xref: /openbsd-src/share/man/man4/iwx.4 (revision e2e8d1e288d35686aa435f6b239ba9dcdcfd675b)
1.\" $OpenBSD: iwx.4,v 1.19 2023/10/14 06:29:11 jmc Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 2020 Stefan Sperling <stsp@openbsd.org>
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17.Dd $Mdocdate: October 14 2023 $
18.Dt IWX 4
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm iwx
22.Nd Intel AX200/AX201/AX210/AX211 IEEE 802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n wireless network device
23.Sh SYNOPSIS
24.Cd "iwx* at pci?"
25.Sh DESCRIPTION
26The
27.Nm
28driver provides support for Intel Wireless AX200/AX210 M.2 network adapters,
29and for Intel Wireless AX201/AX211 Integrated Connectivity (CNVi) network
30adapters with companion RF M.2 modules.
31.Pp
32These are the modes the
33.Nm
34driver can operate in:
35.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
36.It BSS mode
37Also known as
38.Em infrastructure
39mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
40which all traffic passes.
41This mode is the default.
42.It monitor mode
43In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
44associating with an access point.
45This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
46capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
47or to scan for access points.
48.El
49.Pp
50The
51.Nm
52driver can be configured to use
53Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
54Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA1 and WPA2).
55WPA2 is the current encryption standard for wireless networks.
56It is strongly recommended that neither WEP nor WPA1
57are used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication,
58due to serious weaknesses.
59WPA1 is disabled by default and may be enabled using the option
60.Qq Cm wpaprotos Ar wpa1,wpa2 .
61For standard WPA networks which use pre-shared keys (PSK),
62keys are configured using the
63.Qq Cm wpakey
64option.
65WPA-Enterprise networks require use of the wpa_supplicant package.
66The
67.Nm
68driver offloads both encryption and decryption of unicast data frames to the
69hardware for the CCMP cipher.
70.Pp
71In BSS mode the driver supports background scanning;
72see
73.Xr ifconfig 8 .
74.Pp
75The
76.Nm
77driver can be configured at runtime with
78.Xr ifconfig 8
79or on boot with
80.Xr hostname.if 5 .
81.Sh FILES
82The driver needs one of the following firmware files,
83which are loaded when an interface is brought up:
84.Pp
85.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
86.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-cc-a0-77
87.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-Qu-b0-hr-b0-77
88.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-Qu-b0-jf-b0-77
89.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-Qu-c0-hr-b0-77
90.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-Qu-c0-jf-b0-77
91.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-QuZ-a0-hr-b0-77
92.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-QuZ-a0-jf-b0-77
93.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-so-a0-gf-a0-77
94.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-so-a0-gf4-a0-77
95.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-so-a0-hr-b0-77
96.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-so-a0-jf-b0-77
97.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-ty-a0-gf-a0-77
98.El
99.Pp
100These firmware files are not free because Intel refuses to grant
101distribution rights without contractual obligations.
102As a result, even though
103.Ox
104includes the driver, the firmware files cannot be included and
105users have to download these files on their own.
106.Pp
107A prepackaged version of the firmware can be installed using
108.Xr fw_update 8 .
109.Sh EXAMPLES
110The following example scans for available networks:
111.Pp
112.Dl # ifconfig iwx0 scan
113.Pp
114The following
115.Xr hostname.if 5
116example configures iwx0 to join network
117.Dq mynwid ,
118using WPA key
119.Dq mywpakey ,
120obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
121.Bd -literal -offset indent
122join mynwid wpakey mywpakey
123inet autoconf
124.Ed
125.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
126.Bl -diag
127.It "iwx0: device timeout"
128A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
129The driver will reset the hardware.
130This should not happen.
131.It "iwx0: fatal firmware error"
132For some reason, the firmware crashed.
133The driver will reset the hardware.
134This should not happen.
135.It "iwx0: radio is disabled by hardware switch"
136The radio transmitter is off and thus no packet can go out.
137The driver will reset the hardware.
138Make sure the laptop radio switch is on.
139.It "iwx0: could not read firmware ... (error N)"
140For some reason, the driver was unable to read the firmware image from the
141filesystem.
142The file might be missing or corrupted.
143.It "iwx0: firmware too short: N bytes"
144The firmware image is corrupted and can't be loaded into the adapter.
145.It "iwx0: could not load firmware"
146An attempt to load the firmware into the adapter failed.
147The driver will reset the hardware.
148.El
149.Sh SEE ALSO
150.Xr arp 4 ,
151.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
152.Xr intro 4 ,
153.Xr netintro 4 ,
154.Xr pci 4 ,
155.Xr hostname.if 5 ,
156.Xr ifconfig 8
157.Sh HISTORY
158The
159.Nm
160device driver first appeared in
161.Ox 6.7 .
162.Sh CAVEATS
163The
164.Nm
165driver does not support any of the 802.11ax capabilities offered
166by the adapters.
167Additional work is required in
168.Xr ieee80211 9
169before those features can be supported.
170.Pp
171This driver does not support powersave mode.
172