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author | sam <sam@FreeBSD.org> | 2009-08-12 21:03:16 +0000 |
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committer | sam <sam@FreeBSD.org> | 2009-08-12 21:03:16 +0000 |
commit | 6fe9bef8170faf24982d3b78ebcc890b3509e439 (patch) | |
tree | c6fe9ab57b0866e8fd4d17f95e9dc3512defff6a /share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9 | |
parent | d7ddc7ccbe531019ee08753204ac3d9210ea215f (diff) | |
download | FreeBSD-src-6fe9bef8170faf24982d3b78ebcc890b3509e439.zip FreeBSD-src-6fe9bef8170faf24982d3b78ebcc890b3509e439.tar.gz |
First (early) draft of net80211 documentation. Note this is
focused on driver writers (as opposed to folks adding to net80211).
Reviewed by: wkoszek
Approved by: re (rwatson)
Diffstat (limited to 'share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9')
-rw-r--r-- | share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9 | 350 |
1 files changed, 350 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9 b/share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e1897c --- /dev/null +++ b/share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9 @@ -0,0 +1,350 @@ +.\" +.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Sam Leffler, Errno Consulting +.\" All rights reserved. +.\" +.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without +.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions +.\" are met: +.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright +.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. +.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright +.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the +.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. +.\" +.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND +.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE +.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE +.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE +.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL +.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS +.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) +.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT +.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY +.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF +.\" SUCH DAMAGE. +.\" +.\" $FreeBSD$ +.\" +.Dd August 4, 2009 +.Dt IEEE80211_SCAN 9 +.Os +.Sh NAME +.Nm ieee80211_scan +.Nd 802.11 scanning support +.Sh SYNOPSIS +.In net80211/ieee80211_var.h +.Pp +.Ft int +.Fo ieee80211_start_scan +.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *" +.Fa "int flags" +.Fa "u_int duration" +.Fa "u_int mindwell" +.Fa "u_int maxdwell" +.Fa "u_int nssid" +.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scan_ssid ssids[]" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft int +.Fo ieee80211_check_scan +.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *" +.Fa "int flags" +.Fa "u_int duration" +.Fa "u_int mindwell" +.Fa "u_int maxdwell" +.Fa "u_int nssid" +.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scan_ssid ssids[]" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_check_scan_current "struct ieee80211vap *" +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_bg_scan "struct ieee80211vap *" "int" +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan "struct ieee80211vap *" +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan_any "struct ieee80211vap *" +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_scan_next "struct ieee80211vap *" +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_scan_done "struct ieee80211vap *" +.\" +.Ft int +.Fn ieee80211_probe_curchan "struct ieee80211vap *" "int" +.\" +.Ft void +.Fo ieee80211_add_scan +.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *" +.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scanparams *" +.Fa "const struct ieee80211_frame *" +.Fa "int subtype" +.Fa "int rssi" +.Fa "int noise" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft void +.Fn ieee80211_scan_timeout "struct ieee80211com *" +.\" +.Ft void +.Fo ieee80211_scan_assoc_fail +.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *" +.Fa "const uint8_t mac[IEEE80211_ADDR_LEN]" +.Fa "int reason" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft void +.Fn ieee80211_scan_flush "struct ieee80211vap *" +.\" +.Ft void +.Fo ieee80211_scan_iterate +.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *" +.Fa "ieee80211_scan_iter_func" +.Fa "void *" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft void +.Fn ieee80211_scan_dump_channels "const struct ieee80211_scan_state *" +.\" +.Ft void +.Fo ieee80211_scanner_register +.Fa "enum ieee80211_opmode" +.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scanner *" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft void +.Fo ieee80211_scanner_unregister +.Fa "enum ieee80211_opmode" +.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scanner *" +.Fc +.\" +.Ft void +.Fn ieee80211_scanner_unregister_all "const struct ieee80211_scanner *" +.\" +.Ft const struct ieee80211_scanner * +.Fn ieee80211_scanner_get "enum ieee80211_opmode" +.Sh DESCRIPTION +The +.Nm net80211 +software layer provides an extensible framework for scanning. +Scanning is the procedure by which a station locates a BSS to join +(in infrastructure and IBSS mode), or a channel to use (when operating +as an AP or an IBSS master). +Scans are either +.Dq active +or +.Dq passive . +An active scan causes one or more ProbeRequest frames to be sent on +visiting each channel. +A passive request causes each channel in the scan set to be visited but +no frames to be transmitted; the station only listens for traffic. +Note that active scanning may still need to listen for traffic before +sending ProbeRequest frames depending on regulatory constraints. +.Pp +A scan operation involves constructing a set of channels to inspect +(the scan set), +visiting each channel and collecting information +(e.g. what BSS are present), +and then analyzing the results to make decisions such as which BSS to join. +This process needs to be as fast as possible so +.Nm net80211 +does things like intelligently construct scan sets and dwell on a channel +only as long as necessary. +Scan results are cached and the scan cache is used to avoid scanning when +possible and to enable roaming between access points when operating +in infrastructure mode. +.Pp +Scanning is handled by pluggable modules that implement +.Em policy +per-operating mode. +The core scanning support provides an infrastructure to support these +modules and exports a common API to the rest of the +.Nm net80211 +layer. +Policy