illumos: manual page: wificonfig.8

WIFICONFIG(8) Maintenance Procedures WIFICONFIG(8)

NAME

wificonfig - WLAN configuration

SYNOPSIS

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] autoconf
[wait={n|forever}]

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] connect profile
[wait={n|forever}]

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] connect essid
[wait={n|forever}]

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] disconnect

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] getparam
[parameter []...]

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] setparam
[parameter=value []...]

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] restoredef

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] scan

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] showstatus

wificonfig [-R root_path] [-i interface] setwepkey 1|2|3|4

wificonfig [-R root_path] createprofile profile
[parameter=value []...]

wificonfig [-R root_path] deleteprofile profile1
[profile2 []...]

wificonfig [-R root_path] showprofile [profile]

wificonfig [-R root_path] setprofilewepkey profile 1|2|3|4

wificonfig [-R root_path] getprofileparam profile
[parameter []...]

wificonfig [-R root_path] setprofileparam
[parameter=value []...]

wificonfig [-R root_path] history

wificonfig [-R root_path] listprefer

wificonfig [-R root_path] removeprefer profile

wificonfig [-R root_path] setprefer profile [n]

DESCRIPTION

wificonfig defines a set of subcommands and parameters to configure WiFi
interfaces in the system. A driver may support all parameters or a subset
of these parameters.

wificonfig uses rbac(7) to control user access to the interface. Only
users with the "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization can manage a
WiFi interface, while only users with
"solaris.network.wifi.wep"authorizations can configure the WEP (Wired
Equivalent Privacy) key. Other users can only read parameters from the
interface. By default, the "solaris.network.wifi.config" and
"solaris.network.wifi.wep" authorizations are not granted to any user
apart from root.

Wificonfig comes in two classes of forms. The first class, shown as the
first set of synopsis combined with the optional interface name, is the
subcommands used to a manipulate a particular WiFi network interface. The
second class, shown as the second set of synopsis, is used to create and
operate on WiFi Configuration Profiles. A Configuration Profile allows
the user to pre-specify a set of parameters which can later be applied to
a WiFi network interface using the connect or autoconf subcommands.

In the interface subcommands, if the interface is not specified (that is,
the -i option is missing), wificonfig selects a random interface from the
known WiFi interfaces on the system. If there are multiple WiFi network
interfaces on the system, then the selection will be the same over time
as long as the number of and names of the WiFi interfaces does not
change.

A Configuration Profile can be created for a WLAN by using the
createprofile subcommand (see the SUBCOMMANDS section). The actual WLAN
may be present or not.

wificonfig also maintains a list of Configuration Profiles called the
Preference List. This list makes automatic configuration possible. When
the autoconf subcommand is used, wificonfig tries to connect to each pre-
configured WLAN according to the order of the Preference List. If the
Preference List is empty or none of the WLANs in the Preference List can
be found, wificonfig uses its built-in heuristics to automatically
configure the interface. (See the autoconf subcommand for the
heuristics). A few subcommands (listprefer, setprefer, removeprefer) are
defined to manipulate the Preference List.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-i interface
Specifies a wireless network interface to do the
configuration.

-R root_path
Defines the full path name of a directory to use as the
root_path. This affects the location of the private files
where wificonfig stores the Configuration Profiles and
WEP keys.

OPERANDS

The following operand is supported:

profile
The name of a WiFi profile. It can be a string between 1 and
32 characters. However, "all", "{preference}", "{history}",
"{active_profile}", and any strings contained in brackets,
such as "[foo]", are not allowed as a profile name.

SUBCOMMANDS

The following subcommands are supported:

autoconf [wait={n|forever}]

Configures the interface automatically. The interface is configured
according to the previously saved Preference List found in
/etc/inet/wifi. wificonfig first gets a list of available WLANs by
scanning the radio. It then compares the list of available WLANs with
the Preference List. If the Preference List is empty, or if none of
the WLANs in the Preference List can be found, wificonfig chooses a
WLAN to connect to using the following priorities: 1) the WLANs
without encryption, 2) the WLANs with stronger signal strength, and
3) the WLANs with higher transmit rates.

