xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/ath.4 (revision ddd5b8e9b4d8957fce018c520657cdfa4ecffad3)
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31.Dd August 28, 2011
32.Dt ATH 4
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm ath
36.Nd "Atheros IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver"
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38To compile this driver into the kernel,
39place the following lines in your
40kernel configuration file:
41.Bd -ragged -offset indent
42.Cd "device ath"
43.Cd "device ath_pci"
44.Cd "device ath_hal"
45.Cd "options AH_SUPPORT_AR5416"
46.Cd "device ath_rate_sample"
47.Cd "device wlan"
48.Ed
49.Pp
50Alternatively, to load the driver as a
51module at boot time, place the following line in
52.Xr loader.conf 5 :
53.Bd -literal -offset indent
54if_ath_load="YES"
55if_ath_pci_load="YES"
56.Ed
57.Sh DESCRIPTION
58The
59.Nm
60driver provides support for wireless network adapters based on
61the Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, and AR5416 programming APIs.
62These APIs are used by a wide variety of chips; most all chips with
63a PCI and/or CardBus interface are supported.
64.Pp
65Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames, power management, BSS,
66IBSS, MBSS, TDMA, and host-based access point operation modes.
67All host/device interaction is via DMA.
68.Pp
69Please note that from FreeBSD-9.0, the
70.Nm
71driver does not include the PCI/PCIe bus glue.
72The same driver supports multiple underlying bus types, including PCI/PCIe,
73but also embedded (AHB) and USB in the future.
74.Pp
75To enable use for PCI/PCIe systems, see the
76.Xr ath_pci 4
77driver.
78For embedded systems which use the AHB to connect the wireless MAC, see the
79.Xr ath_ahb 4
80driver.
81.Pp
82The
83.Nm
84driver encapsulates all IP and ARP traffic as 802.11 frames, however
85it can receive either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.
86Transmit speed and operating mode is selectable
87and depends on the specific chipset.
88AR5210-based devices support 802.11a operation with transmit speeds
89of 6 Mbps, 9 Mbps, 12 Mbps, 18 Mbps, 24 Mbps, 36 Mbps, 48 Mbps, and 54 Mbps.
90AR5211-based devices support 802.11a and 802.11b operation with transmit
91speeds as above for 802.11a operation and
921Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5 Mbps and 11Mbps for 802.11b operation.
93AR5212-based devices support 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g operation
94with transmit speeds appropriate to each.
95AR5416-class devices are capable of 802.11n operation
96but are supported only in legacy modes (802.11a, 11b, 11g).
97Most chips also support an Atheros Turbo Mode (TM) that operates in
98the 5GHz frequency range with 2x the transmit speeds.
99Some chips also support Turbo mode in the 2.4GHz range with 802.11g
100though this support is not presently available due to regulatory requirements.
101(Note that Turbo modes are, however,
102only interoperable with other Atheros-based devices.)
103AR5212-based devices also support half- (10MHz) and quarter-width (5MHz) channels.
104The actual transmit speed used is dependent on signal quality and the
105.Dq "rate control"
106algorithm employed by the driver.
107All chips support WEP encryption.
108AR5212 and AR5416 parts have hardware support for the
109AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic
110operations required for WPA.
111To enable encryption, use
112.Xr ifconfig 8
113as shown below.
114.Pp
115The driver supports
116.Cm station ,
117.Cm adhoc ,
118.Cm adhoc-demo ,
119.Cm hostap ,
120.Cm mesh ,
121.Cm wds ,
122and
123.Cm monitor
124mode operation.
125Multiple
126.Cm hostap
127virtual interfaces may be configured for simultaneous
128use on cards that use a 5212 part.
129When multiple interfaces are configured each may have a separate
130mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac
131address assigned to the underlying device.
132Any number of
133.Cm wds
134virtual interfaces may be configured together with
135.Cm hostap
136interfaces.
137Multiple
138.Cm station
139interfaces may be operated together with
140.Cm hostap
141interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
142The driver also support
143.Cm tdma
144operation when compiled with
145.Cd "options IEEE80211_SUPPORT_TDMA"
146(which also enables the required 802.11 support).
147For more information on configuring this device, see
148.Xr ifconfig 8 .
149.Pp
150Devices supported by the
151.Nm
152driver come in either Cardbus or mini-PCI packages.
153Wireless cards in Cardbus slots may be inserted and ejected on the fly.
154.Sh HARDWARE
155The
156.Nm
157driver supports all Atheros Cardbus and PCI cards,
158except those that are based on the AR5005VL chipset.
