WLANCTL(8)						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						WLANCTL(8)

NAME

     wlanctl -- examine IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN client/peer table

SYNOPSIS

     wlanctl [-p] interface [...]
     wlanctl [-p] -a

DESCRIPTION

     Use the wlanctl utility to print node tables from IEEE 802.11 interfaces.	Use the -a flag to print the nodes for all interfaces, or list one
     or more 802.11 interfaces to select their tables for examination.	The -p flag causes only nodes that do not have encryption enabled to be
     printed.  For example, to examine the node tables for atw0, use:

	   wlanctl atw0

     wlanctl may print this node table, for example:

	   atw0: mac 00:02:6f:20:f6:2e bss 02:02:6f:20:f6:2e
		   node flags 0001<bss>
		   ess <netbsd>
		   chan 11 freq 2462MHz flags 00a0<cck,2.4GHz>
		   capabilities 0022<ibss,short preamble>
		   beacon-interval 100 TU tsft 18425852102545544165 us
		   rates [1.0] 2.0 5.5 11.0
		   assoc-id 0 assoc-failed 0 inactivity 0s
		   rssi 161 txseq 10 rxseq 1420
	   atw0: mac 00:02:2d:2e:3c:f4 bss 02:02:6f:20:f6:2e
		   node flags 0000
		   ess <netbsd>
		   chan 11 freq 2462MHz flags 00a0<cck,2.4GHz>
		   capabilities 0002<ibss>
		   beacon-interval 100 TU tsft 18425852105450086784 us
		   rates [1.0] 2.0 5.5 11.0
		   assoc-id 0 assoc-failed 0 inactivity 0s
		   rssi 159 txseq 2 rxseq 551
	   atw0: mac 00:02:6f:20:f6:2e bss 02:02:6f:20:f6:2e
		   node flags 0000
		   ess <netbsd>
		   chan 11 freq 2462MHz flags 00a0<cck,2.4GHz>
		   capabilities 0022<ibss,short preamble>
		   beacon-interval 100 TU tsft 18425852102558548069 us
		   rates [1.0] 2.0 5.5 6.0 9.0 11.0 12.0 18.0 24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0
		   assoc-id 0 assoc-failed 0 inactivity 145s
		   rssi 163 txseq 9 rxseq 2563

     This example is taken from a network consisting of three stations running in ad hoc mode.	The key for interpreting the node print-outs fol-
     lows:
     mac	   In the example node table, the first network node has MAC number 00:02:6f:20:f6:2e.
     bss	   The first node belongs to the 802.11 network identified by Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) 02:02:6f:20:f6:2e.
     node flags    Only three node flags, ``bss'', ``sta'', and ``scan'', are presently defined.  The first node is distinguished from the rest by
		   its node flags: flag ``bss'' indicates that the node represents the 802.11 network that the interface has joined or created.
		   The MAC number for the node is the same as the MAC number for the interface.
     ess	   the name of the (Extended) Service Set we have joined.  This is the same as the network name set by ifconfig(8) with the
		   ``ssid'' option.
     chan	   wlanctl prints the channel number, the center frequency in megahertz, and the channel flags.  The channel flags indicate the
		   frequency band (``2.4GHz'' or ``5GHz''), modulation (``cck'', ``gfsk'', ``ofdm'', ``turbo'', and ``dynamic cck-ofdm''), and
		   operation constraints (``passive scan'').  Common combinations of band and modulation are these:

		   Band      Modulation 	 Description
		   2.4GHz    cck		 11Mb/s DSSS 802.11b
		   2.4GHz    gfsk		 1-2Mb/s FHSS 802.11
		   2.4GHz    ofdm		 54Mb/s 802.11g
		   2.4GHz    dynamic cck-ofdm	 mixed 802.11b/g network
		   5GHz      ofdm		 54Mb/s 802.11a
		   5GHz      turbo		 108Mb/s 802.11a
     capabilities  ad hoc-mode and AP-mode 802.11 stations advertise their capabilities in 802.11 Beacons and Probe Responses.	wlanctl under-
		   stands these capability flags:

		   Flag 	      Description
		   ess		      infrastructure (access point) network
		   ibss 	      ad hoc network (no access point)
		   cf pollable	      TBD
		   request cf poll    TBD
		   privacy	      WEP encryption
		   short preamble     reduce 802.11b overhead
		   pbcc 	      22Mbps ``802.11b+''
		   channel agility    change channel for licensed services
		   short slot-time    TBD
		   rsn		      TBD Real Soon Now
		   dsss-ofdm	      TBD
     beacon-interval
		   In the example, beacons are sent once every 100 Time Units.	A Time Unit (TU) is 1024 microseconds (a ``kilo-microsecond'' or
		   ``kus'').  Thus 100 TU is about one tenth of a second.
     tsft	   802.11 stations keep a Time Synchronization Function Timer (TSFT) which counts up in microseconds.  Ad hoc-mode stations syn-
		   chronize time with their peers.  Infrastructure-mode stations synchronize time with their access point.  Power-saving stations
		   wake and sleep at intervals measured by the TSF Timer.  The TSF Timer has a role in the coalescence of 802.11 ad hoc networks
		   (``IBSS merges'').
     rates	   802.11 stations indicate the bit-rates they support, in units of 100kb/s in 802.11 Beacons, Probe Responses, and Association
		   Requests.  wlanctl prints a station's supported bit-rates in 1Mb/s units.  A station's basic rates are flagged by an asterisk
		   ('*').  The last bit-rate at which a packet was sent to the station is enclosed by square brackets.
     assoc-id	   In an infrastructure network, the access point assigns each client an Association Identifier which is used to indicate traffic
		   for power-saving stations.
     assoc-failed  The number of times the station tried and failed to associate with its access point.  Only
     inactivity    Seconds elapsed since a packet was last received from the station.  When this value reaches net.link.ieee80211.maxinact, the
		   station is eligible to be purged from the node table.  See sysctl(8).
     rssi	   Unitless Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI).  Higher numbers indicate stronger signals.  Zero is the lowest possible
		   RSSI.  On a hostap- or adhoc-mode interface, the node with node flag ``bss'' set uses rssi to indicate the signal strength for
		   the last packet received from a station that does not belong to the network.  On an infrastructure-mode station, the node with
		   node flag ``bss'' set indicates the strength of packets from the access point.
     txseq	   The next 802.11 packet sent to this station will carry this transmit sequence number.  The 802.11 MAC uses the transmit
		   sequence number to detect duplicate packets.
     rxseq	   The last packet received from this station carried this transmit sequence number.

SEE ALSO

     sysctl(8)

HISTORY

     wlanctl first appeared in NetBSD 3.0.

AUTHORS

     David Young <dyoung@NetBSD.org>

BSD
								   July 15, 2004							       BSD