If the WLANs in the Preference list are available, the user can
specify the number of seconds to wait before autoconf returns using
the wait option. By default (without the wait option), autoconf
returns within 10 seconds. If "forever" or -1 follows the wait
option, wificonfig waits until the NIC is successfully connected to
the WLAN specified by the profile in the Preference list.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

The WiFi device driver can not guarantee to retain the state for the
connection when it is not held open. For this reason, it is strongly
recommended that the plumb subcommand for ifconfig(8) is done before
the wificonfig autoconf subcommand is given.

connect profile[wait={n|forever}]
connect essid[wait={n|forever}]

Connects to a wireless network according to a pre-configured
"profile". If the specified Configuration Profile exists in
/etc/inet/wifi, the connect subcommand uses that Configuration
Profile to configure the interface. That profile subsequently becomes
the current active profile of the interface after the connect
subcommand succeeds. If no existing Configuration Profile matches the
specified name, the behavior of the connect subcommand is equivalent
to the restoredef subcommand, except that the "essid" parameter is
set as "profile".

If the WLANs in the Preference list are available, the user can
specify the number of seconds to wait before connect returns using
the wait option. By default (without the wait option), connect tries
for 10 seconds. If "forever" or -1 follows the wait option,
wificonfig tries until the NIC is successfully connected to the
profile or essid that was specified.

The connect subcommand prints one of the following lines depending on
whether or not a Configuration Profile was found for the specified
name:

Connecting to profile <name>
Connecting to essid <name>

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

The WiFi device driver can not guarantee to retain the state for the
connection when it is not held open. For this reason, it is strongly
recommended that the plumb subcommand for ifconfig(8) is done before
the wificonfig autoconf subcommand is given.

disconnect

Disconnects the interface from the currently associated wireless
network. The interface associates with none of the wireless networks.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

getparam [parameter [...]]
setparam [parameter=value [...]]

Gets or sets parameters in the network interface. This does not
affect any profile. The setprofileparam subcommand can be used to set
and change parameters in a profile that has already been created.

The setparam subcommand without any parameters displays the set of
parameters supported by the network interface, including whether they
are read/write or read only. The getparam subcommand without any
parameters displays all the parameters and their values.

The setparam wepkey1|wepkey2|wepkey3|wepkey4 subcommand requires the
"solaris.network.wifi.wep" authorization. For all other parameters,
the setparam subcommand requires the
"solaris.network.wifi.config"authorization.

For example,

$ wificonfig setparam <parameter1=value1> [parameter2=value2 [...]]
$ wificonfig getparam <parameter1> [parameter2 [...]]

wificonfig currently supports the following parameters (the values
are case insensitive).

bssid

MAC address of the associated Access Point. The valid value is a
hex value of 6 bytes. The bssid can also be the IBSSID in an ad-
hoc configuration. If the network interface is not connected to
any WLAN, then the string "none" is shown instead of a 6 byte MAC
address. Otherwise, the network interface is connected to a
WLAN. The default value is "none". This parameter is read-only.

essid

Network name. The valid value is a string of up to 32 chars. If
essid is an empty string, the driver automatically scans and
joins the WLAN using the built-in heuristics. The default value
is an empty string.

bsstype

Specifies whether the Infrastructure Mode or Ad-Hoc Mode is used.
The valid values are "ap", "bss", or "infrastructure" to join a
WLAN through an Access Point, that is, to use infrastructure
mode. The valid values are "ibss" or "ad-hoc" to join a peer-to-
peer WLAN (also named "ad-hoc"). The valid value of "auto"
automatically switches between the two types. The default value
is "infrastructure'".

