xref: /netbsd-src/usr.sbin/wiconfig/wiconfig.8 (revision bdc22b2e01993381dcefeff2bc9b56ca75a4235c)
1.\"	$NetBSD: wiconfig.8,v 1.34 2014/03/18 18:20:47 riastradh Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 1997, 1998, 1999
4.\"	Bill Paul <wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu> All rights reserved.
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33.\"	From: wicontrol.8,v 1.6 1999/05/22 16:12:47 wpaul Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd July 2, 2009
36.Dt WICONFIG 8
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm wiconfig
40.Nd configure WaveLAN/IEEE devices
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm wiconfig
43.Ar interface
44.Op Fl \&Dho
45.Op Fl A Ar 1|2
46.Op Fl a Ar access_point_density
47.Op Fl d Ar max_data_length
48.Op Fl M Ar 0|1
49.Op Fl R Ar 1|3
50.Op Fl s Ar station_name
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The
53.Nm
54command controls the operation of
55.Tn WaveLAN/IEEE
56wireless networking devices via the
57.Xr wi 4
58and
59.Xr awi 4
60drivers.
61The
62.Nm
63command can also be used to view the current settings of these parameters
64and to dump out the values of the card's statistics counters.
65.Pp
66Most of the parameters that can be changed relate to the
67.Tn IEEE
68802.11 protocol which the
69.Tn WaveLAN
70implements.
71This includes the station name, whether the station is operating
72in ad-hoc (point to point) or BSS (service set) mode, and the
73network name of a service set to join (IBSS) if BSS mode is enabled.
74.Pp
75The
76.Ar interface
77argument given to
78.Nm
79should be the logical interface name associated with the
80.Tn WaveLAN/IEEE
81device (e.g., wi0, wi1, etc.).
82.Sh OPTIONS
83With no extra options,
84.Nm
85will display the current settings of the specified
86.Tn WaveLAN/IEEE
87interface.
88.Pp
89The options are as follows:
90.Pp
91.Bl -tag -width Fl
92.It Fl A Ar 1|2
93Set the authentication type for a specified interface.
94Permitted values are
95.Ar 1
96(Open System Authentication) or
97.Ar 2
98(Shared Key Authentication).
99The default is 1.
100.It Fl a Ar access_point_density
101Specify the
102.Ar access point density
103for a given interface.
104Legal values are 1 (low), 2 (medium), and 3 (high).
105This setting influences some of the radio modem threshold settings.
106.It Fl D
107This forces the driver to initiate one round of access point scanning.
108All of the access points found are displayed.
109.It Fl d Ar max_data_length
110Set the maximum receive and transmit frame size for a specified interface.
111The
112.Ar max data length
113can be any number from 256 to 2346.
114The default is 2304.
115.It Fl h
116Display a short help.
117.It Fl M Ar 0|1
118Enable or disable
119.Qq microwave oven robustness
120on a given interface.
121This should only be used if needed.
122.Pp
123In cases of slow performance where there is a good quality signal but
124also high levels of noise (i.e., the signal to noise ratio is bad but
125the signal strength is good), or a microwave oven is operating near the
126antenna of the WLAN peer or access point, this option may be of use.
127.Pp
128In bad signal-to-noise conditions, the link layer will switch to lower
129transmit rates.
130However at lower transmit rates, individual frames
131take longer to transmit, making them more vulnerable to bursty
132noise.
133The option works by enabling data fragmentation in the link
134layer as the transmit speed lowers in an attempt to shorten the
135transmit time of each frame so that individual frames are more likely
136to be transmitted without error.
137.Pp
138Note that this does not impact the visible MTU of the link.
139.It Fl o
140Print out the statistics counters instead of the card settings.
141Note that, however, the statistics will only be updated every minute or so.
142.It Fl R Ar 1|3
143Enable or disable roaming function on a given interface.
144The legal values are
145.Ar 1
146(Roaming handled by firmware) and
147.Ar 3
148(Roaming Disabled).
149The default is 1.
150.It Fl r Ar RTS_threshold
151.It Fl f Ar fragmentation_threshold
152.It Fl m Ar MAC_address
153These options are deprecated since
154.Nx 6.0 .
155Use
156.Xr ifconfig 8
157to set the link-layer address, the fragmentation threshold, and the RTS
158threshold.
159.It Fl s Ar station_name
160Sets the
161.Ar station_name
162for the specified interface.
163The
164.Ar station_name
165is used for diagnostic purposes.
166The
167.Tn Lucent
168.Tn WaveMANAGER
169software can poll the names of remote hosts.
170.El
171.Sh SEE ALSO
172.Xr awi 4 ,
173.Xr wi 4 ,
174.Xr ifconfig 8
175.Sh HISTORY
176The
177.Nm
178command first appeared in
179.Fx 3.0 ,
180as
181.Ic wicontrol .
182It was added to
183.Nx 1.5
184under its present name.
185.Sh AUTHORS
186The
187.Nm
188command was written by
189.An Bill Paul Aq Mt wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu .
190