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28 .\" From: @(#)ifconfig.8 8.3 (Berkeley) 1/5/94
36 .Nd configure network interface parameters
80 utility is used to assign an address
81 to a network interface and/or configure
82 network interface parameters.
85 utility must be used at boot time to define the network address
86 of each interface present on a machine; it may also be used at
87 a later time to redefine an interface's address
88 or other operating parameters.
90 The following options are available:
91 .Bl -tag -width indent
94 .Tn DARPA Ns -Internet
96 the address is either a host name present in the host name data
101 Internet address expressed in the Internet standard
104 It is also possible to use the CIDR notation (also known as the
105 slash notation) to include the netmask.
106 That is, one can specify an address like
111 family, it is also possible to specify the prefix length using the slash
116 parameter below for more information.
117 .\" For the Xerox Network Systems(tm) family,
119 .\" .Ar net:a.b.c.d.e.f ,
122 .\" is the assigned network number (in decimal),
123 .\" and each of the six bytes of the host number,
127 .\" are specified in hexadecimal.
128 .\" The host number may be omitted on IEEE 802 protocol
129 .\" (Ethernet, FDDI, and Token Ring) interfaces,
130 .\" which use the hardware physical address,
131 .\" and on interfaces other than the first.
134 .\" family, addresses are specified as a long hexadecimal string,
135 .\" as in the Xerox family.
136 .\" However, two consecutive dots imply a zero
137 .\" byte, and the dots are optional, if the user wishes to (carefully)
138 .\" count out long strings of digits in network byte order.
143 is specified as a series of colon-separated hex digits.
145 e.g.\& set a new MAC address on an ethernet interface, though the
146 mechanism used is not ethernet-specific.
147 If the interface is already
148 up when this option is used, it will be briefly brought down and
149 then brought back up again in order to ensure that the receive
150 filter in the underlying ethernet hardware is properly reprogrammed.
151 .It Ar address_family
154 which affects interpretation of the remaining parameters.
155 Since an interface can receive transmissions in differing protocols
156 with different naming schemes, specifying the address family is recommended.
157 The address or protocol families currently
176 Specify the address of the correspondent on the other end
177 of a point to point link.
180 parameter is a string of the form
185 List the interfaces in the given group.
188 The following parameters may be set with
190 .Bl -tag -width indent
195 Introduced for compatibility
199 Establish an additional network address for this interface.
200 This is sometimes useful when changing network numbers, and
201 one wishes to accept packets addressed to the old interface.
202 If the address is on the same subnet as the first network address
203 for this interface, a non-conflicting netmask must be given.
208 Remove the network address specified.
209 This would be used if you incorrectly specified an alias, or it
210 was no longer needed.
211 If you have incorrectly set an NS address having the side effect
212 of specifying the host portion, removing all NS addresses will
213 allow you to respecify the host portion.
216 Specify that the address configured is an anycast address.
217 Based on the current specification,
218 only routers may configure anycast addresses.
219 Anycast address will not be used as source address of any of outgoing
222 Enable the use of the Address Resolution Protocol
225 between network level addresses and link level addresses (default).
226 This is currently implemented for mapping between
231 802 48-bit MAC addresses (Ethernet, FDDI, and Token Ring addresses).
233 Disable the use of the Address Resolution Protocol
236 If the Address Resolution Protocol is enabled,
237 the host will only reply to requests for its addresses,
238 and will never send any requests.
240 If the Address Resolution Protocol is enabled,
241 the host will perform normally,
242 sending out requests and listening for replies.
245 Specify the address to use to represent broadcasts to the
247 The default broadcast address is the address with a host part of all 1's.
249 Enable driver dependent debugging code; usually, this turns on
250 extra console error logging.
252 Disable driver dependent debugging code.
254 Put interface into permanently promiscuous mode.
256 Disable permanently promiscuous mode.
264 When an interface is marked
266 the system will not attempt to
267 transmit messages through that interface.
268 If possible, the interface will be reset to disable reception as well.
269 This action does not automatically disable routes using the interface.
270 .It Cm group Ar group-name
271 Assign the interface to a
273 Any interface can be in multiple groups.
275 Cloned interfaces are members of their interface family group by default.
276 For example, a PPP interface such as
278 is a member of the PPP interface family group,
280 .\" The interface(s) the default route(s) point to are members of the
283 .It Cm -group Ar group-name
284 Remove the interface from the given
289 (lowermost 64bit of an IPv6 address)
292 This is used to specify an Internet host who is willing to receive
293 IP packets encapsulating IPX packets bound for a remote network.
294 An apparent point to point link is constructed, and
295 the address specified will be taken as the IPX address and network
297 .It Cm maclabel Ar label
298 If Mandatory Access Control support is enabled in the kernel,
302 .\" .Xr maclabel 7 ) .
304 If the driver supports the media selection system, set the media type
307 Some interfaces support the mutually exclusive use of one of several
308 different physical media connectors.
309 For example, a 10Mbit/s Ethernet
310 interface might support the use of either
312 or twisted pair connectors.
313 Setting the media type to
315 would change the currently active connector to the AUI port.
318 would activate twisted pair.
319 Refer to the interfaces' driver
320 specific documentation or man page for a complete list of the
322 .It Cm mediaopt Ar opts
323 If the driver supports the media selection system, set the specified
324 media options on the interface.
328 is a comma delimited list of options to apply to the interface.
329 Refer to the interfaces' driver specific man page for a complete
330 list of available options.
331 .It Fl mediaopt Ar opts
332 If the driver supports the media selection system, disable the
333 specified media options on the interface.
335 If the driver supports the media selection system, set the specified
336 operating mode on the interface to
338 For IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces that support multiple operating modes
339 this directive is used to select between 802.11a
346 .It Cm inst Ar minst , Cm instance Ar minst
347 Set the media instance to
349 This is useful for devices which have multiple physical layer interfaces
352 Set the interface name to
354 .It Cm rxcsum , txcsum
355 If the driver supports user-configurable checksum offloading,
356 enable receive (or transmit) checksum offloading on the interface.