createibss

Specifies whether to create an ad-hoc network (also called an
IBSS if the connect does not result in finding the desired
network. This enables the user to start an ad-hoc network so that
other hosts can join. The valid values are YES to start a new ad-
hoc WLAN (instead of joining one) and NO to not start an ad-hoc
WLAN. The default value is NO. The NIC always tries to join a
WLAN first. If this is successful, the setting of createibss is
ignored.

channel

An integer indicating the operating frequency. This channel
number varies by regulatory domain. When the channel number is
obtained by the getparam subcommand, the value indicates the
actual channel the card uses to connect to the network. The
channel number is set by the setparam subcommand, and the value
is only applicable when the card is in ad-hoc mode. It indicates
the operating channel of the IBSS. The default value is the
channel number on the card.

rates

Specifies the transmission rates. The valid values (in Mbit/s)
are 1, 2, 5.5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 18, 22, 24, 33, 36, 48, and 54. A
NIC may support multiple transmission rates depending on its
capability. This is the only parameter that accepts multiple
values. When multiple values are supplied to set this parameter,
each value must be separated by a comma (,). See the EXAMPLES
section for details. The default values are the data rates
supported by the chip.

powermode

Specifies the power management mode. The valid values are "off"
to disable power management, "mps" for maximum power saving, and
"fast" for the best combination of speed and power saving. The
default value is "off".

authmode

Specifies the authorization type. The valid values are
"opensystem" for an open system, where anyone can be
authenticated and "shared_key" for a Shared Key authentication
mode. The default value is "opensystem".

encryption

Specifies the encryption algorithm to be used. The valid values
are "none" for no encryption algorithm and "wep" to turn on WEP
encryption. The default value is "none".

wepkey1|wepkey2|wepkey3|wepkey4

A maximum of 4 WEP keys (indexed 1 through 4) can be set in an
NIC. They are write-only parameters which can be set by the
setparam subcommand, but cannot be read back by the getparam
subcommand. WEP keys can either be set by the setwepkey or the
setparam subcommand. setparam uses plain text but it's
scriptable. See the setwepkey subcommand for more information
about how a WEP key is encoded. Setting WEP keys requires
"solaris.network.wifi.wep"authorization.

When these subcommands are used to set a WEP key, any user on the
system can read the key from the ps(1) output. Thus, the
setwepkey subcommand is recommended for setting the WEP keys
since it does not allow ps(1) to read the keys.

wepkeyindex

Specifies the encryption keys. The valid values are 1 to use
wepkey1, 2 to use wepkey2, 3 to use wepkey3, and 4 to use
wepkey4. The default value is 1. This subcommand is only valid
when WEP is on.

signal

Specifies the strength of the received radio signal. The valid
values are 0 - 15 , where 0 is the weakest signal and 15 is the
strongest signal. This parameter is read-only and indicates the
radio signal strength received by the NIC.

radio

Specifies whether the radio is turned on or off. The valid values
are "on" to turn on the radio and "off" to turn off the radio.
The default value is "on".

restoredef

Forces the NIC to restore the network interface to use the default
values for all the parameters. See the getparam and setparam
subcommands for the default values of the parameters.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

scan

Scans and lists the currently available WLANs.

showstatus

Display the basic status of a WLAN interface. If the WLAN interface
is connected, the basic status includes: the name of the current
active profile, the name of the network, the bssid, whether the
network is encrypted or not, and the signal strength.

setwepkey 1|2|3|4

Sets one of the 4 WEP encryption keys. WEP keys are used to encrypt
the content of the network packets which are transmitted on air.
There are 4 WEP keys in the NIC according to the 802.11 standards.
The setwepkey subcommand is used to update one of the 4 keys by
prompting the user for the key. The user must enter the key twice.
The input is not echoed. For example, to update setwepkey2:

example% wificonfig -i ath0 setwepkey 2
input wepkey2: < user input here>
confirm wepkey2: < user input here>

A WEP key can be 5 bytes or 13 bytes long. There are two ways to
enter a WEP key, by ASCII values or by hex values. If the user enters
5 or 13 characters, it is considered the ASCII representation of the
key. If the user enters 10 or 26 characters, it is considered the hex
representation of the key. For example "1234" is equivalent to
"6162636465". If the user enters other number of characters, the
subcommand fails. WEP keys are write-only; they cannot be read back
via wificonfig.

