IRNET(4)                                              Linux-IrDA man pages                                              IRNET(4)



NAME
       irnet - IrNET protocol device

DESCRIPTION
       File /dev/irnet is used to access and configure the IrNET protocol part of the Linux-IrDA stack.

       IrNET  is  a protocol allowing to create TCP/IP connections between two IrDA peers in an efficient fashion, and generally
       to enable standard networking over IrDA. It is a thin layer, passing PPP packets to IrTTP and vice versa. It uses PPP  in
       synchronous  mode,  because  IrTTP  offer a reliable sequenced packet service (as opposed to a byte stream). In fact, you
       could see IrNET as carrying TCP/IP in a IrDA socket, using PPP to provide the glue.

       The main difference with traditional PPP over IrCOMM is that it avoids the framing and serial emulation which are a  per-
       formance  bottleneck.  It  also allows multipoint communications in a sensible fashion. And finally, it can automatically
       handle incomming connections through irnetd.

       The main difference with IrLAN is that we use PPP for the link management, which  is  more  standard,  interoperable  and
       flexible  than  the IrLAN protocol. For example, PPP adds authentication, encryption, compression, header compression and
       automated routing setup. And, as IrNET let PPP do the hard work, the implementation is much simpler than IrLAN.

       IrNET connections are initiated and managed with pppd(8).  File /dev/irnet also offer  a  control  channel.   Reads  from
       /dev/irnet will return various IrNET events.  Write to /dev/irnet allow to configure the IrNET connection.

CONFIGURATION
       If your system does not have /dev/irnet created already, it can be created with the following commands:

               mknod -m 644 /dev/irnet c 10 187
               chown root:root /dev/irnet

       You  will  also  need to have IrNET support in your kernel or as module and the Linux-IrDA stack installed and configured
       (see irattach(8)).

       File /dev/irnet is supposed to only be used with the PPP line discipline or for accessing the control channel, other  use
       are  unsupported.   IrNET  support  multiple concurent connections (limited by the IrDA stack), all those connections are
       multiplexed on a single /dev/irnet device (as opposed to IrCOMM which as one device per connection).

PARAMETERS
       Writing commands to /dev/irnet allow to configure the IrNET connection being made. This need to be done  through  pppd(8)
       (see below for examples). Commands are separated by comas.

       name <peer>
              Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA nickname is <peer>.  The IrDA nickname is a string up to 31 characters.

       daddr <peer>
              Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA address is <peer>.  The IrDA address is a 32 bits hexadecimal number.

       raddr <port>
              Restrict  connections  to  the  local  IrDA interface which IrDA address is <port>.  The IrDA address is a 32 bits
              hexadecimal number.

DISPLAY
       Reading from /dev/irnet will show various IrNET events.  This is usually done with the command cat /dev/irnet.

       Found  Dump of the current IrNET discovery log.

       Discovered
              New IrNET device discovered.

       Expired
              Previously discovered IrNET device no longer present.

       Connected to
              This computer successfully established an IrNET connection to a peer.

       Connection from
              A peer successfully established an IrNET connection to this computer.

       Request from
              A peer attempted to connect to this computer, but no IrNET connection was waiting for it.

       No-answer from
              This computer attempted to connect to a peer, but no IrNET connection was waiting for it.

       Blocked link with
              The IrDA link of the IrNET connection is currently blocked.

       Disconnection from
              A peer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with this computer.

       Disconnected to
              This computer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with a peer.

       File /proc/net/irda/irnet will also show the current state of the various IrNET connections.

EXAMPLE
       Start a IrNET server accepting any incomming connection:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock passive

       Start a IrNET client connecting to any IrDA peer:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock

       Start a IrNET client connecting to the IrDA peer called MyIrDANode:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock connect "echo name MyIrDANode"

       Start a IrNET server accepting incomming connection from peer with IrDA address 0x12345678 only on IrDA port 0x87654321:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock passive connect "echo daddr 0x12345678 , saddr 0x87654321"

AUTHOR
       Jean Tourrilhes - jtAThpl.com

FILES
       /dev/irnet
       /proc/net/irda/irnet

SEE ALSO
       irda(7), irnetd(8), pppd(8), irattach(8), irdadump(8).



irda-utils                                                 2 May 2003                                                   IRNET(4)