357 Some drivers may not be able to enable these flags independently
358 of each other, so setting one may also set the other.
359 The driver will offload as much checksum work as it can reliably
360 support, the exact level of offloading varies between drivers.
361 .It Fl rxcsum , txcsum
362 If the driver supports user-configurable checksum offloading,
363 disable receive (or transmit) checksum offloading on the interface.
364 These settings may not always be independent of each other.
366 If the driver supports
368 segmentation offloading, enable TSO on the interface.
369 Some drivers may not be able to support TSO for
373 packets, so they may enable only one of them.
375 If the driver supports
377 segmentation offloading, disable TSO on the interface.
378 It will always disable TSO for
383 If the driver supports
385 large receive offloading, enable LRO on the interface.
387 If the driver supports
389 large receive offloading, disable LRO on the interface.
390 .It Cm wol , wol_ucast , wol_mcast , wol_magic
391 Enable Wake On Lan (WOL) support, if available.
392 WOL is a facility whereby a machine in a low power state may be woken
393 in response to a received packet.
394 There are three types of packets that may wake a system:
395 ucast (directed solely to the machine's mac address),
396 mcast (directed to a broadcast or multicast address),
398 magic (unicast or multicast frames with a ``magic contents'').
399 Not all devices support WOL, those that do indicate the mechanisms
400 they support in their capabilities.
402 is a synonym for enabling all available WOL mechanisms.
405 .It Cm vlanmtu , vlanhwtag
406 If the driver offers user-configurable VLAN support, enable
407 reception of extended frames or tag processing in hardware,
409 Note that this must be issued on a physical interface associated with
414 .It Fl vlanmtu , vlanhwtag
415 If the driver offers user-configurable VLAN support, disable
416 reception of extended frames or tag processing in hardware,
421 feature and disable interrupts on the interface, if driver supports
426 feature and enable interrupt mode on the interface.
428 Create the specified network pseudo-device.
429 If the interface is given without a unit number, try to create a new
430 device with an arbitrary unit number.
431 If creation of an arbitrary device is successful, the new device name is
432 printed to standard output unless the interface is renamed or destroyed
437 Destroy the specified network pseudo-device.
453 Set the routing metric of the interface to
456 The routing metric is used by the routing protocol
458 Higher metrics have the effect of making a route
459 less favorable; metrics are counted as additional hops
460 to the destination network or host.
462 Set the maximum transmission unit of the interface to
464 default is interface specific.
465 The MTU is used to limit the size of packets that are transmitted on an
467 Not all interfaces support setting the MTU, and some interfaces have
469 .It Cm netmask Ar mask
472 Specify how much of the address to reserve for subdividing
473 networks into sub-networks.
474 The mask includes the network part of the local address
475 and the subnet part, which is taken from the host field of the address.
476 The mask can be specified as a single hexadecimal number
479 with a dot-notation Internet address,
480 or with a pseudo-network name listed in the network table
482 The mask contains 1's for the bit positions in the 32-bit address
483 which are to be used for the network and subnet parts,
484 and 0's for the host part.
485 The mask should contain at least the standard network portion,
486 and the subnet field should be contiguous with the network
489 The netmask can also be specified in CIDR notation after the address.
492 option above for more information.
493 .It Cm prefixlen Ar len
497 bits are reserved for subdividing networks into sub-networks.
500 must be integer, and for syntactical reason it must be between 0 to 128.
501 It is almost always 64 under the current IPv6 assignment rule.
502 If the parameter is omitted, 64 is used.
504 The prefix can also be specified using the slash notation after the address.
507 option above for more information.
510 .\" .It Cm nsellength Ar n
513 .\" This specifies a trailing number of bytes for a received
515 .\" used for local identification, the remaining leading part of which is
518 .\" (Network Entity Title).
519 .\" The default value is 1, which is conformant to US
521 .\" When an ISO address is set in an ifconfig command,
524 .\" which is being specified.
527 .\" 20 hex digits should be
530 .\" to be assigned to the interface.
531 .\" There is some evidence that a number different from 1 may be useful
534 .\" 37 type addresses.
535 .It Cm range Ar netrange
536 Under appletalk, set the interface to respond to a
539 .Ar startnet Ns - Ns Ar endnet .
540 Appletalk uses this scheme instead of
543 implements it internally as a set of netmasks.
548 Introduced for compatibility
552 The argument following this specifies the version (phase) of the
553 Appletalk network attached to the interface.
554 Values of 1 or 2 are permitted.
556 .It Cm link Op Cm 0 No - Cm 2
558 Enable special processing of the link level of the interface.
559 These three options are interface specific in actual effect, however,
560 they are in general used to select special modes of operation.
562 of this is to enable SLIP compression, or to select the connector type
563 for some Ethernet cards.
564 Refer to the man page for the specific driver
565 for more information.
567 .It Fl link Op Cm 0 No - Cm 2
569 Disable special processing at the link level with the specified interface.
571 Put the interface in monitor mode.
572 No packets are transmitted, and received packets are discarded after
576 Take the interface out of monitor mode.
580 This may be used to enable an interface after an
582 It happens automatically when setting the first address on an interface.
583 If the interface was reset when previously marked down,
584 the hardware will be re-initialized.
587 The following parameters are specific to IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces:
588 .Bl -tag -width indent
590 When operating as an access point, pass packets between
591 wireless clients directly (default).
592 To instead let them pass up through the
593 system and be forwarded using some other mechanism, use
595 Disabling the internal bridging
596 is useful when traffic is to be processed with
598 .It Cm authmode Ar mode
599 Set the desired authentication mode in infrastructure mode.
600 Not all adaptors support all modes.
603 .Cm none , open , shared
609 (IEEE WPA/WPA2/802.11i).
614 modes are only useful when using an authentication service
615 (a supplicant for client operation or an authenticator when
616 operating as an access point).