The WEP keys can also be set in plain text form by the setparam
subcommand. This makes setting WEP keys scriptable (see the
parameters of setparam for the details).

The "solaris.network.wifi.wep" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

The following profile subcommands are supported:

createprofile profile [parameter=value] [...]

Creates a Configuration Profile named profile off-line. The specified
parameters are saved as items of this Configuration Profile. The user
can specify a group of parameters. At a minimum, the essid must be
specified.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

deleteprofile profile1 [profile2 [...]]

Deletes one or more Configuration Profiles according to the specified
names. If the specified Configuration Profile does not exist, this
subcommand fails. The wild-card "all" can be used to delete all
profiles.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

showprofile [profile]

Displays the parameters in the Configuration Profile according to the
specified profile. WEP (wired equivalent privacy) keys are not
printed because they are write-only parameters. If no profile is
specified, all the profiles are shown.

setprofilewepkey 1|2|3|4

Sets one of the 4 WEP encryption keys in the specified Configuration
Profile "profile". Like the other profile subcommands,
setprofilewepkey does not affect the configuration of a network
interface, even if a WiFi interface is currently running with the
specified profile. In order for the modified profile to be applied to
the network interface, the connect or autoconf subcommands have to be
used after the profile has been updated.

Other than that difference, the usage of setprofilewepkey is the same
as the setwepkey subcommand. For example, to update wepkey 2 in
profile "home":

example% wificonfig setprofilewepkey home 2
input wepkey2: < user input here>
confirm wepkey2: < user input here>

The "solaris.network.wifi.wep" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

getprofileparam profile [parameter] [...]]
setprofileparam profile [parameter=value] [...]]

Gets or sets parameters in the specified Configuration Profile
"profile". Like the other profile subcommands, these subcommands do
not affect the configuration of a network interface, even if a WiFi
interface is currently running with the specified profile. In order
for the modified profile to be applied to the network interface, the
connect or autoconf subcommands have to be used after the profile has
been updated.

A getprofileparam without any parameters will display all the
parameters and their values.

"Solaris.network.wifi.wep" authorization is required when the
setparam subcommand is used with the wepkey1|wepkey2|wepkey3|wepkey4
parameter. For all other parameters, the setparam subcommand requires
"solaris.network.wifi.config"authorization.

For example, to change the settings for the "home" Configuration
Profile, use:

$ wificonfig setprofileparam home <parameter1=value1> \
[parameter2=value2 [...]]
$ wificonfig getprofileparam home <parameter1> [parameter2 [...]]

The set of parameters and their allowed values are the same as those
specified for the setparam subcommand.

history

Lists the WLANs in the History List. wificonfig automatically records
the WLANs that appear in every scanning attempt. The History List
contains a maximum of 10 records of the most recent WLANs, sorted by
time. These records can be listed by using this subcommand.

listprefer

Lists the content of the Preference List.

removeprefer profile

Removes one or more profiles from the Preference List. The wild-card
"all" can be used to delete all profiles.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

setprefer profile [n]

Sets the position of a profile in the Preference List. This may add
or change the position of a profile in the Preference List. The valid
values of "n" range from 1 to 10. If "n" is missing, the default
value of 1 is assumed. If the specified position is already occupied,
the occupying profile is moved lower on the list. If "n" is off the
end of the list, profile is added to the end of the list. The
Preference List can also be created by using this subcommand. If the
autoconf subcommand is used at a later time, wificonfig tries to join
the WLANs according to the Preference List.

