ANCONTROL(8) BSD System Manager's Manual ANCONTROL(8)
ancontrol - configure Aironet 4500/4800 devices
ancontrol [interface] [-A] [-N] [-S] [-I] [-T] [-C] [-a AP]
[-b beacon period] [-c channel number] [-v 0|1] [-d 0|1|2|3]
[-e 0|1|2|3] [-f fragmentation threshold] [-j netjoin timeout]
[-v 0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7] [-k key] [-K 0|1|2] [-l station name]
[-m macaddress] [-v 1|2|3] [-n SSID] [-o 0|1] [-p tx power]
[-r RTS threshold] [-s 0|1|2|3] [-t 0|1|2|3|4] [-v 1|2|3|4]
[-W 0|1|2]
The ancontrol command controls the operation of Aironet wireless network-
ing devices via the an(4) driver. Most of the parameters that can be
changed relate to the IEEE 802.11 protocol which the Aironet cards imple-
ment. This includes the station name, whether the station is operating in
ad-hoc (point to point) or infrastructure mode, and the network name of a
service set to join. ancontrol can also be used to view the current NIC
status, configuration and to dump the values of the card's statistics
counters.
The interface argument given to ancontrol should be the logical interface
name associated with the Aironet device (e.g., an0, an1, etc...).
The options are as follows:
-A Display the preferred access point list. The AP list can be used
by stations to specify the MAC address of access points with
which it wishes to associate. If no AP list is specified (the de-
fault) then the station will associate with the first access
point that it finds which serves the SSID(s) specified in the
SSID list. The AP list can be modified with the -a option.
-C Display current NIC configuration. This shows the current opera-
tion mode, receive mode, MAC address, power save settings, vari-
ous timing settings, channel selection, diversity, transmit
power, and transmit speed.
-I Display NIC capability information. This shows the device type,
frequency, speed, and power level capabilities and firmware revi-
sion levels.
-K 0|1|2
Set authorization type. Use 0 for none, 1 for "Open", 2 for
"Shared Key".
-N Display the SSID list. This is a list of service set IDs (i.e.,
network names) with which the station wishes to associate. There
may be up to three SSIDs in the list: the station will go through
the list in ascending order and associate with the first matching
SSID that it finds.
-S Display NIC status information. This includes the current operat-
ing status, current BSSID, SSID, channel, beacon period, and
currently associated access point. The operating mode indicates
the state of the NIC, MAC status and receiver status. When the
"synced" keyword appears, it means the NIC has successfully asso-
ciated with an access point, associated with an ad-hoc "master"
station, or become a "master" itself. The beacon period can be
anything between 20 and 976 milliseconds. The default is 100.
-T Display the NIC's internal statistics counters.
-W 0|1|2
Enable WEP. Use 0 for no WEP, 1 to enable full WEP, 2 for mixed
cell.
-v 1|2|3|4 -a AP
Set preferred access point. The AP is specified as a MAC address
consisting of 6 hexadecimal values separated by colons. By de-
fault, the -a option only sets the first entry in the AP list.
The -v modifier can be used to specify exactly which AP list en-
try is to be modified. If the -v flag is not used, the first AP
list entry will be changed.
-b beacon period
Set the ad-hoc mode beacon period. The beacon period is specified
in milliseconds. The default is 100ms.
-c channel
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 regula-
tions 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.
Channel ID FCC ETSI France Japan
1 2412 2412 - -
2 2417 2417 - -
3 2422 2422 - -
4 2427 2427 - -
5 2432 2432 - -
6 2437 2437 - -
7 2442 2442 - -
8 2447 2447 - -
9 2452 2452 - -
10 2457 2457 2457 -
11 2462 2462 2462 -
12 - 2467 2467 -
13 - 2472 2472 -
14 - - - 2484
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 only available channel
is 14. Note that two stations must be set to the same channel in
order to communicate.
-v 0|1 -d 0|1|2|3
Select the antenna diversity. Aironet devices can be configured
with up to two antennas, and transmit and receive diversity can
be configured accordingly. Valid selections are as follows:
Selection Diversity
0 Select factory default diversity
1 Antenna 1 only
2 Antenna 2 only
3 Antenna 1 and 2
The receive and transmit diversity can be set independently. The
user must specify which diversity setting is to be modified by
using the -v option: selection 0 sets the receive diversity and 1
sets the transmit diversity.
