Manpages

NAME

wicontrol — configure Lucent, Intersil, and Atheros wireless devices

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

The wicontrol utility controls the operation of Lucent, Intersil, and Atheros-based wireless networking devices via wi(4) or ath(4) driver.

You should not use this program to configure IEEE 802.11 parameters. Use ifconfig(8) instead to do those tasks (i.e., set SSID, WEP key, etc.).

The wicontrol utility can also be used to view the current settings of these parameters, dump out the values of the card’s statistics counters, list associated stations (in HostAP mode), and scan for available access points.

The iface argument given to wicontrol should be the logical interface name associated with the Lucent, Intersil, and Atheros device (wi0, wi1, ath0, 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 wireless interface. This retrieves the current card settings from the driver and prints them out. Using the additional −o flag will cause wicontrol to print out the statistics counters instead of the card settings. Encryption keys are only displayed if wicontrol is run as root.

[
−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 −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 2347. The default is 2347.

[
−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 value is produced by subtracting the noise level from the signal strength (i.e., less noise and better signal yields better signal quality).

DEPRECATED AND OBSOLETE OPTIONS

The wicontrol utility has a number of options that are now deprecated or obsolete, as they have been overtaken by extensions to ifconfig(8) and changes to the driver. The deprecated and obsolete options are as follows:

[
−i] iface −t tx_rate

This flag is deprecated. Use ifconfig(8) mediaopt instead.

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. The following table shows the legal transmit rate settings and the corresponding transmit speeds:

The default driver setting is 3 (auto rate select). The numbers vary from card to card.

[
−i] iface −n network_name

This flag is deprecated. Use ifconfig(8) ssid or nwid instead.

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

This flag is deprecated. Use ifconfig(8) stationname or station instead.

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

This flag is deprecated. IBSS networks are automatically created on those cards whose firmware supports it while in IBSS mode.

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.

Only newer versions of the Lucent firmware support this.

[
−i] iface −q SSID

This flag is deprecated. The ssid setting from ifconfig(8) is the current preferred way of setting this parameter.

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.

Note: this option is provided for experimental purposes only: enabling the creation of an IBSS on a host system doesn’t appear to actually work.

[
−i] iface −p port_type

This flag is deprecated. It should never be used. Do not use this flag. Its meaning depends on the type of card you are using, as well as the firmware you have installed in the card in some cases. Beware. Danger. Do not use. Instead, use the ifconfig(8) media and mediaopt commands.

Set the port type for a specified interface. The legal values for port_type are 1 (BSS mode) and 3 (ad-hoc) mode. In ad-hoc mode, the station can communicate directly with any other stations within direct radio range (provided that they are also operating in ad-hoc mode). In BSS mode, hosts must associate with a service set controlled by an access point, which relays traffic between end stations. The default setting is 1 (BSS mode). Lucent cards have one set of meanings. Prism cards have another. Symbol cards have a third. Do not use this flag.

[
−i] iface −e 0 | 1

This flag is deprecated. It has been replaced by the ifconfig(8) wepmode option.

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

Both 128-bit and 64-bit WEP have been broken. See the BUGS section for details.

[
−i] iface −k key [−v 1 | 2 | 3 | 4]

This flag is obsolete. The ifconfig(8) wepkey should be used instead.

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.

For maximum portability, hex keys are recommended; the mapping of text keys to WEP encryption is usually driver-specific. In particular, the Windows drivers do this mapping differently to FreeBSD.

Note: Both 128-bit and 64-bit WEP encryption have been broken. See the BUGS section for details.

[
−i] iface −T 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

This flag is obsolete. The ifconfig(8) weptxkey should be used instead.

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

Note: Both 128-bit and 64-bit WEP have been broken. See the BUGS section for details.

[
−i] iface −f frequency

This flag is deprecated. Use ifconfig(8) channel instead.

Set the radio frequency of a given interface. The frequency should be specified as a channel ID as shown in the table below. 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.

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

This flag is obsolete. The ifconfig(8) powersave should be used instead.

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

This flag is obsolete. The ifconfig(8) powersleep should be used instead.

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

SEE ALSO

ath(4), awi(4), ipsec(4), wi(4), ifconfig(8)

BUGS

There are deprecated flags here that duplicate functionality of ifconfig(8). These flags were deprecated in FreeBSD 5.1 and will be removed in a future release.

The WEP encryption method has been broken so that third parties can recover the keys in use relatively quickly at distances that are surprising to most people. Do not rely on WEP for anything but the most basic, remedial security. IPSEC will give you a higher level of security and should be used whenever possible. Do not trust access points or wireless machines that connect through them as they can provide no assurance that the traffic is legitimate. MAC addresses can easily be forged and should therefore not be used as the only access control.

The attack on WEP is a passive attack, requiring only the ability to sniff packets on the network. The passive attack can be launched at a distance larger, up to many miles, than one might otherwise expect given a specialized antenna used in point to point applications. The attacker can recover the keys from a 128-bit WEP network with only 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 packets. While this may sound like a large number of packets, empirical evidence suggests that this amount of traffic is generated in a few hours on a partially loaded network. Once a key has been compromised, the only remedial action is to discontinue it and use a new key.

See http://www.cs.rice.edu/~astubble/wep/wep_attack.html for details of the attack. Many programs to assist in cracking WEP keys are widely available.

If you must use WEP, you are strongly encouraged to pick keys whose bytes are random and not confined to ASCII characters. Brute force attacks on WEP keys are also possible. Experience has showns that ASCII keys can be cracked in less than a day. Even random bytes can be cracked in less than two weeks.

Signal cache is broken right now.

HISTORY

The wicontrol utility first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.

AUTHORS

The wicontrol utility was written by Bill Paul <wpaul [AT] ctr.edu>.

BSD March 4, 2003 BSD