IWSPY(8)                                            Linux Programmer's Manual                                           IWSPY(8)



NAME
       iwspy - Get wireless statistics from specific nodes

SYNOPSIS
       iwspy [interface]
       iwspy interface [+] DNSNAME | IPADDR | HWADDR [...]
       iwspy interface off
       iwspy interface setthr low high
       iwspy interface getthr

DESCRIPTION
       Iwspy  is  used  to  set  a list of addresses to monitor in a wireless network interface and to read back quality of link
       information for each of those. This information is the same as the one available in /proc/net/wireless : quality  of  the
       link, signal strength and noise level.

       This  information  is  updated  each time a new packet is received, so each address of the list adds some overhead in the
       driver.

       Note that this functionality works only for nodes part of the current wireless cell, you can not  monitor  Access  Points
       you are not associated with (you can use Scanning for that) and nodes in other cells. In Managed mode, in most case pack-
       ets are relayed by the Access Point, in this case you will get the signal strength of the Access Point. For those reasons
       this functionality is mostly useful in Ad-Hoc and Master mode.

PARAMETERS
       You may set any number of addresses up to 8.

       DNSNAME | IPADDR
              Set  an  IP  address,  or  in some cases a DNS name (using the name resolver). As the hardware works with hardware
              addresses, iwspy will translate this IP address through ARP.  In some case, this address might not be in  the  ARP
              cache and iwspy will fail. In those case, ping(8) this name/address and retry.

       HWADDR Set  a hardware (MAC) address (this address is not translated & checked like the IP one). The address must contain
              a colon (:) to be recognised as a hardware address.

       +      Add the new set of addresses at the end of the current list instead of replacing it. The address  list  is  unique
              for each device, so each user should use this option to avoid conflicts.

       off    Remove the current list of addresses and disable the spy functionality

       setthr Set the low and high signal strength threshold for the iwspy event (for drivers that support it).
              Every  time  the  signal strength for any of the address monitored with iwspy goes lower than the low threshold or
              goes higher than the high threshold, a Wireless Event will be generated.
              This can be used to monitor link outages without having to run iwspy periodically.

       getthr Retrieve the current low and high signal strength threshold for the iwspy event.


FILES
       /proc/net/wireless

SEE ALSO
       iwconfig(8), iwlist(8), iwevent(8), iwpriv(8), wireless(7).




net-tools                                                31 October 1996                                                IWSPY(8)