617 Modes are case insensitive.
619 Enable background scanning when operating as a station.
620 Background scanning is a technique whereby a station associated to
621 an access point will temporarily leave the channel to scan for
622 neighboring stations.
623 This allows a station to maintain a cache of nearby access points
624 so that roaming between access points can be done without
625 a lengthy scan operation.
626 Background scanning is done only when a station is not busy and
627 any outbound traffic will cancel a scan operation.
628 Background scanning should never cause packets to be lost though
629 there may be some small latency if outbound traffic interrupts a
631 By default background scanning is enabled if the device is capable.
632 To disable background scanning, use
634 Background scanning is controlled by the
639 Background scanning must be enabled for roaming; this is an artifact
640 of the current implementation and may not be required in the future.
641 .It Cm bgscanidle Ar idletime
642 Set the minimum time a station must be idle (not transmitting or
643 receiving frames) before a background scan is initiated.
646 parameter is specified in milliseconds.
647 By default a station must be idle at least 250 milliseconds before
648 a background scan is initiated.
649 The idle time may not be set to less than 100 milliseconds.
650 .It Cm bgscanintvl Ar interval
651 Set the interval at which background scanning is attempted.
654 parameter is specified in seconds.
655 By default a background scan is considered every 300 seconds (5 minutes).
658 may not be set to less than 15 seconds.
659 .It Cm bintval Ar interval
660 Set the interval at which beacon frames are sent when operating in
664 parameter is specified in TU's (1024 usecs).
665 By default beacon frames are transmitted every 100 TU's.
666 .It Cm bmissthreshold Ar count
667 Set the number of consecutive missed beacons at which the station
668 will attempt to roam (i.e., search for a new access point).
671 parameter must be in the range 1 to 255; though the
672 upper bound may be reduced according to device capabilities.
673 The default threshold is 7 consecutive missed beacons; but
674 this may be overridden by the device driver.
679 .It Cm bssid Ar address
680 Specify the MAC address of the access point to use when operating
681 as a station in a BSS network.
682 This overrides any automatic selection done by the system.
683 To disable a previously selected access point, supply
688 This option is useful when more than one access point uses the same SSID.
694 Enable packet bursting.
695 Packet bursting is a transmission technique whereby the wireless
696 medium is acquired once to send multiple frames and the interframe
698 This technique can significantly increase throughput by reducing
699 transmission overhead.
700 Packet bursting is supported by the 802.11e QoS specification
701 and some devices that do not support QoS may still be capable.
702 By default packet bursting is enabled if a device is capable
704 To disable packet bursting, use
706 .It Cm chanlist Ar channels
707 Set the desired channels to use when scanning for access
708 points, neighbors in an IBSS network, or looking for unoccupied
709 channels when operating as an access point.
710 The set of channels is specified as a comma-separated list with
711 each element in the list representing either a single channel number or a range
714 Channel numbers must be in the range 1 to 255 and be permissible
715 according to the operating characteristics of the device.
716 .It Cm channel Ar number
717 Set a single desired channel.
718 Channels range from 1 to 255, but the exact selection available
719 depends on the region your adaptor was manufactured for.
726 will give you the default for your adaptor.
728 adaptors ignore this setting unless you are in ad-hoc mode.
729 Alternatively the frequency, in megahertz, may be specified
730 instead of the channel number.
732 When there are several ways to use a channel the channel
733 number/frequency may be appended with attributes to clarify.
734 For example, if a device is capable of operating on channel 6
735 with 802.11n and 802.11g then one can specify that g-only use
736 should be used by specifying ``6:g''.
737 Similarly the channel width can be specified by appending it
738 with ``/''; e.g. ``6/40'' specifies a 40MHz wide channel,
739 These attributes can be combined as in: ``6:ht/40''.
740 The full set of flags specified following a `:'' are:
746 (Atheros Dynamic Turbo mode),
754 (Atheros Static Turbo mode),
757 (Atheros Dynamic Turbo mode, or appended to ``st'' and ``dt'').
758 The full set of channel widths following a '/' are:
760 (5MHz aka quarter-rate channel),
762 (10MHz aka half-rate channel),
764 (20MHz mostly for use in specifying ht20),
767 (40MHz mostly for use in specifying ht40),
769 a 40MHz HT channel specification may include the location
770 of the extension channel by appending ``+'' or ``-'' for above and below,
771 respectively; e.g. ``2437:ht/40+'' specifies 40MHz wide HT operation
772 with the center channel at frequency 2437 and the extension channel above.
774 Enable inclusion of an 802.11h country information element in beacon
775 frames transmitted when operating as an access point.
776 By default 802.11h is enabled if the device is capable.
777 To disable 802.11h use
779 .It Cm deftxkey Ar index
780 Set the default key to use for transmission.
781 Typically this is only set when using WEP encryption.
782 Note that you must set a default transmit key
783 for the system to know which key to use in encrypting outbound traffic.
786 is an alias for this request; it is provided for backwards compatibility.
787 .It Cm dtimperiod Ar period
790 period for transmitting buffered multicast data frames when
791 operating in ap mode.
794 specifies the number of beacon intervals between DTIM
795 and must be in the range 1 to 15.
796 By default DTIM is 1 (i.e., DTIM occurs at each beacon).
798 Enable the use of Atheros Dynamic Turbo mode when communicating with
799 another Dynamic Turbo-capable station.
800 Dynamic Turbo mode is an Atheros-specific mechanism by which
801 stations switch between normal 802.11 operation and a ``boosted''
802 mode in which a 40MHz wide channel is used for communication.
803 Stations using Dynamic Turbo mode operate boosted only when the
804 channel is free of non-dturbo stations; when a non-dturbo station
805 is identified on the channel all stations will automatically drop
806 back to normal operation.
807 By default, Dynamic Turbo mode is not enabled, even if the device is capable.
808 Note that turbo mode (dynamic or static) is only allowed on some
809 channels depending on the regulatory constraints; use the
811 command to identify the channels where turbo mode may be used.
