xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/wpa/hostapd/hostapd.8 (revision dd41de95a84d979615a2ef11df6850622bf6184e)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Sam Leffler <sam@errno.com>
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd July 18, 2012
28.Dt HOSTAPD 8
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm hostapd
32.Nd "authenticator for IEEE 802.11 networks"
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Nm
35.Op Fl BdhKtv
36.Op Fl P Ar pidfile
37.Ar config-file ...
38.Sh DESCRIPTION
39The
40.Nm
41utility
42is an authenticator for IEEE 802.11 networks.
43It provides full support for WPA/IEEE 802.11i and
44can also act as an IEEE 802.1X Authenticator with a suitable
45backend Authentication Server (typically
46.Tn FreeRADIUS ) .
47The
48.Nm
49utility
50implements the authentication protocols that piggyback on top
51of the normal IEEE 802.11 protocol mechanisms.
52To use
53.Nm
54as an authenticator, the underlying device must support some
55basic functionality such as the ability to set security information
56in the 802.11 management frames.
57Beware that not all devices have this support.
58.Pp
59The
60.Nm
61utility
62is designed to be a
63.Dq daemon
64program that runs in the
65background and acts as the backend component controlling
66the wireless connection.
67It supports separate frontend programs such as the
68text-based frontend,
69.Xr hostapd_cli 8 .
70.Pp
71The following arguments must be specified on the command line:
72.Bl -tag -width indent
73.It Ar config-file
74Use the settings in the specified configuration file; the name of
75the specified wireless interface is contained in this file.
76See
77.Xr hostapd.conf 5
78for a description of the configuration file syntax.
79.Pp
80Changes to the configuration file can be reloaded by sending a
81.Dv SIGHUP
82to the
83.Nm
84processor or with the
85.Xr hostapd_cli 8
86utility, using
87.Dq Li "hostapd_cli reconfigure" .
88.El
89.Sh OPTIONS
90The options are as follows:
91.Bl -tag -width indent
92.It Fl d
93Enable debugging messages.
94If this option is supplied twice, more verbose messages are displayed.
95.It Fl h
96Show help text.
97.It Fl t
98Include timestamps in debugging output.
99.It Fl v
100Display version information on the terminal and exit.
101.It Fl B
102Detach from the controlling terminal and run as a daemon process
103in the background.
104.It Fl K
105Include key information in debugging output.
106.It Fl P Ar pidfile
107Store PID in
108.Ar pidfile .
109.El
110.Sh SEE ALSO
111.Xr ath 4 ,
112.Xr ipw 4 ,
113.Xr iwi 4 ,
114.Xr mwl 4 ,
115.Xr ral 4 ,
116.Xr rum 4 ,
117.Xr run 4 ,
118.Xr ural 4 ,
119.Xr wi 4 ,
120.Xr hostapd.conf 5 ,
121.Xr hostapd_cli 8 ,
122.Xr ifconfig 8
123.Sh HISTORY
124The
125.Nm
126utility first appeared in
127.Fx 6.0 .
128.Sh AUTHORS
129The
130.Nm
131utility was written by
132.An Jouni Malinen Aq Mt j@w1.fi .
133This manual page is derived from the
134.Pa README
135file included in the
136.Nm
137distribution.
138