal values for port_type are 1 (BSS mode) and 3 (demo ad-hoc) mode. In demo ad-hoc mode, the station can communicate directly with any other stations within direct radio range (provided that they are also operating in demo ad-hoc mode). Note: demo ad-hoc mode is a mistake, but an interesting one. This mode does not interoperate with other non-Lucent derived 802.11 devices (however prism2 devices MAY support it). In BSS mode, hosts must associate with a service set controlled by an access point, which relays traffic between end stations. BSS mode must be set in order to turn on IBSS (true ad-hoc) mode. The default setting is 1 (IBSS or managed/infrastructure mode).

-i iface -a access_point_density

Specify the access point density for a given interface. Legal values are 1 (low), 2 (medium) and 3 (high). This setting influences some of the radio modem threshold settings.

-i iface -m mac_address

Set the station address for the specified interface. The mac_address is specified as a series of six hexadecimal values separated by colons, e.g., ``00:60:1d:12:34:56 '' This programs the new address into the card and updates the interface as well.

-i iface -d max_data_length

Set the maximum receive and transmit frame size for a specified interface. The max_data_length can be any number from 350 to 2304. The default is 2304.

-i iface -e 0 | 1

Enable or disable WEP encryption. Permitted values are 0 (encryption disabled) or 1 (encryption enabled). Encryption is off by default.

-i iface -k key [-v 1|2|3|4]

Set WEP encryption keys. There are four default encryption keys that can be programmed. A specific key can be set using the -v flag. If the -v flag is not specified, the first key will be set. Encryption keys can either be normal text (i.e. ``hello '' or a series of hexadecimal digits (i.e. ``0x1234512345 '' For WaveLAN Turbo Silver cards, the key is restricted to 40 bits, hence the key can be either a 5 character text string or 10 hex digits. For WaveLAN Turbo Gold cards, the key can also be 104 bits, which means the key can be specified as either a 13 character text string or 26 hex digits in addition to the formats supported by the Silver cards.

-i iface -T 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Specify which of the four WEP encryption keys will be used to encrypt transmitted packets.

-i iface -r RTS_threshold

Set the RTS/CTS threshold for a given interface. This controls the number of bytes used for the RTS/CTS handshake boundary. The RTS_threshold can be any value between 0 and 2047. The default is 2347.

-i iface -f frequency

Set the radio frequency of a given interface. The frequency should be specified as a channel ID as shown in the table below. Note that in managed or BSS mode, you do not set the frequency, as this is done by the firmware as it locks onto an access point. The frequency however must be set in the various ad hoc modes. Recent lucent firmware sets the default frequency to channel 10. Earlier versions set it to channel 3. The list of available frequencies is dependent on radio regulations specified by regional authorities. Recognized regulatory authorities include the FCC (United States), ETSI (Europe), France and Japan. Frequencies in the table are specified in Mhz.

1 Ta 2412 2412 - 2412
2 Ta 2417 2417-2417
3 Ta 24222422-2422
4 Ta 24272427-2427
5 Ta 24322432-2432
6 Ta 24372437-2437
7 Ta 24422442-2442
8 Ta 24472447-2447
9 Ta 24522452-2452
10 Ta 2457245724572457
11 Ta 2462246224622462
12 Ta -246724672467
13 Ta -247224722472
14 Ta ---2484

If an illegal channel is specified, the
NIC will revert to its default channel. For NICs sold in the United States and Europe, the default channel is 3 For NICs sold in France, the default channel is 11 For NICs sold in Japan, the default channel is 14 and it is the only available channel for pre-11Mbps NICs. Note that two stations must be set to the same channel in order to communicate.

-i iface -P 0 | 1

Enable or disable power management on a given interface. Enabling power management uses an alternating sleep/wake protocol to help conserve power on mobile stations, at the cost of some increased receive latency. Power management is off by default. Note that power management requires the cooperation of an access point in order to function; it is not functional in ad-hoc mode. Also, power management is only implemented in Lucent WavePOINT firmware version 2.03 or later, and in WaveLAN PCMCIA adapter firmware 2.00 or later. Older revisions will silently ignore the power management setting. Legal values for this parameter are 0 (off) and 1 (on).

-i iface -S max_sleep_interval

Specify the sleep interval to use when power management is enabled. The max_sleep_interval is specified in milliseconds. The default is 100.

-i iface -Z

Clear the signal strength cache maintained internally by the wi(4) driver.

-i iface -C

Display the cached signal strength information maintained by the wi(4) driver. The driver retains information about signal strength and noise level for packets received from different hosts. The signal strength and noise level values are displayed in units of dBms. The signal quality values is produced by subtracting the noise level from the signal strength (i.e. less noise and better signal yields better signal quality).

-i iface -A

This forces the driver to initiate one round of access point scanning. Any access points found are displayed. This mode does not work unless the driver has been initialized; i.e., an IP address must be assigned first.

SAMPLE CONFIGURATIONS

As of firmware release 6.04, Lucent correctly implemented the two major 802.11 modes known as managed/infrastructure or IBSS/ad-hoc. The previous ad-hoc effort does not interoperate with other vendor's IBSS mode, and still exists at this time. Lucent calls it "demo ad-hoc". In this section we will briefly give a configuration overview of commands for setting up those 3 modes.