812 To disable Dynamic Turbo mode use
814 .It Cm fragthreshold Ar length
815 Set the threshold for which transmitted frames are broken into fragments.
818 argument is the frame size in bytes and must be in the range 256 to 2346.
826 disables transmit fragmentation.
827 Not all adaptors honor the fragmentation threshold.
829 When operating as an access point, do not broadcast the SSID
830 in beacon frames or respond to probe request frames unless
831 they are directed to the ap (i.e., they include the ap's SSID).
832 By default, the SSID is included in beacon frames and
833 undirected probe request frames are answered.
834 To re-enable the broadcast of the SSID etc., use
837 Enable the use of Atheros Fast Frames when communicating with
838 another Fast Frames-capable station.
839 Fast Frames are an encapsulation technique by which two 802.3
840 frames are transmitted in a single 802.11 frame.
841 This can noticeably improve throughput but requires that the
842 receiving station understand how to decapsulate the frame.
843 Fast frame use is negotiated using the Atheros 802.11 vendor-specific
844 protocol extension so enabling use is safe when communicating with
846 By default, use of fast frames is enabled if the device is capable.
847 To explicitly disable fast frames, use
850 Display the list of channels available for use taking into account
851 any restrictions set with the
854 See the description of
856 for more information.
858 Display the adaptor's capabilities, including the operating
861 Display the list of channels available for use.
862 Channels are shown with their IEEE channel number, equivalent
863 frequency, and usage modes.
864 Channels identified as
869 Channels identified as
871 may be used only for Atheros' Static Turbo mode
873 . Cm mediaopt turbo ) .
874 Channels marked with a
876 have a regulatory constraint that they be passively scanned.
877 This means a station is not permitted to transmit on the channel until
878 it identifies the channel is being used for 802.11 communication;
879 typically by hearing a beacon frame from an access point operating
882 is another way of requesting this information.
883 By default a compacted list of channels is displayed; if the
885 option is specified then all channels are shown.
887 Display the current MAC Access Control List state.
888 Each address is prefixed with a character that indicates the
889 current policy applied to it:
891 indicates the address is allowed access,
893 indicates the address is denied access,
895 indicates the address is present but the current policy open
896 (so the ACL is not consulted).
898 Display the access points and/or ad-hoc neighbors
899 located in the vicinity.
902 flag may be used to display long SSIDs.
904 also causes received information elements to be displayed symbolicaly.
905 This information may be updated automatically by the adaptor
908 request or through background scanning.
910 is another way of requesting this information.
912 When operating as an access point display the stations that are
913 currently associated.
914 When operating in ad-hoc mode display stations identified as
915 neighbors in the IBSS.
916 When operating in station mode display the access point.
917 Capabilities advertised by the stations are described under
921 Depending on the capabilities of the stations the following
922 flags can be included in the output:
926 Indicates that the station is permitted to send/receive data frames.
928 Extended Rate Phy (ERP).
929 Indicates that the station is operating in an 802.11g network
930 using extended transmit rates.
932 High Throughput (HT).
933 Indicates that the station is using MCS to send/receive frames.
936 Indicates that the station is operating in power save mode.
938 Quality of Service (QoS).
939 Indicates that the station is using QoS encapsulation for
941 QoS encapsulation is enabled only when WME mode is enabled.
944 By default information elements received from associated stations
945 are displayed in a short form; the
947 flag causes this information to be displayed symbolicaly.
949 Display the current parameters to use when operating in WME mode.
950 When WME mode is enabled for an adaptor this information will be
951 displayed with the regular status; this command is mostly useful
952 for examining parameters when WME mode is disabled.
953 See the description of the
955 directive for information on the various parameters.
956 .It Cm mcastrate Ar rate
957 Set the rate for transmitting multicast/broadcast frames.
958 Rates are specified as megabits/second in decimal; e.g.\& 5.5 for 5.5 Mb/s.
959 This rate should be valid for the current operating conditions;
960 if an invalid rate is specified drivers are free to chose an
963 Enable powersave operation.
964 When operating as a client, the station will conserve power by
965 periodically turning off the radio and listening for
966 messages from the access point telling it there are packets waiting.
967 The station must then retrieve the packets.
968 Not all devices support power save operation as a client.
969 The 802.11 specification requires that all access points support
970 power save but some drivers do not.
973 to disable powersave operation when operating as a client.
974 .It Cm powersavesleep Ar sleep
975 Set the desired max powersave sleep time in TU's (1024 usecs).
976 By default the max powersave sleep time is 100 TU's.
977 .It Cm protmode Ar technique
978 For interfaces operating in 802.11g, use the specified
980 for protecting OFDM frames in a mixed 11b/11g network.
981 The set of valid techniques is
987 Technique names are case insensitive.
988 Not all devices support
990 as a protection technique.
992 When operating as an access point in 802.11g mode allow only
993 11g-capable stations to associate (11b-only stations are not
994 permitted to associate).
995 To allow both 11g and 11b-only stations to associate, use
997 .It Cm roaming Ar mode
998 When operating as a station, control how the system will
999 behave when communication with the current access point
1003 argument may be one of
1005 (leave it to the hardware device to decide),
1007 (handle either in the device or the operating system\[em]as appropriate),
1009 (do nothing until explicitly instructed).
1010 By default, the device is left to handle this if it is
1011 capable; otherwise, the operating system will automatically
1012 attempt to reestablish communication.
1013 Manual mode is used by applications such as
1014 .Xr wpa_supplicant 8
1015 that want to control the selection of an access point.
1016 .It Cm roam:rssi11a Ar rssi
1017 Set the threshold for controlling roaming when operating in an
1021 parameter specifies the receive signal strength in dBm units
1022 at which roaming should be considered.
1023 If the current rssi drops below this setting and background scanning
1024 is enabled, then the system will check if a more desirable access point is
1025 available and switch over to it.
1026 The current scan cache contents are used if they are considered
1027 valid according to the
1029 parameter; otherwise a background scan operation is triggered before
1030 any selection occurs.
