WICONFIG(8) BSD System Manager's Manual WICONFIG(8)NAMEwiconfig — configure WaveLAN/IEEE devices
SYNOPSISwiconfig interface [-Dho] [-A 1|2] [-a access_point_density]
[-d max_data_length] [-M 0|1] [-R 1|3] [-s station_name]
DESCRIPTION
The wiconfig command controls the operation of WaveLAN/IEEE wireless net‐
working devices via the wi(4) and awi(4) drivers. The wiconfig command
can also be used to view the current settings of these parameters and to
dump out the values of the card's statistics counters.
Most of the parameters that can be changed relate to the IEEE 802.11 pro‐
tocol which the WaveLAN implements. This includes the station name,
whether the station is operating in ad-hoc (point to point) or BSS (ser‐
vice set) mode, and the network name of a service set to join (IBSS) if
BSS mode is enabled.
The interface argument given to wiconfig should be the logical interface
name associated with the WaveLAN/IEEE device (e.g., wi0, wi1, etc.).
OPTIONS
With no extra options, wiconfig will display the current settings of the
specified WaveLAN/IEEE interface.
The options are as follows:
-A 1|2 Set the authentication type for a specified interface. Per‐
mitted values are 1 (Open System Authentication) or 2 (Shared
Key Authentication). The default is 1.
-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 set‐
tings.
-D This forces the driver to initiate one round of access point
scanning. All of the access points found are displayed.
-d max_data_length
Set the maximum receive and transmit frame size for a speci‐
fied interface. The max data length can be any number from
256 to 2346. The default is 2304.
-h Display a short help.
-M 0|1 Enable or disable "microwave oven robustness" on a given
interface. This should only be used if needed.
In cases of slow performance where there is a good quality
signal but also high levels of noise (i.e., the signal to
noise ratio is bad but the signal strength is good), or a
microwave oven is operating near the antenna of the WLAN peer
or access point, this option may be of use.
In bad signal-to-noise conditions, the link layer will switch
to lower transmit rates. However at lower transmit rates,
individual frames take longer to transmit, making them more
vulnerable to bursty noise. The option works by enabling
data fragmentation in the link layer as the transmit speed
lowers in an attempt to shorten the transmit time of each
frame so that individual frames are more likely to be trans‐
mitted without error.
Note that this does not impact the visible MTU of the link.
-o Print out the statistics counters instead of the card set‐
tings. Note that, however, the statistics will only be
updated every minute or so.
-R 1|3 Enable or disable roaming function on a given interface. The
legal values are 1 (Roaming handled by firmware) and 3 (Roam‐
ing Disabled). The default is 1.
-r RTS_threshold
-f fragmentation_threshold
-m MAC_address
These options are deprecated since NetBSD 6.0. Use
ifconfig(8) to set the link-layer address, the fragmentation
threshold, and the RTS threshold.
-s station_name
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.
SEE ALSOawi(4), wi(4), ifconfig(8)HISTORY
The wiconfig command first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0, as wicontrol. It was
added to NetBSD 1.5 under its present name.
AUTHORS
The wiconfig command was written by Bill Paul ⟨wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu⟩.
BSD July 2, 2009 BSD