-e 0|1|2|3
Set the transmit WEP key to use. Note that until this command is
issued, the device will use the last key programmed. The transmit
key is stored in NVRAM. Currently set transmit key can be checked
via -C option.
-f fragmentation threshold
Set the fragmentation threshold in bytes. This threshold controls
the point at which outgoing packets will be split into multiple
fragments. If a single fragment is not sent successfully, only
that fragment will need to be retransmitted instead of the whole
packet. The fragmentation threshold can be anything from 64 to
2312 bytes. The default is 2312.
-h Prints a list of available options and sample usage.
-j netjoin timeout
Set the ad-hoc network join timeout. When a station is first ac-
tivated in ad-hoc mode, it will search out a 'master' station
with the desired SSID and associate with it. If the station is
unable to locate another station with the same SSID after a suit-
able timeout, it sets itself up as the 'master' so that other
stations may associate with it. This timeout defaults to 10000
milliseconds (10 seconds) but may be changed with this option.
The timeout should be specified in milliseconds.
-v 0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7 -k key
Set a WEP key. For 40 bits, prefix 10 hex digits with 0x. For 128
bits, prefix 26 hex digits with 0x. Use "" as the key to erase
it. Supports 4 keys; even numbers are for permanent keys and odd
numbers are for temporary keys. For example, "-v 1" sets the
first temporary key. (A "permanent" key is stored in NVRAM; a
"temporary" key is not.) Note that the device will use the most
recently-programmed key by default. Currently set keys can be
checked via -C option, only the sizes of the keys are returned.
-l station name
Set the station name used internally by the NIC. The station name
can be any text string up to 16 characters in length. The default
name is set by the driver to "OpenBSD".
-m macaddress
Set the station address for the specified interface. The
macaddress 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.
-v 1|2|3 -n SSID
Set the desired SSID (network name). There are three SSIDs which
allows the NIC to work with access points at several locations
without needing to be reconfigured. The NIC checks each SSID in
sequence when searching for a match. The SSID to be changed can
be specified with the -v modifier option. If the -v flag isn't
used, the first SSID in the list is set.
-o 0|1 Set the operating mode of the Aironet interface. Valid selections
are 0 for ad-hoc mode and 1 for infrastructure mode. The default
driver setting is for infrastructure mode.
-p tx power
Set the transmit power level in milliwatts. Valid power settings
vary depending on the actual NIC and can be viewed by dumping the
device capabilities with the -I flag. Typical values are 1, 5,
20, 50, and 100mW. Selecting 0 sets the factory default.
-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 2312. The default is
2312.
-s 0|1|2|3
Set power save mode. Valid selections are as follows:
Selection Power save mode
0 None - power save disabled
1 Constantly awake mode (CAM)
2 Power Save Polling (PSP)
3 Fast Power Save Polling (PSP-CAM)
Note that for IBSS (ad-hoc) mode, only PSP mode is supported, and
only if the ATIM window is non-zero.
-t 0|1|2|3|4
Select transmit speed. The available settings are as follows:
TX rate NIC speed
0 Auto -- NIC selects optimal speed
1 1Mbps fixed
2 2Mbps fixed
3 5.5Mbps fixed
4 11Mbps fixed
Note that the 5.5 and 11Mbps settings are only supported on the
4800 series adapters: the 4500 series adapters have a maximum
speed of 2Mbps.
WEP ("wired equivalent privacy") is based on the RC4 algorithm, using a
24 bit initialization vector.
RC4 is supposedly vulnerable to certain known plaintext attacks, espe-
cially with 40 bit keys. So the security of WEP in part depends on how
much known plaintext is transmitted.
Because of this, although counter-intuitive, using "shared key" authenti-
cation (which involves sending known plaintext) is less secure than using
"open" authentication when WEP is enabled.
Devices may alternate among all of the configured WEP keys when tranmit-
ting packets. Therefore, all configured keys (up to four) must agree.
an(4), wi(4), hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8), wicontrol(8)
The ancontrol command first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0 and OpenBSD 2.7.
The ancontrol command was written by Bill Paul <wpaul@ee.columbia.edu>
and ported to OpenBSD by
Michael Shalayeff <mickey@openbsd.org>.
The statistics counters do not seem to show the amount of transmit and
received frames as increasing. This is likely due to the fact that the
an(4) driver uses unmodified packet mode instead of letting the NIC per-
form 802.11/Ethernet encapsulation itself.
Setting the channel does not seem to have any effect.
MirBSD #10-current September 10, 1999 4