1034 .It Cm roam:rssi11b Ar rssi
1035 Set the threshold for controlling roaming when operating in an
1039 for a description of this parameter.
1043 .It Cm roam:rssi11g Ar rssi
1044 Set the threshold for controlling roaming when operating in a
1045 (mixed) 802.11g BSS.
1048 for a description of this parameter.
1052 .It Cm roam:rate11a Ar rate
1053 Set the threshold for controlling roaming when operating in an
1057 parameter specifies the transmit rate in megabits
1058 at which roaming should be considered.
1059 If the current transmit rate drops below this setting and background scanning
1060 is enabled, then the system will check if a more desirable access point is
1061 available and switch over to it.
1062 The current scan cache contents are used if they are considered
1063 valid according to the
1065 parameter; otherwise a background scan operation is triggered before
1066 any selection occurs.
1070 .It Cm roam:rate11b Ar rate
1071 Set the threshold for controlling roaming when operating in an
1075 for a description of this parameter.
1079 .It Cm roam:rate11g Ar rate
1080 Set the threshold for controlling roaming when operating in a
1081 (mixed) 802.11g BSS.
1084 for a description of this parameter.
1088 .It Cm rtsthreshold Ar length
1089 Set the threshold for which
1090 transmitted frames are preceded by transmission of an
1096 is the frame size in bytes and must be in the range 1 to 2346.
1104 disables transmission of RTS frames.
1105 Not all adaptors support setting the RTS threshold.
1107 Set the desired Service Set Identifier (aka network name).
1108 The SSID is a string up to 32 characters
1109 in length and may be specified as either a normal string or in
1110 hexadecimal when preceded by
1112 Additionally, the SSID may be cleared by setting it to
1115 Initiate a scan of neighboring stations, wait for it to complete, and
1116 display all stations found.
1117 Only the super-user can initiate a scan.
1118 Depending on the capabilities of the APs, the following
1119 flags can be included in the output:
1123 Indicates that the station support channel hopping as described by the
1124 IEEE 802.11b specification.
1126 Packet Binary Convolution Code (PBCC).
1127 A modulation alternative to the standard OFDM method.
1133 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSSOFDM).
1134 Indicates the the station supports DSSS modulation.
1136 Extended Service Set (ESS).
1137 Indicates that the station is part of an infrastructure network
1138 (in contrast to an IBSS/ad-hoc network).
1140 IBSS/ad-hoc network.
1141 Indicates that the station is part of an ad-hoc network
1142 (in contrast to an ESS network).
1145 Data confidentiality is required for all data frames
1146 exchanged within the BSS.
1147 This means that this BSS requires the station to
1148 use cryptographic means such as WEP, TKIP or AES-CCMP to
1149 encrypt/decrypt data frames being exchanged with others.
1151 Robust Security Network (RSN).
1152 Indicates that the station supports the IEEE 802.11i authentication
1153 and key management protocol.
1156 Indicates that the network is using short preambles (defined
1157 in 802.11b High Rate/DSSS PHY, short preamble utilizes a
1158 56 bit sync field in contrast to a 128 bit field used in long
1162 Indicates that the network is using a short slot time.
1165 Interesting information elements captured from the neighboring
1166 stations are displayed at the end of each row.
1167 Possible elements are:
1169 (station supports WME),
1171 (station supports WPA),
1173 (station supports 802.11i/RSN),
1175 (station supports 802.11n/HT communication),
1177 (station supoprts Atheros protocol extensions),
1179 (station supports unknown vendor-specific extensions).
1182 flag is used the information element contents will be shown.
1186 request can be used to show recent scan results without
1187 initiating a new scan.
1191 flag may be used to prevent the shortening of long SSIDs.
1192 .It Cm scanvalid Ar threshold
1193 Set the maximum time the scan cache contents are considered valid;
1194 i.e. will be used without first triggering a scan operation to
1198 parameter is specified in seconds and defaults to 60 seconds.
1199 The minimum setting for
1202 One should take care setting this threshold; if it is set too low
1203 then attempts to roam to another access point may trigger unnecessary
1204 background scan operations.
1205 .It Cm stationname Ar name
1206 Set the name of this station.
1207 The station name is not part of the IEEE 802.11
1208 protocol though some interfaces support it.
1210 seems to be meaningful to identical or virtually identical equipment.
1211 Setting the station name is identical in syntax to setting the SSID.
1212 .It Cm txpower Ar power
1213 Set the power used to transmit frames.
1216 argument is specified in .5 dBm units.
1217 Out of range values are truncated.
1218 Typically only a few discreet power settings are available and
1219 the driver will use the setting closest to the specified value.
1220 Not all adaptors support changing the transmit power.
1221 .It Cm wepmode Ar mode
1222 Set the desired WEP mode.
1223 Not all adaptors support all modes.
1224 The set of valid modes is
1230 mode explicitly tells the adaptor to allow association with access
1231 points which allow both encrypted and unencrypted traffic.
1234 means that the access point must only allow encrypted connections.
1237 is generally another name for
1239 Modes are case insensitive.
1240 .It Cm weptxkey Ar index
1241 Set the WEP key to be used for transmission.
1242 This is the same as setting the default transmission key with
1244 .It Cm wepkey Ar key Ns | Ns Ar index : Ns Ar key
1245 Set the selected WEP key.
1248 is not given, key 1 is set.
1249 A WEP key will be either 5 or 13
1250 characters (40 or 104 bits) depending of the local network and the
1251 capabilities of the adaptor.
1252 It may be specified either as a plain
1253 string or as a string of hexadecimal digits preceded by
1255 For maximum portability, hex keys are recommended;
1256 the mapping of text keys to WEP encryption is usually driver-specific.
1259 drivers do this mapping differently to
1261 A key may be cleared by setting it to
1263 If WEP is supported then there are at least four keys.
1264 Some adaptors support more than four keys.
1265 If that is the case, then the first four keys
1266 (1-4) will be the standard temporary keys and any others will be adaptor
1267 specific keys such as permanent keys stored in NVRAM.