modules decide what channels to visit, what state to record to +make decisions, and selects the final station/channel to return as the +result of a scan. +.Pp +Scanning is done synchronously when initially bringing a vap to +an operational state and optionally in the background to maintain +the scan cache for doing roaming and rogue AP monitoring. +Scanning is not tied to the +.Nm net80211 +state machine that governs vaps except for linkage to the +.Dv IEEE80211_S_SCAN +state. +One one vap at a time may be scanning; this scheduling policy +is handle in +.Fn ieee80211_new_state +and is transparent to scanning code. +.Pp +Scanning is controlled by a set of parameters that (potentially) +constrains the channel set and any desired SSID's and BSSID's. +.Nm net80211 +comes with a standard scanner module that works with all available +operating modes and supports +.Dq background scanning +and +.Dq roaming +operation. +.Sh SCANNER MODULES +Scanning modules use a registration mechanism to hook into the +.Nm net80211 +layer. +Use +.Fn ieee80211_scanner_register +to register a scan module for a particular operating mode and +.Fn ieee80211_scanner_unregister +or +.Fn ieee80211_scanner_unregister_all +to clear entries (typically on module unload). +Only one scanner module can be registered at any time for an operating mode. +.Sh DRIVER SUPPORT +Scanning operations are usually managed by the +.Nm net80211 +layer. +Drivers must provide +.Vt ic_scan_start +and +.Vt ic_scan_stop +methods that are called at the start of a scan and when the +work is done; these should handle work such as enabling receive +of Beacon and ProbeResponse frames and disable any BSSID matching. +The +.Vt ic_set_channel +method is used to change channels while scanning. +.Nm net80211 +will generate ProbeRequest frames and transmit them using the +.Nm ic_raw_xmit +method. +Frames received while scanning are dispatched to +.Nm net80211 +using the normal receive path. +Devices that off-load scan work to firmware most easily mesh with +.Nm net80211 +by operating on a channel-at-a-time basis as this defers control to +.Nm net80211's +scan machine scheduler. +But multi-channel scanning +is supported if the driver manually dispatches results using +.Fn ieee80211_add_scan +routine to enter results into the scan cache. +.Sh SCAN REQUESTS +Scan requests occur by way of the +.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_REQUEST +ioctl or through a change in a vap's state machine that requires +scanning. +In both cases the scan cache can be checked first and, if it is deemed +suitably +.Dq warm +then it's contents are used without leaving the current channel. +To start a scan without checking the cache +.Fn ieee80211_start_scan +can be called; otherwise +.Fn ieee80211_check_scan +can be used to first check the scan cache, kicking off a scan if +the cache contents are out of date. +There is also +.Fn ieee80211_check_scan_current +which is a shorthand for using previously set scan parameters for +checking the scan cache and then scanning. +.Pp +Background scanning is done using +.Fn ieee80211_bg_scan +in a co-routine fashion. +The first call to this routine will start a background scan that +runs for a limited period of time before returning to the BSS channel. +Subsequent calls advance through the scan set until all channels are +visited. +Typically these later calls are timed to allow receipt of +frames buffered by an access point for the station. +.Pp +A scan operation can be canceled using +.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan +if it was initiated by the specified vap, or +.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan_any +to force termination regardless which vap started it. +These requests are mostly used by +.Nm net80211 +in the transmit path to cancel background scans when frames are to be sent. +Drivers should not need to use these calls (or most of the calls described +on this page). +.Pp +The +.Fn ieee80211_scan_next +and +.Fn ieee80211_scan_done +routines do explicit iteration through the scan set and should +not normally be used by drivers. +.Fn ieee80211_probe_curchan +handles the work of transmitting ProbeRequest frames when visiting +a channel during an active scan. +When the channel attributes are marked with +.Dv IEEE80211_CHAN_PASSIVE +this function will arrange that before any frame is transmitted 802.11 +traffic is first received (in order to comply with regulatory constraints). +.Pp +Min/max dwell time parameters are used to constrain time spent visiting +a channel. +The maximum dwell time constrains the time spent listening for traffic. +The minimum dwell time is used to reduce this time--when it is reached +and one or more frames have been received then an immediate channel +change will be done. +Drivers can override this behaviour through the +.Vt iv_scan_mindwell +method. +.Sh SCAN CACHE MANAGEMENT +The scan cache contents are managed by the scan policy module and +are opaque outside this module. +The +.Nm net80211 +scan framework defines API's for interacting. +The validity of the scan cache contents are controlled by +.Vt iv_scanvalid +which is exported to user space through the +.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_VALID +request. +.Pp +The cache contents can be explicitly flushed with +.Fn ieee80211_scan_flush +or by setting the +.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_FLUSH +flag when starting a scan operation. +.Pp +Scan cache entries are created with the +.Fn ieee80211_add_scan +routine; usually on receipt of Beacon or ProbeResponse frames. +Existing entries are typically updated based on the latest information +though some information such as RSSI and noise floor readings may be +combined to present an average. +.Pp +The cache contents is aged through +.Fn ieee80211_scan_timeout +calls. +Typically these happen together with other station table activity; every +.Dv IEEE80211_INACT_WAIT +seconds (default 15). +.Pp +Individual cache entries are marked usable with +.Fn ieee80211_scan_assoc_success +and faulty with +.Fn ieee80211_scan_assoc_fail +with the latter taking an argument to identify if there was no response +to Authentication/Association requests or if a negative response was +received (which might hasten cache eviction or blacklist the entry). +.Pp +The cache contents can be viewed using the +.Fn ieee80211_scan_iterate +call. +Cache entries are exported in a public format that is exported to user +applications through the +.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_RESULTS +request. +.Sh SEE ALSO +.Xr ioctl 2 , +.Xr ieee80211 9 . +.Xr ieee80211_proto 9 . |