The "solaris.network.wifi.config" authorization is required for this
subcommand.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Listing the Parameters Supported by a Driver

To display what parameters the ath driver supports and the read/write
modes of the parameters:

% wificonfig -i ath0 setparam
parameter property
bssid read only
essid read/write
bsstype read/write
rates read/write
authmode read/write
encryption read/write
wepkeyindex read/write
signal read only

Example 2: Getting and Setting Parameters on the WiFi interface

To get the current rates and signal strength from the driver:

% wificonfig -i ath0 getparam rates signal
ath0:
rates = 1,2,5.5,11
signal = 10

Example 3: Managing Configuration Profiles

A Configuration Profile can be created offline and then connected to the
network with the created Configuration Profile. The following series of
commands creates the Configuration Profile, displays the contents of that
profile, and connects to the network with the Configuration Profile:

% wificonfig createprofile myXXX essid=rover encryption=WEP \
wepkey1=12345
% wificonfig showprofile myXXX
[myXXX]
essid=rover
encryption=WEP
wepkey1=[secret]

% ifconfig ath0 plumb
% wificonfig -i ath0 connect myXXX

Example 4: Managing the Preference List

A profile can be added to the Preference List and then used by the
autoconf subcommand. The following series of commands adds a profile
named myXXX to the top of the Preference List, automatically connects
ath0 to the first available WLAN in the Preference List, and removes
my_neighbor from the Preference List

% wificonfig setprefer myXXX 1
% ifconfig ath0 plumb
% wificonfig -i ath0 autoconf
% wificonfig removeprefer my_neighbor

Example 5: Viewing the History List

To display the history of the WLANs:

% wificonfig history

WLAN history:

essid bssid encryption last seen
myXXX 00:0f:24:11:12:14 WEP Fri Sep 13 09:15:24 2004
my_office_ssid 00:0f:24:11:12:15 WEP Fri Sep 13 13:20:04 2004
my_neighbor1 00:0f:24:11:12:16 NONE Fri Sep 14 08:01:26 2004
my_neighbor2 00:0f:24:11:12:17 WEP Fri Sep 18 21:33:12 2004

Example 6: Automatic Configuration

To configure the interface according to the previously saved Preference
List:

% ifconfig ath0 plumb
% wificonfig -i ath0 autoconf

If the Preference List is empty, or none of the WLANs listed by the
Preference List can be found, wificonfig uses the default configuration,
directs the interface to scan and join the WLAN using the built-in
heuristics specified above.

Example 7: Connecting To a WLAN

To search for a Configuration Profile with the name myXXX and configure
the interface accordingly:

% ifconfig ath0 plumb
% wificonfig -i ath0 connect myXXX

If the specified Configuration Profile does not exist, wificonfig
interprets it as an essid and sets ath0 to use essid myXXX, and no other
parameters are set.

Example 8: Displaying the Content of a Configuration Profile

To print the parameters of the previously Configured Profile named
my_home_ssid:

% wificonfig showprofile my_home_ssid

Example 10: Scanning for available networks

To scan for available networks:

% wificonfig -i ath0 scan
essid bssid type encryption signal
level
ietf64-secure 00:0b:0e:12:e2:02 access point WEP 9
roomlinx 00:40:96:a1:13:70 access point none 6
ietf64 00:0b:0e:13:32:00 access point none 3
ietf64-secure 00:0b:0e:13:32:02 access point WEP 3
ietf64 00:0b:0e:12:e2:00 access point none 9
ietf64-secure 00:0b:0e:12:e4:c2 access point WEP 8
ietf64 00:0b:0e:12:e4:c0 access point none 8
roomlinx 00:40:96:a0:aa:aa access point none 1
roomlinx 00:40:96:a0:ab:39 access point none 8

EXIT STATUS

0
Successful operation

1
Fatal Error; the operation failed. For example, a connect failed to
associate with an Access Point.

2
Improper Use; help information will be printed

3
Minor error

ATTRIBUTES