1269 Note that you must set a default transmit key with
1271 for the system to know which key to use in encrypting outbound traffic.
1273 Enable Wireless Multimedia Extensions (WME) support, if available,
1274 for the specified interface.
1275 WME is a subset of the IEEE 802.11e standard to support the
1276 efficient communication of realtime and multimedia data.
1277 To disable WME support, use
1280 The following parameters are meaningful only when WME support is in use.
1281 Parameters are specified per-AC (Access Category) and
1282 split into those that are used by a station when acting
1283 as an access point and those for client stations in the BSS.
1284 The latter are received from the access point and may not be changed
1286 The following Access Categories are recognized:
1288 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm AC_BK" -compact
1292 best effort delivery,
1307 AC parameters are case-insensitive.
1308 Traffic classification is done in the operating system using the
1309 vlan priority associated with data frames or the
1310 ToS (Type of Service) indication in IP-encapsulated frames.
1311 If neither information is present, traffic is assigned to the
1312 Best Effort (BE) category.
1313 .Bl -tag -width indent
1315 Set the ACK policy for QoS transmissions by the local station;
1316 this controls whether or not data frames transmitted by a station
1317 require an ACK response from the receiving station.
1318 To disable waiting for an ACK use
1320 This parameter is applied only to the local station.
1322 Enable the Admission Control Mandatory (ACM) mechanism
1323 for transmissions by the local station.
1324 To disable the ACM use
1326 On stations in a BSS this parameter is read-only and indicates
1327 the setting received from the access point.
1328 NB: ACM is not supported right now.
1329 .It Cm aifs Ar ac Ar count
1330 Set the Arbitration Inter Frame Spacing (AIFS)
1331 channel access parameter to use for transmissions
1332 by the local station.
1333 On stations in a BSS this parameter is read-only and indicates
1334 the setting received from the access point.
1335 .It Cm cwmin Ar ac Ar count
1336 Set the CWmin channel access parameter to use for transmissions
1337 by the local station.
1338 On stations in a BSS this parameter is read-only and indicates
1339 the setting received from the access point.
1340 .It Cm cwmax Ar ac Ar count
1341 Set the CWmax channel access parameter to use for transmissions
1342 by the local station.
1343 On stations in a BSS this parameter is read-only and indicates
1344 the setting received from the access point.
1345 .It Cm txoplimit Ar ac Ar limit
1346 Set the Transmission Opportunity Limit channel access parameter
1347 to use for transmissions by the local station.
1348 This parameter defines an interval of time when a WME station
1349 has the right to initiate transmissions onto the wireless medium.
1350 On stations in a BSS this parameter is read-only and indicates
1351 the setting received from the access point.
1352 .It Cm bss:aifs Ar ac Ar count
1353 Set the AIFS channel access parameter to send to stations in a BSS.
1354 This parameter is meaningful only when operating in ap mode.
1355 .It Cm bss:cwmin Ar ac Ar count
1356 Set the CWmin channel access parameter to send to stations in a BSS.
1357 This parameter is meaningful only when operating in ap mode.
1358 .It Cm bss:cwmax Ar ac Ar count
1359 Set the CWmax channel access parameter to send to stations in a BSS.
1360 This parameter is meaningful only when operating in ap mode.
1361 .It Cm bss:txoplimit Ar ac Ar limit
1362 Set the TxOpLimit channel access parameter to send to stations in a BSS.
1363 This parameter is meaningful only when operating in ap mode.
1367 The following parameters support an optional access control list
1368 feature available with some adaptors when operating in ap mode; see
1370 This facility allows an access point to accept/deny association
1371 requests based on the MAC address of the station.
1372 Note that this feature does not significantly enhance security
1373 as MAC address spoofing is easy to do.
1374 .Bl -tag -width indent
1375 .It Cm mac:add Ar address
1376 Add the specified MAC address to the database.
1377 Depending on the policy setting association requests from the
1378 specified station will be allowed or denied.
1380 Set the ACL policy to permit association only by
1381 stations registered in the database.
1382 .It Cm mac:del Ar address
1383 Delete the specified MAC address from the database.
1385 Set the ACL policy to deny association only by
1386 stations registered in the database.
1387 .It Cm mac:kick Ar address
1388 Force the specified station to be deauthenticated.
1389 This typically is done to block a station after updating the
1392 Set the ACL policy to allow all stations to associate.
1394 Delete all entries in the database.
1397 The following parameters are for compatibility with other systems:
1398 .Bl -tag -width indent
1400 Another name for the
1406 .It Cm station Ar name
1407 Another name for the
1414 Another way of saying
1420 Another way of saying
1426 Another way of saying:
1427 .Dq Li "wepmode on weptxkey 1 wepkey 1:key wepkey 2:- wepkey 3:- wepkey 4:-" .
1433 .Ar n : k1 , k2 , k3 , k4
1436 Another way of saying
1437 .Dq Li "wepmode on weptxkey n wepkey 1:k1 wepkey 2:k2 wepkey 3:k3 wepkey 4:k4" .
1442 Another way of saying
1449 The following parameters are specific to bridge interfaces:
1450 .Bl -tag -width indent
1451 .It Cm addm Ar interface
1452 Add the interface named by
1454 as a member of the bridge.
1455 The interface is put into promiscuous mode
1456 so that it can receive every packet sent on the network.
1457 .It Cm deletem Ar interface
1458 Remove the interface named by
1461 Promiscuous mode is disabled on the interface when
1462 it is removed from the bridge.
1463 .It Cm maxaddr Ar size
1464 Set the size of the bridge address cache to
1466 The default is 100 entries.
1467 .It Cm timeout Ar seconds
1468 Set the timeout of address cache entries to
1473 is zero, then address cache entries will not be expired.
1474 The default is 240 seconds.
1476 Display the addresses that have been learned by the bridge.
1477 .It Cm static Ar interface-name Ar address
1478 Add a static entry into the address cache pointing to
1479 .Ar interface-name .