159.Sh EXAMPLES
160Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:
161.Bd -literal -offset indent
162ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0
163ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
164	wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624
165.Ed
166.Pp
167Join/create an 802.11b IBSS network with network name
168.Dq Li my_net :
169.Bd -literal -offset indent
170ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode adhoc
171ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
172	mode 11b
173.Ed
174.Pp
175Create an 802.11g host-based access point:
176.Bd -literal -offset indent
177ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
178ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
179	mode 11g
180.Ed
181.Pp
182Create an 802.11a mesh station:
183.Bd -literal -offset indent
184ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode mesh
185ifconfig wlan0 meshid my_mesh mode 11a inet 192.168.0.10/24
186.Ed
187.Pp
188Create two virtual 802.11a host-based access points, one with
189WEP enabled and one with no security, and bridge them to
190the fxp0 (wired) device:
191.Bd -literal -offset indent
192ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap \e
193	ssid paying-customers wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 \e
194	mode 11a up
195ifconfig wlan1 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap bssid \e
196	ssid freeloaders up
197ifconfig bridge0 create addm wlan0 addm wlan1 addm fxp0 up
198.Ed
199.Pp
200Create a master node in a two slot TDMA BSS configured to use
2012.5 millisecond slots.
202.Bd -literal -offset indent
203ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode tdma \e
204	ssid tdma-test tmdaslot 0 tdmaslotlen 2500 \e
205	channel 36 up
206.Ed
207.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
208.Bl -diag
209.It "ath%d: unable to attach hardware; HAL status %u"
210The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to configure the hardware
211as requested.
212The status code is explained in the HAL include file
213.Pa sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
214.It "ath%d: failed to allocate descriptors: %d"
215The driver was unable to allocate contiguous memory for the transmit
216and receive descriptors.
217This usually indicates system memory is scarce and/or fragmented.
218.It "ath%d: unable to setup a data xmit queue!"
219The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for normal
220data frames failed.
221This should not happen.
222.It "ath%d: unable to setup a beacon xmit queue!"
223The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for 802.11 beacon frames
224failed.
225This should not happen.
226.It "ath%d: 802.11 address: %s"
227The MAC address programmed in the EEPROM is displayed.
228.It "ath%d: hardware error; resetting"
229An unrecoverable error in the hardware occurred.
230Errors of this sort include unrecoverable DMA errors.
231The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
232.It "ath%d: rx FIFO overrun; resetting"
233The receive FIFO in the hardware overflowed before the data could be
234transferred to the host.
235This typically occurs because the hardware ran short of receive
236descriptors and had no place to transfer received data.
237The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
238.It "ath%d: unable to reset hardware; hal status %u"
239The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
240as requested.
241The status code is explained in the HAL include file
242.Pa sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
243This should not happen.
244.It "ath%d: unable to start recv logic"
245The driver was unable to restart frame reception.
246This should not happen.
247.It "ath%d: device timeout"
248A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
249The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
250This should not happen.
251.It "ath%d: bogus xmit rate 0x%x"
252An invalid transmit rate was specified for an outgoing frame.
253The frame is discarded.
254This should not happen.
255.It "ath%d: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel %u (%u MHz)"
256The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
257when switching channels during scanning.
258This should not happen.
259.It "ath%d: failed to enable memory mapping"
260The driver was unable to enable memory-mapped I/O to the PCI device registers.
261This should not happen.
262.It "ath%d: failed to enable bus mastering"
263The driver was unable to enable the device as a PCI bus master for doing DMA.
264This should not happen.
265.It "ath%d: cannot map register space"
266The driver was unable to map the device registers into the host address space.
267This should not happen.
268.It "ath%d: could not map interrupt"
269The driver was unable to allocate an IRQ for the device interrupt.
270This should not happen.
271.It "ath%d: could not establish interrupt"
272The driver was unable to install the device interrupt handler.
273This should not happen.
274.El
275.Sh SEE ALSO
276.Xr ath_hal 4 ,
277.Xr cardbus 4 ,
278.Xr intro 4 ,
279.Xr pcic 4 ,
280.Xr wlan 4 ,
281.Xr wlan_ccmp 4 ,
282.Xr wlan_tkip 4 ,
283.Xr wlan_wep 4 ,
284.Xr wlan_xauth 4 ,
285.Xr hostapd 8 ,
286.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
287.Xr wpa_supplicant 8
288.Sh HISTORY
289The
290.Nm
291device driver first appeared in
292.Fx 5.2 .
293.Sh CAVEATS
294Revision A1 of the D-LINK DWL-G520 and DWL-G650 are based on an
295Intersil PrismGT chip and are not supported by this driver.
296.Sh BUGS
297There is no software retransmit; only hardware retransmit is used.
298.Pp
299The driver does not fully enable power-save operation of the chip
300in station mode; consequently power use is suboptimal (e.g. on a laptop).
301.Pp
302WPA is not supported for 5210 parts.
303