xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/wpa/hostapd/hostapd.8 (revision f126890ac5386406dadf7c4cfa9566cbb56537c5)
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25.Dd July 18, 2012
26.Dt HOSTAPD 8
27.Os
28.Sh NAME
29.Nm hostapd
30.Nd "authenticator for IEEE 802.11 networks"
31.Sh SYNOPSIS
32.Nm
33.Op Fl BdhKtv
34.Op Fl P Ar pidfile
35.Ar config-file ...
36.Sh DESCRIPTION
37The
38.Nm
39utility
40is an authenticator for IEEE 802.11 networks.
41It provides full support for WPA/IEEE 802.11i and
42can also act as an IEEE 802.1X Authenticator with a suitable
43backend Authentication Server (typically
44.Tn FreeRADIUS ) .
45The
46.Nm
47utility
48implements the authentication protocols that piggyback on top
49of the normal IEEE 802.11 protocol mechanisms.
50To use
51.Nm
52as an authenticator, the underlying device must support some
53basic functionality such as the ability to set security information
54in the 802.11 management frames.
55Beware that not all devices have this support.
56.Pp
57The
58.Nm
59utility
60is designed to be a
61.Dq daemon
62program that runs in the
63background and acts as the backend component controlling
64the wireless connection.
65It supports separate frontend programs such as the
66text-based frontend,
67.Xr hostapd_cli 8 .
68.Pp
69The following arguments must be specified on the command line:
70.Bl -tag -width indent
71.It Ar config-file
72Use the settings in the specified configuration file; the name of
73the specified wireless interface is contained in this file.
74See
75.Xr hostapd.conf 5
76for a description of the configuration file syntax.
77.Pp
78Changes to the configuration file can be reloaded by sending a
79.Dv SIGHUP
80to the
81.Nm
82processor or with the
83.Xr hostapd_cli 8
84utility, using
85.Dq Li "hostapd_cli reconfigure" .
86.El
87.Sh OPTIONS
88The options are as follows:
89.Bl -tag -width indent
90.It Fl d
91Enable debugging messages.
92If this option is supplied twice, more verbose messages are displayed.
93.It Fl h
94Show help text.
95.It Fl t
96Include timestamps in debugging output.
97.It Fl v
98Display version information on the terminal and exit.
99.It Fl B
100Detach from the controlling terminal and run as a daemon process
101in the background.
102.It Fl K
103Include key information in debugging output.
104.It Fl P Ar pidfile
105Store PID in
106.Ar pidfile .
107.El
108.Sh SEE ALSO
109.Xr ath 4 ,
110.Xr ipw 4 ,
111.Xr iwi 4 ,
112.Xr mwl 4 ,
113.Xr ral 4 ,
114.Xr rum 4 ,
115.Xr run 4 ,
116.Xr ural 4 ,
117.Xr hostapd.conf 5 ,
118.Xr hostapd_cli 8 ,
119.Xr ifconfig 8
120.Sh HISTORY
121The
122.Nm
123utility first appeared in
124.Fx 6.0 .
125.Sh AUTHORS
126The
127.Nm
128utility was written by
129.An Jouni Malinen Aq Mt j@w1.fi .
130This manual page is derived from the
131.Pa README
132file included in the
133.Nm
134distribution.
135