1480 Static entries are never aged out of the cache or re-placed, even if the
1481 address is seen on a different interface.
1482 .It Cm deladdr Ar address
1485 from the address cache.
1487 Delete all dynamically-learned addresses from the address cache.
1489 Delete all addresses, including static addresses, from the address cache.
1490 .It Cm discover Ar interface
1491 Mark an interface as a
1494 When the bridge has no address cache entry
1495 (either dynamic or static)
1496 for the destination address of a packet,
1497 the bridge will forward the packet to all
1498 member interfaces marked as
1500 This is the default for all interfaces added to a bridge.
1501 .It Cm -discover Ar interface
1504 attribute on a member interface.
1505 For packets without the
1507 attribute, the only packets forwarded on the interface are broadcast
1508 or multicast packets and packets for which the destination address
1509 is known to be on the interface's segment.
1510 .It Cm learn Ar interface
1511 Mark an interface as a
1514 When a packet arrives on such an interface, the source
1515 address of the packet is entered into the address cache as being a
1516 destination address on the interface's segment.
1517 This is the default for all interfaces added to a bridge.
1518 .It Cm -learn Ar interface
1521 attribute on a member interface.
1522 .It Cm sticky Ar interface
1523 Mark an interface as a
1526 Dynamically learned address entries are treated at static once entered into
1528 Sticky entries are never aged out of the cache or replaced, even if the
1529 address is seen on a different interface.
1530 .It Cm -sticky Ar interface
1533 attribute on a member interface.
1534 .It Cm private Ar interface
1535 Mark an interface as a
1538 A private interface does not forward any traffic to any other port that is also
1539 a private interface.
1540 .It Cm -private Ar interface
1543 attribute on a member interface.
1544 .It Cm span Ar interface
1545 Add the interface named by
1547 as a span port on the bridge.
1548 Span ports transmit a copy of every frame received by the bridge.
1549 This is most useful for snooping a bridged network passively on
1550 another host connected to one of the span ports of the bridge.
1551 .It Cm -span Ar interface
1552 Delete the interface named by
1554 from the list of span ports of the bridge.
1555 .It Cm stp Ar interface
1556 Enable Spanning Tree protocol on
1560 driver has support for the IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree protocol (STP).
1561 Spanning Tree is used to detect and remove loops in a network topology.
1562 .It Cm -stp Ar interface
1563 Disable Spanning Tree protocol on
1565 This is the default for all interfaces added to a bridge.
1566 .It Cm edge Ar interface
1570 An edge port connects directly to end stations cannot create bridging
1571 loops in the network, this allows it to transition straight to forwarding.
1572 .It Cm -edge Ar interface
1573 Disable edge status on
1575 .It Cm autoedge Ar interface
1578 to automatically detect edge status.
1579 This is the default for all interfaces added to a bridge.
1580 .It Cm -autoedge Ar interface
1581 Disable automatic edge status on
1583 .It Cm ptp Ar interface
1586 as a point to point link.
1587 This is required for straight transitions to forwarding and
1588 should be enabled on a direct link to another RSTP capable switch.
1589 .It Cm -ptp Ar interface
1590 Disable point to point link status on
1592 This should be disabled for a half duplex link and for an interface
1593 connected to a shared network segment,
1594 like a hub or a wireless network.
1595 .It Cm autoptp Ar interface
1596 Automatically detect the point to point status on
1598 by checking the full duplex link status.
1599 This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge.
1600 .It Cm -autoptp Ar interface
1601 Disable automatic point to point link detection on
1603 .It Cm maxage Ar seconds
1604 Set the time that a Spanning Tree protocol configuration is valid.
1605 The default is 20 seconds.
1606 The minimum is 6 seconds and the maximum is 40 seconds.
1607 .It Cm fwddelay Ar seconds
1608 Set the time that must pass before an interface begins forwarding
1609 packets when Spanning Tree is enabled.
1610 The default is 15 seconds.
1611 The minimum is 4 seconds and the maximum is 30 seconds.
1612 .It Cm hellotime Ar seconds
1613 Set the time between broadcasting of Spanning Tree protocol
1614 configuration messages.
1615 The hello time may only be changed when operating in legacy stp mode.
1616 The default is 2 seconds.
1617 The minimum is 1 second and the maximum is 2 seconds.
1618 .It Cm priority Ar value
1619 Set the bridge priority for Spanning Tree.
1620 The default is 32768.
1621 The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 61440.
1622 .It Cm proto Ar value
1623 Set the Spanning Tree protocol.
1624 The default is rstp.
1625 The available options are stp and rstp.
1626 .It Cm holdcnt Ar value
1627 Set the transmit hold count for Spanning Tree.
1628 This is the number of packets transmitted before being rate limited.
1630 The minimum is 1 and the maximum is 10.
1631 .It Cm ifpriority Ar interface Ar value
1632 Set the Spanning Tree priority of
1637 The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 240.
1638 .It Cm ifpathcost Ar interface Ar value
1639 Set the Spanning Tree path cost of
1643 The default is calculated from the link speed.
1644 To change a previously selected path cost back to automatic, set the
1646 The minimum is 1 and the maximum is 200000000.
1647 .It Cm ifmaxaddr Ar interface Ar size
1648 Set the maximum number of hosts allowed from an interface, packets with unknown
1649 source addresses are dropped until an existing host cache entry expires or is
1651 Set to 0 to disable.
1654 The following parameters are specific to lagg interfaces:
1655 .Bl -tag -width indent
1656 .It Cm laggport Ar interface
1657 Add the interface named by
1659 as a port of the aggregation interface.
1660 .It Cm -laggport Ar interface
1661 Remove the interface named by
1663 from the aggregation interface.
1664 .It Cm laggproto Ar proto
1665 Set the aggregation protocol.
1666 The default is failover.
1667 The available options are failover, fec, lacp, loadbalance, roundrobin and
1671 The following parameters are specific to IP tunnel interfaces,
1673 .Bl -tag -width indent
1674 .It Cm tunnel Ar src_addr dest_addr
1675 Configure the physical source and destination address for IP tunnel
1681 are interpreted as the outer source/destination for the encapsulating
1684 Unconfigure the physical source and destination address for IP tunnel
1685 interfaces previously configured with
1688 Another name for the
1693 The following parameters are specific to
1696 .Bl -tag -width indent
1698 Set the maximum number of updates for a single state which
1699 can be collapsed into one.
1700 This is an 8-bit number; the default value is 128.
1703 The following parameters are specific to
1706 .Bl -tag -width indent
1707 .It Cm vlan Ar vlan_tag
1708 Set the VLAN tag value to
1710 This value is a 16-bit number which is used to create an 802.1Q
1711 VLAN header for packets sent from the
1718 must both be set at the same time.
1719 .It Cm vlandev Ar iface
1720 Associate the physical interface
1725 Packets transmitted through the
1728 diverted to the specified physical interface
1730 with 802.1Q VLAN encapsulation.
1731 Packets with 802.1Q encapsulation received
1732 by the parent interface with the correct VLAN tag will be diverted to
1738 interface is assigned a
1739 copy of the parent interface's flags and the parent's ethernet address.
1744 must both be set at the same time.
1747 interface already has
1748 a physical interface associated with it, this command will fail.
1750 change the association to another physical interface, the existing
1751 association must be cleared first.
1753 Note: if the hardware tagging capability
1754 is set on the parent interface, the
1757 interface's behavior changes:
1760 interface recognizes that the
1761 parent interface supports insertion and extraction of VLAN tags on its
1762 own (usually in firmware) and that it should pass packets to and from
1763 the parent unaltered.
1764 .It Fl vlandev Op Ar iface
1767 pseudo device, disassociate the parent interface from it.
1768 This breaks the link between the
1770 interface and its parent,
1771 clears its VLAN tag, flags and its link address and shuts the interface down.
1774 argument is useless and hence deprecated.
1777 The following parameters are specific to
1780 .Bl -tag -width indent
1781 .It Cm advbase Ar seconds
1782 Specifies the base of the advertisement interval in seconds.
1783 The acceptable values are 1 to 255.
1784 The default value is 1.
1785 .\" The default value is
1786 .\" .Dv CARP_DFLTINTV .
1787 .It Cm advskew Ar interval
1788 Specifies the skew to add to the base advertisement interval to
1789 make one host advertise slower than another host.
1790 It is specified in 1/256 of seconds.
1791 The acceptable values are 1 to 254.
1792 The default value is 0.
1793 .It Cm pass Ar phrase
1794 Set the authentication key to
1797 Set the virtual host ID.
1798 This is a required setting.
1799 Acceptable values are 1 to 255.
1804 utility displays the current configuration for a network interface
1805 when no optional parameters are supplied.
1806 If a protocol family is specified,
1808 will report only the details specific to that protocol family.
1812 flag is passed before an interface name,
1814 will display the capability list and all
1815 of the supported media for the specified interface.
1818 flag is supplied, address lifetime is displayed for IPv6 addresses,
1819 as time offset string.
1823 flag may be used instead of an interface name.
1826 to display information about all interfaces in the system.
1829 flag limits this to interfaces that are down, and
1831 limits this to interfaces that are up.
1832 When no arguments are given,
1838 flag may be used to list all available interfaces on the system, with
1839 no other additional information.
1840 Use of this flag is mutually exclusive
1841 with all other flags and commands, except for
1843 (only list interfaces that are down)
1846 (only list interfaces that are up).
1850 flag may be used to get more verbose status for an interface.
1854 flag may be used to list all of the interface cloners available on
1855 the system, with no additional information.
1856 Use of this flag is mutually exclusive with all other flags and commands.
1860 flag causes keying information for the interface, if available, to be
1862 For example, the values of 802.11 WEP keys will be printed, if accessible to
1864 This information is not printed by default, as it may be considered
1867 If the network interface driver is not present in the kernel then
1869 will attempt to load it.
1872 flag disables this behavior.
1874 Only the super-user may modify the configuration of a network interface.
1876 The media selection system is relatively new and only some drivers support
1877 it (or have need for it).
1879 Assign the IPv4 address
1881 with a network mask of
1885 .Dl # ifconfig fxp0 inet 192.0.2.10 netmask 255.255.255.0
1887 Add the IPv4 address
1889 with the CIDR network prefix
1895 as a synonym for the canonical form of the option
1897 .Dl # ifconfig ed0 inet 192.0.2.45/28 add
1899 Remove the IPv4 address
1903 .Dl # ifconfig ed0 inet 192.0.2.45 -alias
1905 Add the IPv6 address
1906 .Li 2001:DB8:DBDB::123/48
1909 .Dl # ifconfig em0 inet6 2001:db8:bdbd::123 prefixlen 48 alias
1910 Note that lower case hexadecimal IPv6 addresses are acceptable.
1912 Remove the IPv6 address added in the above example,
1915 character as shorthand for the network prefix,
1918 as a synonym for the canonical form of the option
1920 .Dl # ifconfig em0 inet6 2001:db8:bdbd::123/48 delete
1922 Configure the interface
1924 to use 100baseTX, full duplex Ethernet media options:
1925 .Dl # ifconfig xl0 media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
1927 Create the software network interface
1929 .Dl # ifconfig gif1 create
1931 Destroy the software network interface
1933 .Dl # ifconfig gif1 destroy
1935 Messages indicating the specified interface does not exist, the
1936 requested address is unknown, or the user is not privileged and
1937 tried to alter an interface's configuration.
1955 Basic IPv6 node operation requires a link-local address on each
1956 interface configured for IPv6.
1957 Normally, such an address is automatically configured by the
1958 kernel on each interface added to the system; this behaviour may
1959 be disabled by setting the sysctl MIB variable
1960 .Va net.inet6.ip6.auto_linklocal
1963 If you delete such an address using
1965 the kernel may act very odd.
1966 Do this at your own risk.